Compare Documents

London, Saturday Evening.

The trial of Oscar Wilde was resumed at the Old Bailey today before Mr Justice Wills. The prisoner, who looked ill and anxious, having entered the dock, the Solicitor-General resumed his speech in reply for the prosecution. He asked what was the relationship of the prisoner with Lord Alfred Douglas, and said though Lord Queensberry resented the intimacy between the prisoner and Lord Alfred, the prisoner continued the intimacy and flaunted Lord Alfred at hotels in London and the country. He contended that it had been shown that the prisoner was closely intimate with Taylor.

Sir Edward said that was not borne out by evidence.

The Solicitor-General said that it appeared as if counsel for the defence desired that one man should go down and another be saved because of a false glamour of art.

Sir Edward Clarke protested against this mode of appeal to the jury.

The Solicitor-General next referred the letter which referred to the "rose leaf lips and madness of kissing." The jury were tried to be put off with the story that this was a prose poem which they could not appreciate. They must thank God they could not. They could only appreciate it as its proper level which was somewhat lower than a beast’s. His learned friend had warned the jury lest by their verdict they should enable blackmailing to rear its head unblushingly. The jury must believe the evidence of Parker and Wood, because no motive had been shown why they should deceive them. He submitted that the conflict of testimony only happened at the point where admission stopped and actual confession commenced. In conclusion, he said he had pointed out the strength of the case, and he now had to ask the jury to do their duty in the case. They had nothing to do with Oscar Wilde’s literary past or future. He had a right to be acquitted if they believed him innocent. But if, on their consciences, they believed that he was guilty of these charges, then they had only to follow closely the obligation of the oath which had been imposed upon them.

His Lordship, in summing up, that this was a very painful and shocking case, which necessitated a cold and calm administration of justice, in order that due protection should be afforded to the defendant. For himself he would rather try a most shocking murder case than be engaged in trying one of these cases. He could not, however, say that his sense of difficulty was increased in this case by any consideration of the education or culture of the person accused, because having regard to the result of the Queensberry libel case they need not distress themselves by ordinary considerations which would add to their distress, in the case of persons of education or of culture. With regard to the course which this case had taken, he thought it fortunate that the jury had disagreed in the first case and that Wilde and Taylor were now tried separately. Though he thought the trials should have been taken in a different order, he did not think that the defendant in the present case had suffered one hairsbreadth by the fact that Taylor was tried first. Something had been said as to the hardships upon the defendant in having to appear three times in the witness box, but in cases where there were circumstances of grave suspicion and conduct which had to be explained, and which could be explained by the defendant, the practice of allowing defendants to give evidence in their own defence was to his mind, a circumstance of the utmost vains in the administration of justice. They were substantially four charges involved in this case. There was alleged misconduct with Wood, alleged misconduct with Parker, and two matters alleged at the Savoy Hotel. Before he entered upon this case he wished to say that he thought it would be a bad day for the administration of justice in England when juries ceased either to take their direction upon points which lay within his own proper province from the judge or surrendered to another their own inherent judgement of the facts that were before them. In this case he could not give a simple colorless summing up which was no good to anybody, but he hoped that in respect of any opinions which might be hinted at in anything he might say that they would regard them, not as opinions which were to guide them, but as matters they were to criticize and see whether they were justified. He would not address himself in the case of Wood. It was unfortunate that in dealing with Wood’s case he must deal with a good deal that affected Lord Alfred Douglas, who was not a party to these proceedings, and could not give evidence.

A juror — He would be here.

His Lordship said he could not volunteer himself. He was anxious, in the case of a young man like this, to say nothing that might help to blast his career in life, but that did not in the least relieve him from the necessity of investigating the facts of this case. With regard to these charges the defendant was entitled to the full benefit of the observation that these matters were alleged to have taken place two or three years ago. But they must not forget that these charges had grown out of the writing of these letters to this young man. It was a matter for the grave consideration of the jury as to whether the letter referring the madness of kissing pointed as unclean relations and appetites on both sides. He would not invite their attention to any particular expression in that letter. It was Lord Alfred Douglas who sent Wood to the defendant. They were not to believe anything simply because Wood said it. That would be absurd. Wood belonged to a vile class, and was at least acting with a gang of blackmailers and a gang of people addicted to certain practices, and it was probable that that sort of person would do the same thing himself. The case as to Wood seemed to him to depend upon what they thought was the character of the original introduction — whether it was stamped with charity, kindness, and goodwill, or whether it was for a wicked purpose.

The Foreman of the Jury — The jury are very anxious to know whether, in view of the intimacy between Lord Alfred Douglas and Wood, a warrant for the arrest of Lord Alfred Douglas was ever issued.

His Lordship — I should think not.

The Foreman — Or was ever contemplated?

His Lordship — That I cannot say.

The Foreman — The jury wish to know whether, if they deduce guilt from these letters, it will affect Lord Alfred Douglas as well as the defendant.

His Lordship said he thought the receipt of these letters, and the continued intimacy was as damaging to the reputation of the recipient as of the sender, but that had nothing to do with the present inquiry. The question was whether guilt was brought home to the man in the dock.

At this point the Court adjourned for luncheon.

On resuming after luncheon.

His Lordship again referred to the inquiries by the jury regarding Lord Alfred Douglas. The suspicion was that Lord Alfred Douglas would be spared if he was guilty simply because he was Lord Alfred Douglas. That was a matter that they could not discuss, and he asked them to disregard ant such considerations as that. The present inquiry was whether the man in the dock had been guilty of these immoral practices with certain persons, of whom Lord A Douglas was not one. He next came to deal with the case of Parker, and they had to account for the defendant’s association with him. That was one of the crucial points in this inquiry. They must remember in this connection that it was stated that Parker got as introduction to Wilde because he wished to go on the stage. That statement was borne out by Parker himself. With regard to the two remaining charges he did not think that, in view of the lapse of time that had occurred, it would be safe to rely on the evidence of the masseur. The chambermaid’s case was, however, very different. It was a very remarkable story. The question was whether they were satisfied Alfred Douglas’s. As to letters obtained from Wood, if neither Wood nor Parker attempted to blackmail defendant when there was an opportunity they might be sure there was no ground for it. In conclusion, his lordship said he had done his best to hold the balance fairly, and he thought with the help of counsel all prejudice had been kept out of the case.

The jury retired precisely at 3 30 pm. After the jury had retired the prisoner left the dock by the staircase leading into the cells below, and at the same time Lord Douglas of Hawick left the court. The Marquis of Queensberry did not put in appearance after luncheon.

At 5 25 the jury, who had previously sent a communication to the judge, returned into court. The foreman said they wished to hear the evidence of the waiter at 10 St James’s street read over. The judge complied, and said there was not evidence that Parker slept at that house. The jury then again retired, and after an absence of a few minutes returned with a verdict of guilty upon all the counts of the indictment.

Taylor was then placed in the dock alongside Wilde.

Sir E Clarke appealed for the postponement of sentence till the next sessions on the ground that a demurrer of that indictment was bad had not been argued.

His Lordship said the passing of sentence would not interfere with the argument, and he thought it right to complete the case at once. Addressing the defendants, he said that the jury had arrived at a correct verdict. He could not entertain a shadow of a doubt. He hoped those who sometimes imagined that a judge was half hearted in the cause of decency and morality, because he took care that prejudice was not allowed to enter into the case, would see that that was consistent with a stern sense of indignation at the horrible crime which had been brought home to both of them. There could be no doubt that Taylor had kept a kind of male brother, and that Wilde had been guilty of acts of a hideous kind it was equally impossible to doubt. In such circumstances he should pass the severest sentence which the law allowed him, and which was totally inadequate to such a case of this. Wilde and Taylor would each be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for two years.

Taylor, on hearing the sentence, hurried from the dock, but Wilde, who seemed quite dazed, stood with fixed gaze and trembling hands, and look as if about to faint. Two warders were quickly at his side, but Wilde help up his hands as if to keep them off, and addressed the court in a few unintelligible words. He was then hurried below.

London, Sunday. Immediately after the passing of sentence on Wilde and Taylor the prisoners were removed to the cells in Newgate Prison, adjoining the Central Criminal Court, pending the preparation of the legal warrants authorizing their detention for two years. Both were suffering from nervousness, and betrayed their mental anxiety. From the first they were separated, but travelled in the same prison van to Pentonville Prison, where they will serve the preliminary portion of the sentence, a period to be eventually decided by the officials of the jail. When handed over to the Governor of Pentonville the prisoners were taken separately to the reception ward and each had to give details of his identity and religion and submit to a medical examination, after which they passed through the hands of the prison bathroom attendants and barber, and exchanged their own clothes for prison garb, being afterwards handed over to the care of the chaplain.

Today they attended the prison chapel with the other occupants of the jail, and with the exception of exercise time that were confined to their cells, where they will in future be kept unless their health becomes such as to entitle them to infirmary treatment, in which event the prison doctor will decide the nature of the work they must perform. By the terms of their sentence they will be isolated from their friends except upon four occasions each year, and even this privilege may be forfeited by indifferent conduct.

The fourth, and presumably the last, day of Wilde's second trial at the Old Bailey opened with cool breezes and court less crowded and oppressive than it was yesterday, when the prisoner's cross-examination attracted the sensation-hunters. The Solicitor-General whose speech to the jury on behalf of conviction was cut short in the middle by the adjournment last night, was the first of the counsel in the case to reach the court, where he occupied himself in a last hasty glance through the pages of his brief. It is interesting to recall that the present is the second case in which Sir Frank Lockwood has been brought into a cause célèbre to exert against a prisoner, the enormous influence of "the last word." In November last, when all England was waiting with breathless interest for the issue of the trial of Read for the murder of Florrie Dennis, the newly-appointed Solicitor-General went down to Chelmsford to prosecute, he had the

LAST WORD WITH THE JURY,

and Read was hanged. In the case, too, it was Mr. C. F. Gill who was superseded in the conduct of the Crown case.

At half-past ten Mr. Justice Wills arrived. A second case, a charge of wilful murder against one Jane White, had been placed in the list for the day, and his lordship carried with his papers the black cap. But this prisoner, who was brought first into the dock, was admitted only on the coroner's warrant, the Treasury had concluded to offer no evidence against her, and a verdict of not guilty was taken. So it happened that when Oscar Wilde, poet and dramatist, was called upon to surrender he became involved in the door of the dock with the discharged.

Sir F. Lockwood's Speech.

The Solicitor-General proceeded at once with his address. From the first it was a morning of gusty temper, with frequent sharp exchanges between Sir F. Lockwood and Sir E. Clarke. The first was provoked by Sir Edward rising to object to what he called Mr. Solicitor's rhetorical description of what had never been proved in evidence, in asserting that an intimate friendship existed between Wilde and Taylor.

"Gentlemen," Mr. Solicitor retorted, "It is not rehetoric, it is a plain statement of fact. What are the indications of an intimate friendship? They call one another by their Christian names. I do not inquire too closely whether they come from the stable or the kitchen. What greater proof of intimate friendship is there?" Again Mr. Solicitor protested against Sir Edward Clarke's differentiation of Taylor from Wilde by throwing round the letter

"A GLAMOR OF ART

which is false and untrue."

Again Sir Edward was on his feet, exclaiming, "My lord, I must distinctly protest--" when he was interrupted by the Solicitor-Ceneral with a passionate and contemptuous exclamation, only half articulated, of "You may go--oh!" and Mr. Solicitor's feelings became too much for him.

His Lordship, where the exhibitions of feeling distress unspeakably, tried to put all on the troubled waters, but Sir Edward Clarke continued, "All this is as far removed from the evidence as anything ever heard in this court."

Sir Frank Lockwood: I am alluding, my lord, and I maintain I am right in alluding, to my learned friend's last appeal to the jury as to the literary position of his client, and I am dealing in connection with that with his connection with the man Taylor, and I say these men

MUST BE JUDGED EQUALLY.

Sir Edward Clarke: They are fairly tried in the proper order.

"Oh, my lord," cried Mr. Solicitor, with increasing passion, "these interruptions would avail my friend nothing."

His Lordship said Mr. Solicitor was perfectly within his right. The only objection was to allusions to the result of the trial of Taylor.

Passing on to allude to the "madness of kissing" letter, the Solicitor-General contended that such a letter found in the possession of a woman, from a man, would be open to but one interpretation. How much worse, he suggested, was the inference to be drawn when such a letter was written by one man to another! It had been attempted to show that this was "a prose poem, a sonnet, a lovely thing which I suppose we are too low to appreciate. Gentlemen," thundered Mr. Solicitor, "let us thank God, if it is so, that we do not appreciate things of this sort save at the proper value, and that is somewhat lower than the beasts."

Again counsel came into collision, and a laugh followed. The Solicitor-General protested that he had no sympathy with such demonstrations, and his lordship, who is taking the case on bare nerves, almost tearfully admonished the crowd. "These interruptions," he said, "are offensive to me beyond anything that can be described. To have to try a case of this kind, to keep the scales even, and do one's duty is hard enough, but to be pestered with the applause or expressions of feeling of senseless people who have no business to be here at all except for the gratification of

MORBID CURIOSITY

is too much. If there is anything of the kind again I shall clear the court."

The Solicitor-General presently alluded to the witnesses Parker and Wood. His learned friend had said they were blackmailers, and had warned the jury against giving a verdict which should enable another vice, as detestable, as abominable, to rear its head with unblushing affrontery in this city. The genesis of the blackmailer is the man who had committed these sets of indecency with him. And the genesis of the man who commits these foul acts is the man who is

WILLING TO PAY

for their commission. Were it not that there are men willing to purchase vice in this most hideous and detestable form there would be no market for such crime, and no opening for these blackmailers to ply their calling. But where, he asked, was the motive? It was not suggested that either of these men had blackmailed Wilde. They had much to lose and nothing at all to gain by giving evidence here. It was not suggested that their evidence had been bought, or that they had been improperly influenced in any way.

Keenly Interested Listeners.

Wilde listened impassively from his corner of the dock, but all throughout the morning he carried frequently to his nose a small vinaigrette of cut glass. The Marquess of Queensberry retained his place near the bench, and the Rev. Stewart Headlam still sat with his back to the witness-box, with Lord Douglas of Hawick vis-à-vis at the other side of the solitary table. Mr. Grain, who defended Taylor, was in and out of the court of the morning, without wig or gown.

Lockwood's Last Words.

Having weathered through the early poems, the Solicitor-General settled down to a wordy and somewhat disconnected survey of the evidence, finding everywhere corroboration that he submitted to the jury as [...] to the prisoner. In regard to the Savoy Hotel charges, he asked why Lord Alfred Douglas, who slept in the next room, had not been called to deny the statements of the chambermaid. "Now, gentleman," he concluded, "I have been through the whole of this case. I have pointed out to you its strength, and I have to ask you to do your duty in regard to it. I have already dealt with that, as I think, unfortunate appeal which my learned friend, made as to Wilde. With that we have in the case nothing whatever to do. He has a right to be acquitted if you believe him to be an innocent man, be his lot high or low. But if, gentlemen, in your consciences you believe that he is guilty of these charges--well, then you have only one consideration, and that is to follow closely the obligation of the path which has been imposed upon you."

The Judge Sums Up.

At half-past twelve Mr. Justice Wills began his summing-up. Pointing out to the jury that their duty was "the cold, calm, resolute administration of justice," he said he would himself rather try the most shocking murder that it had ever fallen to his lot to try than be engaged in a case like this. It might be thought that the difficulty and distress of dealing with it would be increased by the position and education of the person accused. His lordship could not say that his own difficulty or sense of responsibility was increased by that consideration. Whatever might be the guilt or innocence of the accused, his conduct had been such, particularly with regard to Lord Alfred Douglas, that it would be impossible for 12 intelligent, imparital, and honest gentlemen to say there was no good ground for an indignant father to charge him with having posed, as the Marquess of Queensberry had suggested. His lordship continued that in his opinion the conspiracy charges should never have been introduced at the last trial, and the joining of the charges against the two prisoners of itself

JUSTIFIED THE DISAGREEMENT OF THE JURY.

As to the present trial, he would have preferred to try the prisoners in a different order, but he did not think the defendant had suffered by the course taken by the Solicitor-General. It was impossible in dealing with Wood's case to avoid dealing also with Lord Alfred Douglas. He was not here, and it must be remembered in his favor that if neither side called him he could not volunteer himself as witness. His lordship was also anxious not to say anything to blast the career of a young man on the threshold of life. His family seemed to be a house divided against itself, but even if there was no filial love or parental affection, even if there was nothing but hatred between father and son, what father would not try to save his son from the associations suggested by the two letters from the prisoner to Lord Alfred Douglas? His lordship would avoid saying whether those letters seemed to point to actual criminal conduct or not. Suppose that they were

PROSE POEMS,

suppose that they were things of which the intellectual and literary value could only be appreciated by persons of high culture, were they the less poisonous for a young man? It was strange that it should not occur to a gentleman capable of writing such letters that any young man to whom they were addressed must suffer in the estimations of everybody if it were known. Lord Queensberry seemed to have taken a method of interfering which his lordship would have thought no gentleman would have taken to leaving at the defendant's club a card containing a most offensive expression. It was a message which left the defendant no alternative but to prosecute, or to be publicly branded as a man who could not deny a foul charge.

Lord Queensberry found some of these expressions so little to his taste that he presently got up and

LEFT THE COURT.

His lordship went on to speak of the ill-assorted friendship between Lord Alfred Douglas and Wood, whom he introduced to Wilde, and to whom he gave a suit of clothes containing the "madness of kissing" letter. His lordship found it more understandable that a lad like Wood should be given cast-off clothes than silver cigarette cases. His lordship had no doubt that the "red rose-leaf lips" letter was the worst of the bundle which fell into the hands of the blackmailers, but he regarded it as highly unfortunate that the others should have been destroyed. If they were indeed harmless, as the defendant had said, they would have been an answer to this charge.

A Question from the Jury Box.

The foreman of the jury interposed with the question: "In view of the intimacy between Lord Alfred Douglas and Wood, was a warrant ever issued for the apprehension of Lord Alfred Douglas?"

His Lordship replied, "I should think not. We have not heard of it."

"Was it ever contemplated?" asked the foreman, and his lordship in many words said he did not know. A warrant would, in any case, not be issued without evidence of some fact, of something more than mere intimacy.

The Foreman: It seems to us that if we induce any guilt from these letters it applies as much to Lord Alfred Douglas as to the defendant.

His Lordship: Quite so; but how does that relieve the defendant? Our present inquiry is whether guilt is brought home to the man in the dock.

The Court adjourned for half an hour for lunch.

The Judge Doesn't Know.

After lunch his lordship returned to this subject. There was a natural disposition, he said, to ask, Why should this man stand in the dock and not Lord Alfred Douglas? But the supposition that Lord Alfred Douglas would ne in any way spared because he was Lord Alfred Douglas was one of the wildest injustice--the thing was utterly and hopelessly impossible. Lord Alfred Douglas, as they all knew, went to Paris with the present defendant. There he had stayed, and his lordship know absolutely nothing more about him. He was as ignorant in this respect as the jury. It might be that there was no evidence against Lord Alfred Douglas, but even about that he knew nothing. It was a thing they could not discuss, and to entertain any such consideration as he had mentioned would be prejudice of the worst possible kind. Then his lordship passed on to deal with the case of Chas. Parker.

Wilde Affected.

The references to Lord Alfred Douglas were the first part of to-day's proceedings to shake the prisoner out of his affectation of phlegm. He sat upright and watched the judge keenly during the colloquy with the foreman of the jury, and appeared relieved at the way in which it terminated. During the afternoon all the counsel engaged in the case were present for the first time since Wednesday, and Mr. Grain's presence in wig and gown gave color to the report that Taylor had been brought down from Holloway and would be sentenced after the jury had found a verdict in the present case.

His Lordship's Prejudice.

His lordship found some truth in the aphorism that a man must be judged by the company he keeps, but said it was for the jury to say whether the prisoner's association with lads like Wood and Parker, of inferior social grade and with no single bond of taste and sympathy, was more than merely suspicious. As to the Savoy Hotel incidents, his lordship hoped he was not pedantic, but his prejudice was in favor of males sleeping one in a bed, and where a man could afford to incur a hotel bill of more that £40 in a week, it seemed to him astonishing that he should not get at least the whole use of a bed for his money. And his lordship illustrated, anecdotally and autobiographically, a hope which he expressed that he was no fool in such matters.

Jury Retire.

At half-past three his Lordship concluded a rather discursive, but certainly not feeble summing up. Early in the course of it he had declared his dislike of a summing up "so colorless as to be no help to anybody," while at the same time urging the jury to view his directions critically. He now said he hoped he had held the balance truly. He had tried his very best to do so, and counsel on both sides and conducted the case with such eminent fairness--and courtesy!-- that he hoped, and believed, between the three of them they had really kept prejudice out of the case.

The jury retired at twenty-five minutes to four to "consider the verdict."