Kerry Weekly Reporter - Saturday, June 1, 1895

The trial of Oscar Wilde was resumed at the Old Bailey on Saturday 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 Queensbery repeated 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 Clarke 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.

His Lordship, in summing up, thought that Wild had not suffered by Taylor being tried first. With regard to Wood's case, he regretted that he must deal with matters affecting Lord Alfred Douglas, who was not a part to these proceedings and could not get evidence——A juror—He could be here.

His Lordship said he could not volunteer to give evidence. With regard to the letters referred to, it was for the jury to say whether they pointed to unclean relations and appetites on both sides. Lord Alfred Douglas was the person who sent Wood to Wilde, and the jury had to consider whether that introduction was for the purpose of charity or for a wicked purpose.

The foreman of the jury said they were anxious to know whether the warrant for the arrest of Lord Alfred Douglas had ever been issued?

His Lordship said the warrant had not issued.

In answer to another question by the foreman, his lordship said the receipt of this letter and the continuance of the intimacy was as damaging to the reputation of the recipient as the sender, but that had nothing to do with the case. The question was whether guilt had been brought home to the man in the dock. Lord Alfred Douglas if guilty would not be spared because he was Lord Alfred Douglas. As to where he would be tried he knew nothing. It might be there was no evidence against him. The question before the jury was whether the man in the dock had been guilty of the immoral practices with certain persons of whom Lord Alfred Douglas was not one.

The jury retired at 3.30.

THE VERDICT.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty.

Wilde and Taylor were each sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour.

The Evening Journal - Saturday, May 25, 1895

London, May 26.- The trial of Oscar Wilde was resumed in the Old Bailey court this morning. Sir Frank Lockwood addressed the jury for the prosecution. He dilated upon the intimacy of Wilde with Taylor, and said that leniency ought not to be shown to one and not to the other because of the position and intellect of the one.

Sir Ed's Protest.

Sir Edward Clarke protested against counsel's confusing Taylor's case with Wilde.

Sir F. Lockwood expressed the hope that the jury would not regard Wilde's letters as "prose poems", but would appreciate them at their proper level which was rather lower than that of beasts.

Sir Edward Clarke objected to the language used by the prosecuting counsel and a heated argument between the two ensued. After a protracted wrangle the judge interfered, and advised Lockwood to confine himself to a discussion of the evidence and not start out upon any rhetorical denunciations of the prisoner.

Lockwood finished his address by saying that Wilde's own admissions proved conclusively his guilt.

The Judge’s Charge.

The judge in summing up said that Wylde had confessed that his conduct in regard to Lord Alfred Douglas had been such that he (the judge) could not ask the jury as in previous trials to say that there was no ground for charging him with having posed as a criminal.

In regard to Wilde’s letters to Lord Douglas, he said they might be "prose poems," but they were none the less poison to a young man's mind, and the writer was clearly not a desirable companion tor the young.

Douglas Equally Guilty.

The Judge finished his charge at three o'clock, and the jury retired. Before the jury retired the foreman asked the court if a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Lord Alfred Douglas. The judge said no warrant had been issued, whereupon the foreman said: "But if we must consider these letters as evidence of guilt they surely show that Lord Douglas' guilt is equal to that of Wilde."

The Verdict.

Wilde and Taylor have both been sentenced to two years at hard labor.

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