Compare Documents

The trial of Oscar Wilde on charges of indecency was concluded at the Old Bailey last evening, before Mr Justice Wills.

The prisoner looked ill and anxious in the morning when the Court resumed. As soon as he had entered the dock the Solicitor-General resumed his speech for the prosecution. He asked what was the relationship of the prisoner with Lord Alfred Douglas? Though Lord Queensberry resented the intimacy between the prisoner and Lord Alfred, the prisoner continued that intimacy and flaunted Lord Alfred at hotels in London and the country. The learned counsel contended it had been shown that the prison was closely intimate with Taylor.

Sir Edward Clarke said that was not borne out by evidence.

The Solicitor-General said 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 to the letter which spoke of "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 only appreciate it at 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 in this country. They should take care that they did not enable another vice as detestable and abominable to raise itself unblushingly. The jury must believe the evidence of Parker and Ward, because no motive had been shown why they should deceive. He submitted that a conflict of testimony only happened at the point where admission stopped and actual confession commenced. In conclusion, he asked the jury to observe the oath they had taken.

The Judge, in summing up, said he thought Wilde had not suffered by Taylor being tried first. With regard to Wilde’s case, he regretted he must deal with matters affecting Lord Alfred Douglas, who was not a party to these proceedings, and could not give 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 purposes of charity or for wickedness.

The Foreman of Jury said they were anxious to know whether a warrant for the arrest of Lord Alfred Douglas had ever been issued.

His Lordship said a warrant had not been issued.

In answer to another question by the foreman his lordship said the receipt of this letters and the continuance of the intimacy was as damaging to the reputation of the recipient as to 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.

His lordship’s address was interrupted by the adjournment for luncheon, and on

The Court resuming, he again referred to Lord Alfred Douglas, who, he said, if guilty, would not be spared because he was Lord Alfred Douglas. As to whether he would be tried, his lordship 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 immoral practices with certain persons, of whom Lord Alfred Douglas was not one. His lordship then dealt with the case of Parker, in regard to which, he said, the association of the defendant with Parker was a crucial point. They must remember the statement that Parker got an introduction to the defendant because he wished to get on the stage. As to the other charges, either the chambermaid committed perjury or she saw what she had sworn.

The jury retired at 3 30 p m, and at 5 25 returned into the box and asked some questions as to the evidence of the waiter at No 10 St James’s place; in reply to which the judge said there was no evidence of Parker sleeping at that address.

The jury again retired, and returned into court shortly afterwards and declared the prisoner guilty on all counts. Taylor being then brought into court, he and Wilde were sentenced each to two years’ imprisonment with hard labour.

The trial of Oscar Wilde, the well-known dramatic author, on five charges of abominable indecency, was continued at the Old Bailey to-day, before Mr Justice Wills and a jury.

Public interest in the case was still maintained in a very high degree, and the court and its surroundings were crowded all day.

The accused, although still pale and haggard, giving exterior evidence of much mental suffering, was much firmer in his demeanor in the dock than he was yesterday.

There was little fresh in the evidence adduced, the statements of the several witnesses for the prosecution being much the same as those given at the previous trial, and not shaken in any essential particular by cross-examination.

The case for the Crown being closed, Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., who appeared for the prisoner, asked his Honor to withdraw from the jury the count alleging indecent conduct on the part of Wilde with the young valet out of work, Charles Parker, at the rooms occupied by the prisoner at the Savoy Hotel. Counsel urged that Parker's evidence was not corroborated and that there was no issue to send to a jury.

Mr Justice Wills said that in the part of the case relating to what had occurred at the Savoy Hotel, the testimony was so evenly balanced that the wiser course appeared to him to be to submit it to the jury. His duty prevented him from acceding to the request to withdraw the count from the jury, therefore Sir Edward Clarke's application could not be granted.

Sir Edward Clarke drew his Honor's attention to the count in relation to the young man Edward Shelley, a former employe of a firm of publishers, and urged that the Crown had in this instance failed to make out any case for the determination of a jury.

His Honor agreed with counsel for the defence and dismissed the count. In reviewing the relations between Wilde and young Shelley, the judge said that there had been no corroboration of the single Crown witness in support of its allegations. Shelley, it was apparent, suffered from delusions. He (the judge) could see nothing unnatural in the friendship which Wilde had formed for this young gentleman, who was imbued with strong literary tastes, and had been attracted to Wilde by a literary instinct. The evidence did not show that the friendship between Wilde and Shelley was other than a perfectly honorable one.

LONDON, May 24.

The trial of Oscar Wilde was continued to-day at the Old Bailey before Mr Justice Wills.

The great public interest displayed in the proceedings on the two previous days was fully maintained, and the Court and its precincts were crowded.

The prisoner elected to go into the witness box himself, and denied on oath all the charges brought against him. He declared that he was the victim of the machinations of blackmailers.

Wilde further stated that he had always understood Taylor to be a respectable man. The extraordinary friendship which he had contracted with Taylor and his associates was, the prisoner explained, due to the fact that he (Wilde) personally liked praise. "Lionising and being lionised were delightful," he said.

The accused was very weak and ill in appearance, and at the request of his counsel was accommodated with a seat in the witness-box.

Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., then addressed the jury for the defence. He urged that the witnesses for the Crown were nothing more than blackmailers, and as such quite disentitled to belief.

Sir F. Lockwood, the Solicitor-General, in his address, said that in the Queensberry trial the downfall of Oscar Wilde's reputation took place. The prisoner had actually admitted as true what he had first complained of as a libel. And that amounted in substance to an admission of the truth of the present charges.