The Ashburton Guardian - Thursday, April 4, 1895

London, April 3

Immense crowds attend the trial of the Marquis of Queensberry on a charge of libelling Oscar Wilde. The evidence adduced to-day showed that Wilde paid heavy blackmail for his gushing letters to Lord Alfred Douglas (the Marquis' son), which were found in the pockets of old clothes when given away. The defence is based on revelations in these letters.

North Otago Times - Friday, April 5, 1895

Immense crowds attended the trial of the Marquis of Queensberry on the charge of libelling Oscar Wilde. The evidence adduced to-day showed that Wilde had paid heavy blackmail for his gushing letters to Lord Alfred Douglas (the Marquis' son), which were found in the pockets of old clothes when given away. The defense is based on revelations in these letters.

Oscar Wilde was subjected to a stringent cross-examination, with a view to showing that "Dorian Grey" and some articles in the magazine Chameleon, with which he is connected, are of an immoral tendency. Wilde insisted that they are merely the expression of an artistic faculty. His letters to Lord A. Douglas were prose poems, extraordinary, perhaps, but not justifying an immoral interpretation. He admitted that he gave one of his alleged black-mailers L21, and lunched with him in a private room afterwards. The case has been adjourned. Defendant was admitted to bail.

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