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Nelson Evening Mail - Monday, April 8, 1895
London, April 6.
Oscar Wilde has been arrested.
Oscar Wilde publishes a letter stating that he abandoned the case in order to avoid placing Lord Douglas in the witness box. After a warrant had been issued for Wilde's arrest, the police detained three essential witnesses; Lord Douglas and two men remained in conference with Wilde at the Viaduct Hotel for several hours after the trial, and lunched together in a private room. Subsequently they drove to a bank, where Wilde withdrew a large sum of money. He was then lost sight of until arrested in the evening at an hotel in Sloane-street. Lord Douglas was much distressed when he found he was unable to bail him out. After the trial the Marquis of Queensberry sent Oscar Wilde a message stating that he would shoot him if he took his son abroad. Taylor has also been arrested, and will be charged in conjunction with Wilde. The latter's name has been withdrawn from the playbills of the London and American theatres.
[Special.]
April 4.
In the course of his evidence, Oscar Wilde explained the effusive language of the letters addressed to Lord Douglas as the natural expression of an artist attracted by a beautiful personality. The Marquis of Queensberry visited his residence and threatened Wilde, to which the latter responded with "You are the most infamous brute in London!"
The Press - Friday, April 5, 1895
LONDON, April 4.
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's son), which were found in the pockets of his old clothes when given away. The defence is based on the revelations in these letters.
Mr Wilde explained the effusive language of the letters addressed to Lord Douglas as the natural expression of an artist attracted by a beautiful personality. The Marquis of Queensberry visited his residence and threatened Wilde, to which that gentleman responded with "You are the most infamous brute in London."
Wilde was subjected to stringent cross-examination with the view of showing that "Dorian Grey" and some articles in the magazine, the Chameleon, with which he is connected, were of an immoral tendency. Wilde insisted that they were merely the expression of an artistic faculty. His letters to Lord Alfred Douglas were prose poems, extraordinary perhaps, but not justifying an immoral interpretation. He admitted that he gave one of his alleged blackmailers £21 and lunched with him in a private room afterwards.
The case was adjourned, the defendant being admitted to bail.