The Thames Advertiser - Friday, April 5, 1895

THE LIBEL CASE.

London, April 4.

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

New Zealand Times - Friday, April 5, 1895

London, April 3.

Immense crowds attend the trial of the Marquis of Queensberry on the charge of libelling Oscar Wilde.

The evidence adduced to-day showed that Wilde paid heavy blackmail to recover his gushing letters to Lord Alfred Douglas (the Marquis's son), which were found in the pockets of old clothes that had been given away. The defence is based on the revelations contained in these letters.

Received April 4, 10.40 p.m.

London, April 4.

Mr Wilde was subjected to a stringent cross-examination with the view of showing that "Dorian Grey," and some articles in the magazine Chameleon, with which he is connected, are of an immoral tendency.

Wilde insisted they are merely an expression of the artistic faculty. His letters to 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 has been adjourned, and the defendant admitted to bail.

Special.—Received April 4, 10 p.m.

London, April 4.

In the course of his evidence, 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 the latter responded with—

"You are the most infamous brute in London!"

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