Compare Documents

London, May 21. - Alfred Taylor, who was jointly charged with Oscar Wilde with indecencies, was convicted this afternoon by a jury in Bow Street Court. Sentence was postponed. Taylor was indicted with Wilde, but by means which excited great indignation the trials were made separate. Taylor was tried first and Wilde released on bail. Taylor is wealthy, his father having left him an immense fortune. It is said his apartments where the orgies in which he, Wilde, and the Parker brothers took part were furnished at an outlay of $200,000. Before his trial he threatened, if he were convicted, to make public details which would connect with the scandal the names of some of the most prominent personages in England.

The feature of the trial today was a passage at arms between Sir Frank Lockwood, the Solicitor General and member of parliament for York, and Sir Edward Clarke, counsel for Wilde and formerly Solicitor-General. The latter interposed an objection, whereupon Sir Frank Lockwood replied severely: "You are not in this case."

The Marquis of Queensberry was among those present in court today. Wilde will be tried tomorrow.

NEW YORK, May 21. - The Herald's London correspondent cables as follows: The Marquis of Queensberry will to-morrow morning, for the second time in the last three months, appear in the Police Court. This time, however, he will be attended by his eldest son, Lord Douglas of Lowick. Both father and son are charged with disorderly conduct. As to the events which led to this unpleasant conclusion, rumors of the most erratic character have been floating around the London clubs tonight. No two stories agree in detail. I am able, however, from the testimony of disinterested eye-witnesses to give the exact facts, as they will be revealed.

About 5:15 o'clock this evening, Lord Queensberry crossed over Piccadilly in the direction of Albemarle street, where his hotel is situated. As he reached the corner of the latter street and Piccadilly he was met by his son, who appeared to be in an excited condition, and, apparently without any preliminaries beyond asking his father how he dared send insulting letters to Lady Douglas, pushed rather than struck the elder man. The latter was staggered somewhat and his hat fell off, but, recovering himself, he struck out at his son.

At this juncture a policeman appeared on the scene and putting his arm between the two asked them both to refrain from making a scene. Lord Douglas, however, in returning his father’s blow, struck the policeman a violent blow in the mouth, though, of course, only accidentally. After a short discussion the gentleman in blue somewhat wisely retired from the scene, but the combatants, a few yards further along Piccadilly, resumed their verbal altercation and eventually came again to actual blows.

In short, in the sharp encounter which followed the author of the Queensberry rules put his pugilistic theories into practice and when the police, who had reappeared, separated them Lord Douglas was the possessor of a scientifically discolored eye.

Both representatives of the noble house of Douglas were then incontinently marched off to the Vine-street police station, where a charge of disorderly conduct was preferred against them. As they were perfectly well known they were allowed to depart when they had entered their own recognizances to the sum of £2 to appear in court to-morrow morning.

These are the facts of the actual encounter. As to the preliminary matters which led thereto, I cannot do better than quote Lord Queensberry himself, whom I saw this evening, and whose account of the occurrence, by the way, tallies perfectly with the above. "I should like first of all," said he, "to impress upon you that, as I shall have an opportunity of putting upon record to-morrow morning, I was not the aggressor. I had just returned from the Old Bailey, where I had heard a jury find Taylor guilty, and had sent away my cab opposite St. James’ Place.

"I then walked up St. James street and was hurrying over to Albemarle street when, by a coincidence which seems almost fateful, I saw my son some hundred yards away. He caught sight of me at the same time and at once charged down upon me, and after a few angry words attempted to assault me. Even after we were first separated by the police my son was for the second time the aggressor. However, this is the matter which I suppose I shall have to explain to the satisfaction of the Magistrate to-morrow morning.

"As to the reason of this attack by my son I can only imagine that he was annoyed by the events of the day and felt foolishly exasperated against me. As to the letter which he accused me of sending to his wife that was, on my part, in the nature of a joke. I was struck with a certain resemblance lurking in this picture," and the Marquis held up to view a drawing from one of the weekly illustrated papers depicting a huge iguanodon as it is supposed to have appeared in prehistoric contemporaries. There was a touch of the humorous about the beast's attitude, and the Marquis could not refrain from chuckling as he drew my attention to it.

"I sent a copy of the picture," he continued, "to my son’s wife indorsing it as well as I remember, as the possible ancestor of Oscar Wilde, and intending it more as a good nature joke than anything else. Of course, I regard this evening’s affairs as very painful from one point of view, but from another I am rather glad of it. There has been bad blood between my son and myself for some time, and I think this encounter may probably let some of it out. At all events I feel more kindly disposed toward him than I have been for some years past, and I think very possibly he may think all the better of me." And I left the Marquis chuckling anew over his comic picture of the iguanodon.

CONVICTION OF TAYLOR. His Sentence Deferred Until After the Trial of Wilde.

LONDON, May 21. - The jury to-day returned a verdict of guilty in the case of Alfred Taylor.

The feature of the trial to-day was the passage at arms between Sir Frank Lockwood, Solicitor-General and member of parliament for York, and Sir Edward Clarke, counsel for Wilde, formerly Solicitor-General.

The latter interposed an objection, whereupon Sir Frank Lockwood replied severely, "You are not in this case."

Taylor was called to the stand and repeated the statements made in his previous trial. Replying to a question in regard to the visitors at his room he asked to be allowed to write their names. The Judge said: "If the names are written I will read them aloud. I do not approve of mystery."

Taylor did not write the names, but mentioned a few who have been connected with the case. There were no notable names among them. He denied that he had gone through a marriage ceremony with a man named Mason. After the libel trial of Wilde against Lord Queensberry, the latter’s solicitor, he said, had asked him to make a statement against Wilde, but this he had refused to do. He admitted that he had written a letter to the man Mason, signing himself "With love."

The evidence was ended with Taylor's testimony, and counsel began their addresses to the jury. The Judge, in summing up the evidence, directed the jury to acquit Taylor as regarded his complicity with the young man Wood, leaving them to decide upon three charges on which Taylor is alleged to be guilty. The jury retired at 3:25 P.M. The Marquis of Queensberry occupied a seat in court.

When the jury returned to the courtroom and was polled the foreman stated that they could not agree as to whether the prisoner had procured Charles Parker for Wilde or that Wilde had committed acts of indecency with Parker. They, however, found Taylor guilty on two counts in regard to Charles and William Parker. Taylor’s sentence was delayed until a verdict shall be reached in the trial of Wilde, which will begin tomorrow before a fresh jury.