Compare Documents

London, May 27. - [New York World Special Cable.] - Oscar Wilde after sentence Saturday was taken to Holloway Jail, in the northern part of London, where all his money and valuables were removed by the Warden. He was stripped to his shirt, and an officer wrote down in the prison ledgers a minute account of his appearance, distinctive marks, color of his eyes and hair, his complexion, and any peculiarities, such as a broken finger, tattoo marks, moles, etc. Then he was put in a hot bath and his shirt, the last vestige of his days of freedom, was removed. Emerging from the water he found a full suit of prison clothes ready for him, from under linen to loose shoes, and a hideous Scotch cap. The clothes are of a dirty drab canvas, plentifully adorned with broad arrows. Shortly afterwards he ate his first real prison meal, an allowance of thin porridge and a small brown loaf. Then he was taken to Pentonville, hard by Holborn Viaduct, the prison for convicted criminals.

He was examined physically with great care, since upon the medical officer's report will depend what labor he is set to. If passed sound and fit for first-class hard labor he will take his first month's exercise on the tread-wheel six hours daily, making an ascent of 6,000 feet in twenty minutes, continuously, and then five minutes' rest. During the first month while on the wheel Wilde will sleep on a plank bed, a bare board raised a few inches above the floor and supplied with sheets. Clean sheets are given to each prisoner, two rugs, and a coverlet, but no mattress. He will be allowed no communication with the outside, except by special permission, until he has completed three months of his sentence, and then he may write and receive one letter and be visited for twenty minutes by three friends. While Oscar Wilde's case has absorbed public attention for weeks the records of the London police courts show the offense of which he was convicted comes frequently before magistrates.

The Marquis of Queensberry declares if the Treasury does not reimburse him the £5,000 expended by him in defense of the libel suit which led to the present prosecution he will ask some member to bring the question before Parliament.

LONDON, May 31. - Oscar Wilde is awaiting in Pentonville prison the decision of the powers that be as to the sort of labor which he will have to perform during his first month of imprisonment. He has been examined physically with great care, since upon the medical officer’s report will depend what labor he is to be set to. If he is passed as sound and fit for first class hard labor, he will take his first month’s exercise on a tread wheel, six hours daily, making an ascent of 6000 feet; twenty minutes on continuously, then five minutes’ rest.

The necessity for a close medical examination is obvious before a man is subjected to this labor. Wilde will be subjected to auscultation and percursion and thoroughly overhauled before a decision is made.

During the first month while on the wheel, if put there, Wilde will sleep on a plank bed, a bare board raised a few inches above the floor and supplied with sheets. Clean sheets are given to each prisoner, two rugs and a coverlet, but no mattress. This will be his diet: Breakfast at 7:30 a. m. - Cocoa and bread. Dinner at noon - Bacon and beans one day; soup another; cold Australian meat another, and brown flour suet puddings another, the last three repeated twice a week, potatoes with every dinner.

WILL NOT WRITE PLAYS.

After he has finished his spell on the wheel he will be put to some industrial employment - not play-writing, although it might be most profitable for the prison department, but probably post bag making, tailoring, or merely picking oakum. He will exercise in the open air daily for an hour, walking with the rest of his ward in Indian file, no talking permitted. He will be allowed no communication with the outside except by special permission, until he has completed three months of his sentence. Then he may write and receive one letter and be visited for twenty minutes by three friends, but in the visiting cell, separated from them by blinds made of wire and in the presence of a warden. Letters and visits may be repeated at intervals of three months. But all these concessions depend, first, upon his industry, and next, upon his conduct.

There is no escape from the plank bed until a certain number of marks are awarded for work done, and in the same way letters and visits are accorded.

Wilde will attend chapel every morning and twice on Sundays. He will be visited, if he wishes it, by the chaplain as often as he likes; also daily by the governor or deputy governor. A government inspector will visit him once a month and hear any representation or complaint and the visiting committee of London magistrates will call frequently at the prison for the same laudable purpose.

On his release, Wilde, if he worked well and behaved well, will have earned the munificent sum of 10s. ($2.50), which he can have all at once, or it will be doled out to him by an agent of the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society, if he (Wilde) elects to apply to that excellent institution when once more free.

When Wilde was taken to Holloway Jail after his sentence all his money and valuables were taken away from him by the warden, he was stripped to the shirt and an officer wrote down in the prison registry a minute account of his appearance, the color of his eyes, hair and complexion, and any peculiarities, such as a broken finger, tattoo marks, moles, etc. Then Wilde was put in a hot bath, and his shirt - the last vestige of his days of freedom - was removed. Emerging from the water he found a full suit of prison clothes ready for him, from under linen to loose shoes and a hideous Scotch cap. His clothes are of dirty drab canvas, plentifully adorned with broad arrows.