The North American - Monday, May 27, 1895

London, May 26 — Oscar Wilde was yesterday found guilty on the charges of committing immoral offences, and with Taylor, his accomplice, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment at hard labor.

When the foreman of the jury delivered the verdict, Wilde, who had entered the prisoner’s dock a moment before, rose from the chair on which he had been seated throughout the trial and stood with his arms on the rail. Justice Wills ordered that Alfred Taylor should also be summoned before him. Then in a voice trembling with emotion, the Justice said: "I never before had such a shocking case as this to deal with. Two men such as you are by the very nature of your crimes lost to all sense of remorse for what you have done. There is no doubt but that the verdict is a just one, and I shall give you the full penalty allowed by law, and I only regret that it is not more severe. You are both sentenced to hard labor for the term of two years."

Wilde did not look at the Judge while the sentence was being pronounced. His eves roved around the courtroom, his face never changed color, and he looked like a man who had made up his mind to make the best of a bad situation. Taylor smiled when sentence was pronounced.

During the address of Justice Wills to the jury, the foreman of the jury asked whether, in view of the intimacy between Lord Alfred Douglas and Alfred Wood, one of the men whose names have been brought prominently into the case, a warrant for Lord Alfred’s arrest had ever bene issues. The Judge replied that he thought not. The foreman asked if it had ever been contemplated to issue a warrant for the arrest of Lord Alfred Douglas. To this the Judge replied that the could not say.

Wilde and Taylor attended the prison chapel at Pentonville today. Their hair was cropped, and they were in the prison garb. The two prisoners will only be allowed to see their friends four times in the year on condition of their good conduct.

The Boston Post - Sunday, May 26, 1895

LONDON, May 25. - Oscar Wilde was today found guilty of the charges against him, and, with Alfred Taylor, sentence to two years at hard labor.

Sir Frank Lockwood, in summing up for the crown, denounced Wilde's "prose poems," asking that the jury consider them at their proper level.

The judge, in summing up, said that Wilde had confessed that his conduct in regard to Lord Alfred Douglas had been such that he (the judge) could not ask the jury in the previous trial to say that there was no ground for charging him with having posed as a criminal.

The judge, in the course of his remarks to the jury, dealt with each of the charges contained in the indictment, his opinion being plainly and strongly against the prisoner. In regard to Wilde's letters to Lord Alfred Douglas, he said they might be "prose poems," but they were nonetheless poison to a young man's mind, and the writer was clearly not a desirable companion for the young.

The judge finished his charge at 3 o'clock and the jury retired.

Before the jury retired the foreman asked the court if a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Lord Alfred Douglas.

The judge said that no warrant had been issued, whereupon the foreman said: "But if we must consider these letters as evidence of guilt, they surely show that Lord Alfred Douglas’s guilt is equal to that of Wilde."

After the verdict had been rendered, Sir Edward Clark, on behalf of Wilde, and counsel for Alfred Taylor, made application for a postponement of sentence.

The judge peremptorily refused to grant the application, and in his remarks described the offences of which the prisoners were guilty as the most heinous that had ever come to his notice. The judge then sentenced Wilde and Taylor to two years’ imprisonment at hard labor, the maximum penalty.

When the sentence was pronounced Wilde appeared to be stunned.

As the last word of the sentence was uttered the apostle of estheticism was hurried to his cell, a felon.

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