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 Cincinnati Enquirer - Sunday, May 26, 1895

LONDON, May 25. — Oscar Wilde's trial having reached its final stage, the old Bailey Courtroom was filled with interested spectators almost as soon as the doors were opened to-day. Sir Frank Lockwood, the Solicitor General, resumed his address to the jury, which he had just begun when Court adjourned yesterday. The prisoner's intimacy with Lord Alfred Douglas, and the exhibition of the younger man by the elder one at hotels and public places in and about London, was severely commented upon by counsel.

Referring to the much-commented upon letters which Wilde wrote to Lord Alfred Douglas, counsel said that the jury had been told they were too low to appreciate such poetry, and he thanked God it was so, as it showed they were above the level of beasts. (Applause, which the Judge promptly suppressed.)

Sir Edward Clarke, leading counsel for Wilde, here interposed objections to such appeals as the one just made by Sir Frank Lockwood, which, counsel claimed, should not be allowed.

When Sir Frank Lockwood continued his speech, he warned the jury to render a verdict which would prevent "such a detestable and abominable vice to rear its head unblushingly in this country."

Justice Willis began summing up at 1:30 p. m. The general tenor of his address to the jury was favorable to Wilde.

The jury retired at 3:30 p. m.

PRONOUNCE HIM GUILTY.

The jury returned to Court at 5:30 p. m., after having been absent two hours, and returned a verdict of guilty against the defendant. Wilde was sentenced to two years' imprisonment at hard labor.

Alfred Taylor, Wilde's associate, was also sentenced to two years' imprisonment at hard labor.

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 men whose name had been brought prominently into the case, a warrant for Lord Alfred's arrest had ever been issued. The judge replied that he thought not. The foreman then asked if it had ever been contemplated to issue a warrant for the arrest of Lord Alfred Douglas. To this the Judge replied that he could not say, and the Court adjourned for lunch.

When Court reassembled for business the Judge said that the suspicion that Lord Alfred Douglas woudl be spared if guilty, simply because he was Lord Alfred Douglas, was a wild idea, and a matter which they could not discuss. The present inquiry was as the whether the man in the dock was guilty of immoral practice with certain persons.

The jury found Wilde guilty of all the counts of the indictment, including the charge with reference to persons unknown, who were also pronounced to be guilty. This probably refers to the Savoy Hotel evidence, to which place Wilde was accused of taking Charles Parker, a gentleman's servant, after treating the latter to a choice dinner at Kettner's restaurant. The announcement of the verdict

CAUSED A GREAT SENSATION

In Court, as it was the general impression that Wilde would escape conviction.

After a short interval the Judge called Wilde and Taylor, who was convicted of immoral practices last week, to the bar and they were each sentenced as already cabled to two years' imprisonment at hard labor.

While the jury was out, at the request of the representative of the Associated Press, Wilde's counsel procured the following signed statement from Wilde, who was waiting in the prisoners' room below the dock:

"The charges alleged against me are entirely untrue. Youth in every form always fascinated me, because youth has naturally that temperament to which the artists try to attain. All works of art are work produced in the moment of youth. I have no sense at all of social grades. I love society and the rich and well born, on account of their luxury, culture, the grace of their lives, the external accidents of comity life. But any one, plowboy, fisherman or street arab has an interest for me. More humanity is so wonderful. I do not ask of the young what they do. I do not care who they are. Their ignorance has its mode of wisdom: their lack of culture leaves them open to fresh and vivid impressions. "OSCAR WILDE."

The document from which the above statement is cabled to the Associated Press is written throughout in Wilde's own writing, which is extremely graceful and firm, on a sheet of foolscap paper, and is signed with a flourish.

When the foreman of the jury delivered the verdict wilde, who had entered the prisoners' dock a moment before, rose from the chair upon which he had been seated throughout the trial, and stood with his arms on the rail of the dock. The silence which prevailed throughout the courtroom was really painful as 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 crime, lost to all sense of remorse for what you have done. To think that you, Taylor, should be the keeper of a male brothel and that you, Wilde, a man of reputed culture, should be such a perverter of young men. there is no doubt but that the verdict

IS A JUST ONE,

And I shall give you the full pensity 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 eyes 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.

As Wilde turned in the dock and prepared to go to the prisoners' room the crowd present cried "Shame! Shame!"

This shouting caused Justice Wills to rise and exclaim in a loud and determined voice, "Silence! Silence!"

During the time the jury was debating upon the verdict Lord Douglas of Hawick strolled out of the courtroom and into the courtyard, where he walked about nervously, smoking a cigarette. His face still shows traces of his recent encounter with his father, his left eye being much discolored. During the final stages of Wilde's trial to-day there was an immense crowd in front of the Old Bailey, and the windows of all the neighboring houses were filled with highly interested spectators.

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