Compare Documents

LONDON, April 5. - To find a parallel for sensation created in London by the collapse of Oscar Wilde's prosecution of Lord Queensberry and his arrest it is necessary to go back to the exposure and flight of Forger Pigott during the Parnell commission. Still, since Wilde’s first day’s testimony, this result was quite foreseen, the expectation being that the jury would have stopped the trial and returned a verdict for Queensberry. Wilde's lawyers acted wisely in consenting to a verdict at the stage the suit had reached, for if Queensberry's witnesses had been examined the judge would have no option but to have issued a warrant for Wilde’s arrest on a charge entailing a maximum of twenty years’ imprisonment, whereas upon the evidence already unfolded, if he is convicted, it can only be of a misdemeanor, for which the maximum is but two years.

Wilde looked and altered man this morning as he slunk into the court building. Hitherto he has been dressed in the last note of fashion and faultlessly groomed, but this morning his clothes were creased and tumbled on as though he had not changed them during the night. His long hair was disarranged, his eyes bloodshot, his complexion ghastly; altogether the aspect of a man who had passed a wakeful and anxious night.

He stated to an interviewer in a nervous tone quite unlike his flippant audacity as a witness that he had withdrawn from the case to spare Lord Alfred Douglass the pain of testifying against his father. He also added that he had willingly sacrificed himself for his friends. But that was the hollowest bluff, the truth being that Wilde’s chief lawyer, Sir Edward Clarke, decided after the close of Thursday’s proceedings to withdraw from the suit. This decision was immediately communicated to Oscar; hence the sleepless, hopeless night he passed with his friend, Lord Alfred Douglass.

Wilde’s wife is staying with her children at their residence in Fite street. The unhappy lady is distressed with grief at the calamity that has overtaken her family. Mrs. Wilde has about £500 a year of her own, and for the last three years she has received no financial help from her husband. Wilde’s mother, Lady Wilde, also lives in Chelsea, where she has a literary "at home" once a week. She is now 75, and in her younger days was one of the most brilliant contributors of the famous Irish Nationalist newspaper, "The Nation," in which she wrote over the name of "Speranza."

Oscar Wilde, if he had any political opinion, was a Radical, and ten years ago was anxious to enter Parliament. It should be recorded in his favor that he was always very good to his mother, and had supplemented her small income since the success of his plays enabled him to do so. Two of Wilde’s plays, "The Ideal Husband" and "The Importance of Being in Earnest," are now running at London theatres. The former was to have been removed to the Criterion from Beerbohm Tree’s theatre on Monday, but it will now be allowed to drop. The other, which is being played by Mr. Alexander, will also close immediately. He has had a piece ready to replace it ever since the beginning of the police court proceedings.

Booking for both pieces has steadily declined. The London public will never tolerate the performance of any more of Wilde's plays. Thus his principle means of livelihood is gone, and as he lives very extravagantly, he has saved nothing from the large income he has made for some years.

Mrs. Oscar Wilde is distracted by grief. She has about $2,500 a year of her own. For the last three years she has received no financial help from her husband. Wilde's mother, Lady Wilde, also lives in Chelsea, where she has literary At Homes once a week. She is 75 ears old. In her young days she was one of the most brilliant contributors to the famous Irish Nationalist newspaper, the Nation, for which she wrote over the name of Speranza.