The San Francisco Call - Saturday, April 6, 1895

LONDON, ENG., April 5. -- The jury in the case of Oscar Wilde against the Marquis of Queensberry found that the plea of justification submitted by Queensberry was proved, and the Marquis was discharged from custody. The verdict was received with loud applause from the spectators, which the Judge did not check.

A warrant for the arrest of Wilde was promptly applied for, copies of all the witnesses' statements and the shorthand notes of the trial having been furnished the public prosecution.

Early in the afternoon Lord Alfred drove to the bank, cashed a check and returned to the hotel. Soon after both Wilde and Alfred drove away. Wilde was arrested at the Cadogan Hotel. He was taken in a cab by two detectives to Scotland Yard.

Wilde was very pale but cool when he arrived at Scotland Yard. At 8:10 p.m. Wilde was arraigned. The prisoner remained silent throughout the proceedings. He was then taken to Bow street and placed in the docket in the police station. Here he stood with his hands in his pockets while the charge against him was being taken. A police inspector then read the charge aloud and asked Wilde if he had anything to say, adding the usual warning that anything he said might be used against him. The prisoner remained silent and apparently indifferent.

He was then searched, after which he was locked in a cell. Shortly after he had been locked up one of his friends arrived in a carriage at the station with a Gladstone bag containing a change of clothing and other necessaries, but the police refused to permit him to leave it. Later Lord Alfred Douglass went to the police station and inquired whether Wilde could be admitted to bail. The police inspector explained that Wilde had been arrested for a criminal offense, which did not allow of bail being accepted until he had been arraigned in court.

Lord Alfred was greatly distressed by this information. He was told by the inspector that Wilde had a blanket and all requisites in his cell to be as comfortable as the regulations allowed. The prisoner would be allowed to receive food from a hotel until to-morrow, when he will be arraigned on a charge regarding the penal offense.

San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday, April 6, 1895

Special Dispatch to the CHRONICLE.

LONDON, April 5. -- The career of Oscar Wilde ended to-day in the blackest infamy. All London is saying to-night that it is a pity the miserable creature had not sufficient pluck to blow out his brains before the police seized him and put him behind bolts and bars to await punishment for crimes of which he is already proved guilty.

Those who were his friends until his guilt was established by his own admissions under yesterday's merciless cross-examination, urged him last night to take the shortest road to oblivion, which they declared was the proper sequel to the exposure of his character. The poor fool imagined it still possible to brazen it out, so he persuaded his lawyer, who refused to go on with the case, to bring the trial to a close by withdrawing the charges against Lord Queensberry.

This was done and then the fact was brought home to Wilde that although nominally prosecutor, it was he and not the Marquis of Queensberry who was really on trial. Even the prompt verdict of the jury declaring explicitly that the infamous charge against him was true did not make the strange creature realize his position.

He wrote a note to the evening newspaper declaring that he was unable to prove his innocence, except by putting Lord Alfred Douglas in the witness box, and that he preferred to suffer shame rather than allow the son to testify against the father.

This was simply imbecile, because nothing has been adduced in the trial about the relations between Wilde and Lord Douglas. There is reason to believe the disgraced man was prepared to flee from the country, but the English law for once acted with commendable promptness. Red tape was cut. The Public Prosecutor applied for a warrant within two hours after the dramatic collapse of the case in court, and to-night the man who a few days ago was a pampered exquisite lies on a plank bed in an eight-by-four cell in the Bow-street police station.

The charge against him, for some reason not explained, is not felony, but misdemeanor, and the maximum penalty is two years at hard labor, but the Grand Jury may change the indictment to a more serious offense.

He must remain in jail until the trial takes place in May, for the magistrate is certain to refuse to accept bail.

The London newspapers have printed far more about the matter than has been telegraphed to the American press. The great morning dailies like the Times and Telegraph have given their readers 6000 to 12,000 words daily of the court proceedings.

Many seats which had been purchased at the Haymarket and St. James Theaters, where Wilde's plays, "The Ideal Husband" and "The Importance of Being Earnest," are running, were empty tonight. The audiences were small and there was a smaller proportion of ladies than usual, but no demonstration of any kind.

The Leader published an interview with Lord Douglas, in which the latter says: "Myself and every member of the family except father disbelieve all the charges. We think them simply part of the persecution father has carried on against us ever since I can remember, and that Mr. Wilde and his counsel are to blame for not showing, as they should have done, that that was the fact."

The Chronicle says: It suffices us to know as some return for undamming the public tidal wave that our life is rid forever of a pestiferous poser of decadence which has received its death blow, and the way is cleared for increased wholesomeness in life. We seem for some unhappy purpose to have been shuddering witnesses of a revival of society under the late Roman empire, or against the dark background of the Italian Renaissance.

WILDE ABANDONS THE SUIT. A Verdict of Justification Given for the Marquis.

LONDON, April 5.-The sensational libel suit of Oscar Wilde against the Marquis of Queensberry came to an abrupt end to-day, and Wilde is now under arrest charged with the crimes of which he was accused by the Marquis.

Before 10 o'clock every available foot of space in the Old Bailey courtroom was filled with spectators armed with newspapers and packages of sandwiches and otherwise ready to spend the day in court in the most comfortable manner possible.

The Marquis entered the court at 10:20 o'clock, looking calm and confident of the result. Promptly at 10:30 o'clock Justice Collins entered and court was opened. Oscar Wilde, however, was absent.

Edward M. Carson, leading counsel for the defense, resumed his speech, which was not concluded yesterday when the court adjourned. Carson said he hoped he had demonstrated that the Marquis was justified in bringing to a climax in the way he did the connection between his son, Lord Alfred Douglas, and Wilde.

Continuing, the counsel said he now approached the more painful duty. It would be his task to call several young men who would tell their own tales, and who would show that the man Taylor, frequently referred to during the proceedings, was Wilde's procurer.

It was no wonder the Marquis of Queensberry protested against the intimacy between his son and Wilde. The wonder was, the counsel said, that this man had been so long tolerated in London society.

Wilde's conduct regarding the boy at Worthing, continued Carson, was an instance of his disgusting audacity. He picked up this boy on the pier and introduced him to his family, and dressed him up as a gentleman.

Carson was continuing his terrible denunciation of Oscar Wilde when Sir Edward Clarke and other of the witnesses for the plaintiff left the courtroom for consultation. They soon returned and Sir Edward asked for permission to interrupt the proceedings.

Then, amid the most oppressive silence, the leading counsel for the plaintiff announced the withdrawal of the case on behalf of his client.

The chief concern of Sir Edward Clarke seemed to be his desire to justify himself in undertaking the case for Wilde. He said that after consulting with his client,-who, by the way, was in the room to which his counsel had adjourned, but left the building hurriedly when Sir Edward Clarke began his statement-he asked to withdraw the suit and on Wilde's behalf counsel said he did this more especially in view of the extracts which had been read in court from Wilde's novel of modern social life, "Dorian Gray," and from a magazine, The Chameleon.

Carson here interposed, saying if there was to be a verdict of not guilty it also involved a verdict of justification, as the case of his client must succeed upon that plea.

Justice Collins said that as to the jury putting any limit on their verdict, the words on the Marquis' card were either justified or not justified. If the jury consented to the course suggested and were to return a verdict of not guilty, they were also to find that the justification set up by the defense was true in substance and in fact, and that the words complained of were published for the public benefit.

The jurymen consulted together for a moment, and then without leaving their seats returned a verdict as directed by Judge Collins, namely, that the Marquis of Queensberry was not guilty of libel and that the words he had written on a card, which formed the basis of the suit, were published in the interests of the public.

The verdict was received with loud applause in court, and Justice Collins made no attempt to check it. The Marquis of Queensberry was then discharged from custody and left the court triumphant, smiling and surrounded by his friends.

The defense, it appears, had a long array of witnesses on hand, including waiters employed in the hotels of Paris, London and other cities which Wilde had visited.

Later in the day application was made at the Bow-street Police Court for a warrant for the arrest of Wilde, and the magistrate granted the application. He was subsequently arrested at the Cadogan Hotel.

The officials of the Treasury Department, under which branch of the Government public prosecutions are directed, visited the Bow-street Police Court several times this afternoon previous to granting the warrant for Oscar Wilde's arrest. Upon the last visit they were accompanied by a detective and two boys.

After a short consultation between the Treasury officials and Sir John Bridge, during which several questions were addressed to the detective and the boys, the magistrate issued the warrant.

Wilde spent several hours in company with Lord Alfred Douglas at the Hotel Holborn. His brougham was waiting in front of the hotel. Early in the afternoon Lord Alfred drove to the bank, cashed a check and returned to the hotel. Soon after both Wilde and Alfred drove away.

Wilde, after his arrest at the Cadogan Hotel, was taken in a cab by two detectives to Scotland Yard.

Wilde wore an ulster and a silk hat. He was very pale, but cool, when he arrived at Scotland Yard.

Wilde had merely called at the Cadogan Hotel with a couple of friends, when at 6:30 o'clock a detective walked into the office and asked for him. He was shown the room where Wilde was and put him under arrest.

Wilde said nothing, but immediately went with the detective, who took him to Scotland Yard, where the warrant was read. The prisoner remained silent throughout the proceedings. He was then taken to Bow street. He was not arraigned in the Police Court, but was placed on the docket in the police station. There he stood with his hands in his pockets while the charge against him was being taken.

A police inspector then read the charge aloud and asked Wilde if he had anything to say, adding the usual warning that anything he said might be used against him. The prisoner remained silent and apparently indifferent. He was then searched, after which he was locked in a cell.

Shortly after he had been locked up one of his friends appeared in a carriage at the station with a Gladstone bag containing a change of clothing and other necessaries, but the police refused to permit him to leave it.

Later Lord Alfred Douglas went to the police station and inquired whether Wilde could be admitted to bail. The police inspector explained that Wilde had been arrested for a criminal offense which did not allow of bail being accepted until he had been arraigned in court. Lord Alfred was greatly distressed by this information.

He was told by the inspector that Wilde had a blanket and all requisites in his cell to be as comfortable as the regulations allowed. The prisoner would be allowed to receive food from a hotel until to-morrow, when he will be arraigned on the charge made against him.

The name of Oscar Wilde has been withdrawn from the play bills and advertisements of the two theaters, the St. James and the Haymarket, where two of his plays are running.

Oscar Wilde has written a letter to the newspapers, in which he says: "It was not possible to prove my case without putting Lord Alfred Douglas in the witness-box against his father. Lord Alfred was extremely anxious to go into the box, but I would not allow it. Rather than put him in such a painful position I determined to retire from the case-to bear upon my own shoulders whatever shame and ignominy might result from not prosecuting the Marquis of Queensberry."

TREE REFUSES TO TALK. He Deplores That His Name Was Mentioned at All.

BALTIMORE, April 5.-Beerbohm Tree, the English actor, whose name was mentioned in yesterday's proceedings of the Queensberry-Wilde case at London, refused to comment upon the subject further than to say that his only connection with the case was the handing over to Wilde of a communication which he had received concerning the latter.

Mr. Tree expressed keen regret that his name had been linked, even remotely, with so scandalous an affair.

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