Compare Documents

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.

LONDON, April 5.

The now famous Wilde libel suit was continued to-day. Before 10 o'clock this morning every available foot of space in the court room was filled with spectators, who were armed with newspapers and packages of sandwiches, and who were otherwise read to spend the day in court in the happiest and most comfortable manner possible. The Marquis of Queesberry at 10 A. M. entered the court, looking calm and confident of the result. Promptly at 10:30 A. M. Justice Collins entered and the court was opened. Oscar Wilde, however, was absent.

Edward M. Carson, Q. C., M. P., leading counsel for the defendant, resumed his speech, which was not concluded yesterday when the court adjourned. Mr. Carson said that 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, counsel said that he was now approaching a more painful duty. It would be his painful duty, he said, to put upon the witness stand men who would speak freely of the nature of their connection with the plaintiff Wilde. The ages of these men varied from 18 to 23 years. They were of the class of valets, servants, etc., not belonging to Mr. Wilde's station in life, not interested in literature or art, yet they addressed this distinguished dramatist by his Christian name, Oscar, he in turn calling them Charlie, Freddie, etc.

THE TRIAL SUDDENLY ENDED.

It was no wonder, counsel went on to say, that the Marquis of Queensberry protested against the intimacy between his son and Wilde. The wonder is, counsel said, that this man has been so long tolerated in London society. Wilde's conduct in regard to the boy at Worthington, continued Mr. Carson, was an instance of his disgusting audacity. He picked up this boy on the pier and introduced him to his family, dressed him up as a gentleman and put public school colors upon his hat.

Mr. Carson was continuing his terrible denunciation of Oscar Wilde, when Sir Edward Clarke and others of Wilde's counsel left the room for consultation. They soon returned and Sir Edward asked for permission to interrupt the proceedings. Then, amid a most impressive 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 adjourned, and who left the building hurriedly when Sir Edward Clarke began his statement, he asked to withdraw the suit and on Wilde's behalf to submit to a verdict for the Marquis of not guilty in regard to the words written. Counsel said that 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 Grey," and from the magazine, the Chameleon. Mr. Carson here interposed, saying that if there was to be a verdict of not guilty, it also involves a verdict of justification, as the case of his client must succeed upon that plea.

QUEENSBERRY DISCHARGED.

Justice Collins said, as to the jury putting any limit on their verdict, that the words written 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, they returned a verdict as directed by Justice Collins, namely, that the Marquis of Queensberry was not guilty of libel and that the words he had written on the 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.

WILDE IN A POLICE CELL The Apostle of Aesthetics a Prisoner in the Bow Street Station.

LONDON, April 5. - Oscar Wilde was this evening arrested by a Scotland Yard detective. Immediately after the discharge of the Marquis of Queensberry to-day his counsel wrote to the Public Prosecutor, enclosing copies of the statements made by all the witnesses for the defense, and also enclosing the shorthand notes taken at the trial. Later in the day application was made at the Bow Street Police Court, before Sir John Bridge, the presiding Magistrate, for a warrant for the arrest of Oscar Wilde, and the Magistrate granted the application.

Wilde spent several hours, in company with Lord Alfred Douglas, at a hotel in Holburn. His brougham was waiting in front of the hotel, and after leaving he went to the Westminster Bank, where he drew out the funds to his account. He was constantly shadowed. He returned to the hotel, accompanied by Lord Alfred Douglas only. Remaining a few minutes, they drove to Ely Place, and thence to the Cadogan Hotel. At half-past 6 a detective walked into the office and asked for him. The officer was told that Wilde was not staying there, but the detective was not to be put off with any such technical explanation and insisted, whether Wilde was staying there or not, that the man he wanted to see was in the hotel. He was thereupon shown a room, and upon entering found Wilde sitting down. The officer at once told Wilde that he was under arrest and bade him prepare to accompany him. 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.

OSCAR LOCKED UP.

On his arrival at Bow street he was placed in the dock. 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 apparently indifferent and made no reply. 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 small 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 other requisites in his cell to be as comfortable as the police regulations allowed. The prisoner will be allowed to receive food from a hotel until to-morrow, when he will be arraigned in court on a charge involving a penal offense.

QUEENSBERRY'S THREAT.

In an interview this afternoon the Marquis of Queensberry said: "I have sent this message to Wilde: 'If the country allows you to leave, all the better for the country; but if you take my son with you, I will follow you wherever you go and shoot you.'"

Sworn informations have been lodged against several persons mentioned in the trial, some of whose names were not made public, and the civil officers are only waiting the authority to make the arrests. It is learned that the solicitor who applied at the Bow Street Police Court for the warrant for immediate execution was Mr. Lewis, Solicitor of the Treasury.

Previous to his arrest Wilde wrote a letter to the newspapers in which he says: "It was impossible 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 and bear upon my own shoulders whatever shame and ignominy might result from not prosecuting the Marquis of Queensberry."

The name of Oscar Wilde has been withdrawn from the playbills and advertisement of the two theatres, the St. James and the Haymarket, where two of his plays are running.

Tree's Connection With the Case.

BALTIMORE, April 5. - Beerbohm Tree, the English actor, whose name was mentioned in yesterday's proceedings of the Queensberry-Wilde case at London, refuses to comment upon the subject further than to say that his only connection with the case was the handing over to Wilde of an anonymous communication which he received concerning the latter. Mr. Tree expressed keen regret that his name had been linked, even remotely, with so scandalous an affair.