The San Francisco Examiner - Sunday, April 7, 1895

LONDON, April 6. - Oscar Wilde has been remanded and bail refused. Crowds of people besieged the neighborhood of Bow street this morning, and Bow-street Police Court was filled with interested spectators immediately after the doors were opened. Among those who succeeded in pressing their way into court was one good-looking middle-aged woman. All were anxious to see Oscar Wilde, whose arrest yesterday, following close upon the sensational termination of his suit for libel against the Marquis of Queensberry, is discussed on all sides. Wilde passed the night in a cell. Mr. C. F. Gill, who was Mr. Edward M. Carson's junior counsel in defense of the Marquis of Queensberry, acted as prosecutor to-day for the Treasury Department.

Sir John Bridge, presiding magistrate, took his seat on the bench at 11 o'clock. The doors leading to the cells were then closed, and Wilde was seen approaching with stately step and carrying a silk hat in his hand. When he reached the center of the prisoners' dock Wilde calmly deposited his hat on the seat, bowed to Sir John Bridge, folded his arms and leaned on the rail of the dock in the same insolent manner which he displayed while on the witness stand in the Old Bailey.

Mr. Gill said he appeared to prosecute the prisoner on a series of charges.

HIS RELATIONS WITH TAYLOR.

The prosecutor then related how, in 1893, when Wilde was staying at the Savoy Hotel, Alfred Taylor, who was arrested to-day, acted as for Wilde, who repeatedly visited Taylor's house and introduced him to a young man named Parker.

Parker was here called to the stand, but the proceedings were interrupted by the official announcement that Taylor had been arrested. Ten minutes later Taylor was brought into court and was placed in the dock beside Wilde, who nodded to him. While Parker was giving this testimony Wilde moved restlessly in the dock and passed his hands across his face. Parker added that he was arrested with Taylor in 1894 in the house in Fitzroy square, but he claimed he had since abandoned his evil life.

Counsel for Wilde asked leave to postpone the cross-examination of Parker, as the evidence had taken them by surprise. Parker was then bound over to testify at the trial of Wilde, which is to take place in the Old Bailey. Parker was deadly pale when concluding his testimony and asked to be allowed to take a seat, as he was not feeling well.

WILDE STAND UP.

The woman previously referred to as having entered the courtroom was the next witness. She gave her name as Mrs. Grant, and said she let rooms to Taylor, who, she added, was visited by a number of young men.

Mrs. Grant was then asked if she could identify Wilde as a visitor to Taylor's rooms. She replied that she could not. Thereupon Sir John Bridge said, brusquely:

"Wilde, stand up!"

Wilde arose but the witness was still unable to recognise him. Replying to further questions, Mrs. Grant said that Taylor's rooms were well furnished and highly perfumed. Taylor, she added, dressed effeminately.

Before Taylor left Mrs. Grant's rooms a sergeant of police once went to his apartments and secretly watched Tayor's proceedings. Sir John Bridge asked Taylor if he desired to ask the witness any questions, and the prisoner replied, "Not yet."

Willie Wilde, Oscar Wilde's brother, entered the court room at this stage of the proceedings and listened to the remainder of the evidence from the back of the room. Continuing, Woods said that Wilde afterwards gave him a deal of money and a watch and chain. Witness also said that soon afterwards, he told Taylor that he wanted to "get away from Wilde and these people."

Two young men gave damaging testimony and Wilde was remanded until Thursday next, bail being refused.

Rev. Archibald Douglas, brother of the Marquis of Queensberry, has written a letter saying that the statement credited to Lord Douglas of Hawick, eldest son of the Marquis, published in an interview, to the effect that every member of the family of the Marquis of Queensberry except the latter disbelieves absolutely and entirely the charges made against Oscar Wilde is unauthorized by his mother, his sister or himself. Rev. Mr. Douglas adds: "We certainly believe the charges against Wilde."

The charge against Wilde is being prosecuted under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which classifies his offense as a misdemeanor, the minimum sentence for which is two years' imprisonment for each conviction.

Taylor, when arrested to-day, preserved his cheerful demeanour and asked the detective who took him into custody what his sentence was likely to be.

The Sun of this city says another sensational arrest is probable before Thursday next, the day when Willie will be brought up at Bow-street police court.

The Daily Telegraph says in a leader on Wilde’s case: "It was a just verdict, and must be held to include with Wilde the tendence of his peculiar school and the meaning and influence of his teachings, and all the shallow and specious arts by which he attempted to establish a cult and even set up new schools of literature and social thought."

The Westminster Gazette, commenting on the result of Wilde's prosecution of the Marquis of Queensberry, says: "The case proves that it is untrue to say art has nothing to do with morality. Wilde’s art rests on a basis of rottenness and corruption."

THE FAMILY OF DOUGLAS.

Did Lord Drumlanrig Know the Story of

Oscar Wilde?

[Copyright, 1895, by the New York World.]

LONDON, April 6. - If Oscar Wilde's indifference during the revelations in court today were assumed it was an excellent piece of acting. It seems certain he will be convicted. The minimum penalty for the offense with which he is charged is ten years’ imprisonment; the maximum penalty is penal servitude for life. There will be a demand for an exemplary sentence, as public sentiment is aroused against the group to which he belongs. Other prosecutions may follow.

Much sympathy is felt for Mrs. Wilde, who is a very estimable woman, and for his two beautiful children. A singular feature of English law is that even if her husband is convicted and sentenced to penal servitude Mrs. Wilde cannot get a divorce on either ground.

Lord Archibald Douglas, speaking, it is understood, for his sister-in-law, the divorced wife of the Marquis of Queensberry and the mother of Lord Douglas of Hawick and of Lord Alfred Douglas, and also for his sister, lady Florence Dixie, vigorously denies to-day the statement of Lord Douglas of Hawick that all the family repudiate the action of the Marquis. Lord Archibald is a Catholic priest. The Marchioness of Queensberry is, happily perhaps, in Florence just now.

There are queer stories afloat explaining the action of Lord Douglas in supporting his younger brother. The disclosures of this week also revived certain conjectures whispered at the time of the death of Lord Drumlanrig, of which a full account was cabled last October. The circumstances pointing to suicide are recalled and it is noticed that the testimony in the libel suit shows that his death corresponds with the period when his father first entered upon the pursuit of Oscar Wilde and when it must have been known to Lord Drumlanrig that the family scandal would shortly be exposed. He was about to be married, and occupied an enviable position in political life. It is a coincidence that Oscar Wilde and Mr. Carson and Mr. Gill, the leading counsel against him, as well as the Judge who tried the case, are all Irishmen, and all graduates of Trinity College, Dublin. Mr. Carson, who was Mr. Balfour's right-hand man throughout his coercive regime in Ireland, was a classmate of Wilde at the University, but whereas Oscar had a most distinguished course, Carson did not gain a single prize.

On October 21st the World contained the following:

The young Viscount Drumlanrig, who was found dead in a friend’s shooting court this week, had promise of a most brilliant public career. He had been Lord Rosebery's political secretary, had shown himself a capable worker and an effective speaker, and had social qualities of the highest order. Mr. Gladstone, at Lord Rosebery's request, gave him an English peerage last year as Baron Kelhead, although he would succeed his father, the Marquis of Queensberry, in the peerage of Scotland. He gave his first vote in the House of Lords for the Home Rule bill. The son's appointment was fiercely resented upon Lord Rosebery by his father, the eccentric Marquis, who actually, the then Foreign Secretary to Hamburg, and was only prevented by the police from bodily assaulting him. The Marquis was formerly one of the representative Scotch Peers entitled to a seat in the gilded chamber, but when he announced himself as an atheist he was defeated for re-election.

While it seems measurably certain that the Viscount shot himself accidentally, it is recalled that his uncle, Lord James Douglas, committed suicide less than a year ago, that his grandfather was also found dead in the court from a presumably similar accident, and that another uncle fell over an Alpine precipice. The eccentricities of his aunt, Lady Florence Dixie, and of another uncle, Lord Archibald Douglas, are constantly before the public. The newspapers received the same evening the news of his death, and the formal notice, posted just before, of his engagement to the daughter of General Ellis, Equery in Waiting to the Prince of Wales.

This morning the newspapers announce that his young stepmother, whom the Marquis married and who was until then unknown to English aristocratic society, has brought suit for the nullification of her marriage. I am told that the Marquis left her at the church door. Lord Sholto Douglas, the second son, who now succeeds to the viscountage, has been making a big fortune for himself in the new Australian gold fields, where he went as a prospector only a couple years ago.

WILDE'S FAMILY SCANDAL. A Story in Which His Father Figures Most Discreditably.

NEW YORK, April 6. - The Oscar Wilde case will revive the memory of the scandal in the Wilde family in Dublin some forty years ago, or about the time Oscar unfortunately came upon this sphere. Sir William Wilde, who was knighted by Queen Victoria for discoveries in oculism, was Oscar's father, and resided in that old and then aristocratic section of Dublin, Merion square. His reputation as an oculist was so great that he could afford to refuse to go to the most wealthy and distinguished patients. They had to go to him. Among others who did so was Miss Wilson, a highly cultivated young woman belonging to one of Dublin's aristocratic, but not over wealthy families.

Sir William, after an examination, told her he would have to perform an operation which would necessitate her going under the influence of an anesthetic. Chloroform was the only thing of that kind then known, and this he administered. Miss Wilson claimed afterward that Sir William had taken advantage of her helpless condition. He denied this, and she brought a criminal action against him. Most of the Dublin people believed Miss Wilson’s story, but at the trial she was not able to bring any evidence except her own, and she had to admit that she was unconscious at the time of the alleged crime. The charge was dismissed for want of evidence, but a peculiar part of the case was that Sir William adopted her child, bringing it up and educating it in his own profession, that of an oculist.

Lady Wilde, whether she believed in her husband's innocence or not, was exceedingly kind to the boy, and subsequently he richly repaid her for this. Dr. Wilson became an even greater oculist than his master and reputed father, Sir William Wilde, and at the time of his death was in charge of St. Mark’s Ophthaimic Hospital, on Westland row, Dublin. Professor Wilson's death occured about ten years ago at the early age of thirty-two.

When Sir William Wilde died, at a much earlier date, he left very little estate and Lady Wilde found it difficult to get along. Her sons, Oscar and "Willie," both of whom have become so notorious from different causes, although both grown to man’s estate, could do little for her. Willie, the elder, was lazy, and Oscar spent his time dreaming and posing. Professor Wilson generously replenished the family treasury when it was empty, and Oscar, as well as the lazy Willie, freely allowed him to do so. It was, in reality, Professor Wilson who was so kind and generous to Lady Wilde in her difficulties. Oscar has been industrious of late years in spreading the report that he was very generous to his mother, and he made pretentious show of such filial conduct by ostentatiously sending flowers, fruit and cases of wine to his mother’s house. Even his "generosity" to his mother was a pose.

Willie usually loafed around and ate the fruit and drank the wine, so after all the old lady did not get much. Lady Wilde is herself a charming old lady and has many friends, who keep her supplied with all kinds of delicacies. To the kindness of these friends she owes more than to her sons, who would seem to have inherited a preponderance of the paternal blood, disposition and morals.

Many stories were told yesterday of Oscar Wilde when he was in this country. At that time he became well acquainted with an artist who lives in New York. "Wilde," remarked this gentleman, "often said that the ambition of his life was to write an obscene novel on artistic lines. This was long before he ever attempted to write a story. So it is quite evident that the novel ‘Dorian Gray’ was the product of a long cherished purpose, and secretly it must have gratified Oscar immensely to have put forth that production. When I read in the newspapers the other day that he followed with apparently great delight and satisfaction the reading of parts of that work by the Marquis of Queensberry's counsel, his often repeated ambition to produce such a work came back very forcibly to me. I believe that he still glories in it, and is proud of his unspeakable ‘cult.' It is wounded vanity, owing to defeat, that would alone crush him, and not any sense of shame, for he has absolutely none. I remember one night at Richfield Springs, during the summer that Oscar spent there. It was a moonlight night, and Oscar got a large, green umbrella, which he opened and held over his head to keep off the rays of the moon as he sat spread out in a large armchair on the porch of the Arlington Hotel. The ladies stopping at the hotel gathered around him, but he waved them off with the grand air of a langorous potenate or veiled prophet."

As for Wilde’s plays the general feeling is that it would be an unpardonable insult to the moral sense of New York to place or keep one of them on the stage.

Daniel Frohman has reconsidered his decision concerning Oscar Wilde's play, "An Ideal Husband," at the Lyceum Theatre. The play will be withdrawn after next week.

The Sun - Saturday, April 6, 1895

LONDON, April 5. - The career of Oscar Wilde ended to-day in 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 the punishment for the 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 only 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 speedily brought home to Wilde that although nominally the 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 an 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 to allow the son to testify against his father. This was simply imbecile because nothing has been adduced in the trial about the relations between Wilde and Lord Alfred.

There is reason to believe that the disgraced man was prepared to flee from the country. But English law for once acted with commandable 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 tonight 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 labour, but the Grand Jury may change the indictment to a more serious offence. He must remain in jail until the trial takes place in May, for the magistrate is certain to refuse to accept bail.

The cynical and supercilious bravado which Wilde manifested during the trial changed when he found himself in custody. He listened in silence to the reading of the warrant. He had been aware for an hour or two that escape was impossible, for detectives had been closely following him. He refused to say a word to the officers or to others. He asked at the police station for a special cell and that his valet be allowed to bring him his portmanteau. The police currently refused all requests, and locked him up like an ordinary prisoner.

It is impossible to describe the sensation which the case has created in London. The Cleveland street scandals of a few years ago were bad enough, but the public interest then was mild compared to the talk created by this case. It has been the only subject discussed wherever men have congregated for the last few days. It must be said that public opinion is almost unanimous in thanking the Marquis of Queensberry, in spite of his many eccentricities, for bringing to a crisis what has long been a rapidly spreading scandal in the metropolis. The effect of the exposure and of the exemplary punishment which is sure to follow in Wilde's case will be far reaching. It comes none too soon. The growth of this evil among certain classes of this country is appalling. The police and others are prepared to make fearful revelations as soon as it becomes evident that no other means will suffice to check and destroy the vice which undermined the civilization of the ancient Romans. Those who possess accurate knowledge believe that this point has now been reached. Publicity is a dreadful price to pay for overcoming such an evil, but the investigation in the Wilde case alone has convinced those engaged in it that the situation demands desperate remedies. Mr. Carson, whose wonderful management of the case against Wilde excited the admiration of the members of the bar, detailed to newspaper men, after the verdict had been rendered to-day, some of his appalling discoveries. He did this, he said, as a public duty, not that revolting details should be published - that, indeed, he forbade - but that public attention should be called to the unsuspected but monstrous danger undermining English society.

London newspapers have printed far more about the matter than has been telegraphed to the American press. Great morning dailies like the Times and Telegraph have given their readers 6,000 to 12,000 words daily of the court proceedings. The St. James’s Gazette achieved distinction yesterday by placarding London with the announcement that it was the only paper printing no report of the evidence in the Wilde-Queensberry trial. A lively controversy has begun over the duty of the press in the matter.

Many seats which had been purchased at the Haymarket and St. James's theatres, where Wilde’s plays "An 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.

By United Press.

LONDON, April 5. - The case of Oscar Wilde against the Marquis of Queensberry for libel was brought to a close this morning in a verdict in favor of the defendant. The jury found not only that the defendant was not guilty of libel, but that the Marquis of Queensberry's charges were true in substance and in fact, and that they had been made for the public good. Wilde was not present when the verdict was rendered. He had been in a room adjoining the courtroom, where he had consulted with his solicitor. When the verdict was announced Wilde and a companion drove from the Old Bailey to the Holborn Hotel, where they were joined soon afterward by Lord Alfred Douglas and a companion. The four took luncheon together in a private room, Wilde’s carriage remaining in front of the hotel.

After leaving the Holborn Hotel Wilde 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, where they seem to have eluded the detectives, as the Scotland Yard authorities began issuing descriptions of Wilde and spreading them over the city.

In the meantime Mr. Lewis, solicitor for the Treasury, had applied at the Bow Street Police Court for a warrant for Wilde’s immediate arrest. The warrant was placed in the hands of Scotland Yard detectives, who found Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel, where he had for a time eluded the men who were shadowing him. He was arrested and taken to Scotland Yard. Afterward he was transferred to the Bow street station and locked up in a cell.

Before Wilde was taken to his cell the charge, indicated by his testimony in court, was read to him. He stood with his hands in his pockets, silent and apparently unconcerned.

The Old Bailey court room was crowded almost to suffocation this morning when Mr. Carson resumed his speech on behalf of the Marquis of Queensberry. It would be his painful duty, he said, to put up on the witness stand men who would speak freely of the nature of their relations with the plaintiff, Wilde. The ages of these men varied from 18 to 23 years period they were of the class of servants, valets, &., 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 Charley, Freddy, &. Mr. Carson said he would produce overwhelming evidence of the abominable immorality of this man Wilde.

Sir Edward Clarke interrupted Mr. Carson and said he had undertaken a great responsibility in defending Wilde against the charges made against him by the Marquis of Queensberry. In regard to the literature which Wilde had published and upon which Mr. Carson had questioned him, he (Sir Edward) had come to the painful conclusion that it could not be expected that the jury would find a verdict of guilty on the actual words used by the defendant, viz., that Wilde was posing as a devotee of unnatural practices. He had consulted with Wilde in the interim of the adjournment of the court, and, in order to save the court the painful details connected with the rest of the case, he was prepared to accept the verdict of the jury in regard to Wilde's literature.

The Judge interposed and said if the jury were justified in agreeing upon a verdict on one part of the case they must return a verdict of guilty or not guilty as regards the entire case.

The jury then rendered the verdict, to which Sir Edward Clarke assented, in accordance with the direction of the Court. When the verdict was rendered the Marquis of Queensberry left the dock amid loud cheers. The Judge granted an order requiring Wilde to pay the costs of the defence.

The reports previously cabled in regard to Mr. Beerbohm Tree's connection with the case were inaccurate. Mr. Carson explained to the Court last evening that Mr. Tree received a copy of a letter written by Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas, and thereupon sent for Wilde and handed him the copy. Mr. Carson said that Mr. Tree had cabled this information to him, and that it tallied perfectly with the account given by Wilde in the witness box. Mr. Carson added that he thought Mr. Tree had acted perfectly right in the matter.

The Judge said there was not the smallest ground for any suggestion adverse to Mr. Tree, who had acted with perfect propriety.

Sir Edward Clarke agreed with Mr. Carson and the Judge that Mr. Tree could not properly have done otherwise than he did.

In an interview this afternoon the Marquis of Queensberry said to a representative of the United Press:

"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 awaiting the authority of the Treasury Department to make arrests.

The Marquis of Queensberry’s solicitors have sent to the Public Prosecutor a copy of the statements of all the witnesses which the defence intended to call to the stand, together with a full shorthand report of the trial as far as it had gone.

This afternoon a United Press reporter visited the Haymarket and St. James's theatres, where Oscar Wilde's plays are running. Mr. Morell, one of the managers of the Haymarket, in reply to a question as to how the result of the case would affect future business, said he would rather not express an opinion. He would say, however, that Mr. Wilde's name had been taken out of the bills and advertisements of "An Ideal Husband," and from this the public could form its own conclusions.

Mr. George Alexander, manager of the St. James's Theatre, where Oscar Wilde's play, "The Importance of Being Earnest," is running, said:

"When the scandal was first rumored business here was slightly affected, but it is now normal. Mr. Wilde's name has been withdrawn from the bills and the advertisements of his comedy, which is the most innocent play in the world. It does not contain a line that could hurt the most tender susceptibilities. Whether the trial will cause a change in the business in the future remains to be seen."

Mr. Alexander said also that "The Importance of Being Earnest," would be kept on the stage, pending the public verdict. If he should be compelled to withdraw it, some 150 persons would be thrown out of work, as he had nothing ready to replace it.

It is reported that the Criterion, to which "An Ideal Husband" was to be transferred from the Haymarket, has declined to put the play on its stage.

The audiences at the Haymarket and St. James’s theatres, where Mr. Wilde’s plays are running, were rather small this evening. But they made no hostile demonstration. At St. James’s there were few persons accepting those who had bought their tickets in advance. The gallery was somewhat critical, and two or three audible comments confused the players slightly.

The Evening News has received the following letter from Oscar Wilde, written upon the notepaper of the Holborn Viaduct Hotel:

"It would have been impossible for me to have proved my case without putting Lord Alfred Douglas in the witness box against his father. He was extremely anxious to go into the witness box, but I would not let him. Rather than put him in so painful a position I determined to withdraw from the case, and bear upon my own shoulders whatever ignominy and shame might result from my prosecution of the Marquis of Queensberry. "Oscar Wilde."

The Daily Chronicle will have a long leader to-morrow on the Oscar Wilde case. It will say:

"Either Mr. Carson's brief contained a series of the wickedest slanders or the prosecutor perjured himself unspeakably."

The Daily Telegraph will say tomorrow in a leader on Wilde’s case:

"It was a just verdict and must be held to include with Wilde the tendency of his peculiar careeer, the meaning and the influence of his teachings, and all the shallow and specious arts by which he attempted to establish cult and even set up new schools of literature and social thought."

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