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 Washington Post - Saturday, April 6, 1895

London, April 5.—Oscar Wilde, who for twenty years has, after one fashion or another, attracted to himself the attention of the cultivated world of both England and America, and who posed by turns as a languorous aesthete, a caustic cynic, and a producer of brilliant epigrams and witty paradoxes, is to-night the occupant of a Bow street police court cell on a charge which, in the eyes of most honest men, is more odious than even that of murder.

Yesterday was a day of sensationalism which, though some of its startling effects were carefully prepared in advance by master hands, was in its essence intensely dramatic.

Thus I am told on the best authority that an arrangement as to Wilde’s withdrawal from the prosecution was arrived at between counsel late on Thursday night. Mr. Carson, however, insisted he should be allowed to continue his address to the jury long enough to bring out such essential facts as he deemed necessary.

Indeed, the signal for Sir Edward Clarke’s rising was actually given by Mr. Carson himself when he thought the proper moment had arrived.

I also hear the case had already been informally submitted to the public prosecutor, and so there was not the least delay in the action taken by that functionary in relation to obtaining a warrant for Wilde’s arrest.

Wilde Drunk When Arrested.

Wilde when arrested had been drinking heavily and very nearly fell upon the pavement when he arrived at Scotland Yard. His three hours’ detention there, however, somewhat sobered him, and during the journey to Bow street he chatted familiarly with the detectives, asking various questions as to the treatment he might expect in the cell, whether he would be seen by friends, and so forth. He was somewhat chagrined to find that he would be treated like any ordinary prisoner and that no indulgences would be allowed him.

Late to-night I hear that detectives have been scouring the city in search of the man Taylor, for whom a warrant has already been signed. He has been under police surveillance for some time, but he was unluckily allowed to slip away early this morning, and has not been seen since. It is not expected, however, that he has left the city.

With the placing of the evidence in the hands of the public prosecutor, the case ends as far as Marquis Queensberry was concerned.

"I think," said he to me this afternoon, when I found him at Carter’s Hotel, with his table littered with congratulatory telegrams, which continued to arrive in batches at frequent intervals, "I think I have done my duty, not only to my family and myself, but also to the community. It has cost me £1,200, and now if the law of England doesn’t step in I must make my own law.

Queensberry Threatens to Shoot Him.

"I have sent a message to this creature Wilde to the effect that if he chooses to leave the country I, for one, shall not lift a finger to stay him. But he must distinctly understand that if he takes my son with him I shall follow him and shoot him like a dog. But I think he ought not to be allowed to leave the country. I think he ought to be placed where he can ruin no more young men.

"For the part I have taken myself in this matter I can only say that I have acted absolutely and entirely from a sense of duty. Many of my friends said, as many of these telegrams received also say, that I am to be commended for my pluck. I do not see that pluck had anything to do with it. I do not see that I could have acted otherwise than I have done. I have preserved my self-respect.

The One Topic in London.

"I may tell you that the full measure of this man’s baseness was not revealed to me until after my own arrest at his instance. Then the evidence which was made to us showed us a depth of immorality which is almost incredible."

I need not say that London this afternoon and to-night has been completely possessed of but one topic of conversation—the arrest of Oscar Wilde. Not only has he been for a very long time a prominent figure to literary and artistic circles, but during the last few years the rumors and innuendoes which caused the Marquis of Queensberry to insist upon his son’s breaking off his intimacy with the dramatist have been insistently prevalent, and have included the names not only of Wilde and his close intimates, but of many well-known men of social as well as artistic distinction.

Things had indeed been fast in reaching a point at which no man’s name would have been safe, and it is, therefore, felt by every one that the Marquis of Queensberry has rendered a positive service to the community. This, at all events, is the opinion I heard expressed on every hand to-day.

SIR EDWARD DECLINES TO DEFEND.The Jury Promptly Declared the Marquis of Queensberry Guiltless.

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 in a subsidiary verdict declared that the Marquis of Queensberry’s charges were true, and had been made for the public good.

The Old Bailey courtroom was crowded almost to suffocation this morning, when Mr. Carson resumed his speech in behalf of the Marquis of Queensberry. 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 eighteen to twenty-three years. They were of the class of servants, valets, &c., 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 Charle, Freddie, &c. 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 brought 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 adournment of the court and in order to save the court from the painful details connected with the rest of the case, he was prepared to accept a 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.

Verdict Found Against Wilde.

The jury then rendered a verdict of not guilty, to which Sir Edward Clarke ascented, and supplemented their verdict with the declaration that the charges made by the defendant against Wilde, which constituted the libel complained of, were true, and that they had been made in public interest.

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 defense.

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

Sir Edward Clarke held his consultation with Wilde within the precincts of the court this morning.

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.

At 3:30 o’clock this afternoon Mr. Lewis, solicitor of the treasury, obtained a warrant for Wilde at the Bow street police court, which was at once placed in the hands of officers for service.

Later in the afternoon Wilde was arrested by Scotland Yard detectives and taken to a cell in the Bow street station.

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 unconcernedly.

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 the arrests.

Effect Upon Wilde’s Plays.

This afternoon a reporter visited the Haymarket and St. James Theaters, where Oscar Wilde’s plays are running. Mr. Morrell, one of the managers of the Haymarket, in reply to the question 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 Theater, where Oscar Wilde’s play, "The Importance of Being Earnest," is running, said: "When the scandal was first rumoured business here was slightly affected, but it is now normal. Mr. Wilde’s name has been withdrawn from the bills and advertisements of his comedy, which is the most innocent play in the world. It doesn’t 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 Daily Telegraph will say to-morrow, in a leader on Wilde’s case:

Comment of the London Press.

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

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 of the prosecutor perjured himself unspeakably."

Rose Coghlan Shelves Wilde’s Play.

Detroit, Mich., April 5.—Mr. Leslie, the manager of Miss Rose Coghlan, who has been playing Oscar Wilde’s "A Woman of No Importance" here this week, was asked this evening if the play would be shelved because of the scandal affecting Wilde. He said it would be impossible under the contract to take Wilde’s name off the play bills and out of the advertisements of "A Woman of No Importance," and therefore it had been decided that the play should be taken out of Miss Coghlan’s repertoire.

Wilde’s Name Out of the Bills.

New York, April 5.—Mr. Frohman, of the Lyceum Theater, where Oscar Wilde’s play, "An Ideal Husband," is now running has decided, on account of the termination of the suit against Wilde, to have the playwright’s name erased from all the bills and programmes of the theater after to-morrow. All their printing contracts have been canceled in order to admit of these changes being made in the advertisements also.

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