Difference
In the Old Bailey to-day Justice Charles summed up the case against Oscar Wilde and Alfred Taylor. He said that counsel had acted wisely in withdrawing the charge of conspiracy brought against Wilde, as he would have ordered the jury to bring in a verdict of not guilty on that specification. There was corroboration of witnesses, but the jury would have to weigh the characters of men like Parker, Wood and Atkins, whom Sir Edward Clarke, in the justice's opinion, properly described as blackmailers.
Justice Charles, in summing up the case against Wilde and Taylor, said the counsel for the prosecution acted wisely in withdrawing the charge of conspiracy brought against Wilde, as he would have ordered the jury to bring in a verdict of not guilty on that specification. He admitted that there was corroboration of the witnesses, but the jury, he added, would have to weigh the characters of men like Parker, Wood and Atkins whom Sir Edward Clarke, in the Justice’s opinion, had properly described as blackmailers.