The Australian Star - Monday, April 22, 1895

Star's Special Cables
THE OSCAR WILDE SCANDAL.
The Accused Men in Court.
Both Committed for Trial.
Evidence at the Police Court—Wilde
Haggard and Ill—Bail Refused.

London, April 19.

The preliminary hearing of the charges of an abominable character against Oscar Wilde, the poet and dramatist, who was arrested shortly after the acquittal of the Marquis of Queensberry on a charge of criminally libelling Wilde, was concluded to-day. Taylor, the man said to be Wilde's accomplice, also appeared in the dock.

The court was crowded with spectators, and the greatest possible public interest was manifested in the proceedings.

Wilde appeared to feel his position extremely. He has evidently suffered a great mental strain during his detention in prison, and to-day he appeared in the dock haggard, worn and apparently thoroughly ill. On the other hand Taylor appeared to treat the case very lightly, and frequently laughed and smiled during the taking of evidence.

The principal witness was a man named Charles Parkes. His evidence consisted of a recital of a series of indecencies between himself and the prisoner Taylor. The witness also gave some sensational evidence respecting an occurrence in which Taylor took an extraordinary part. He declared that on one occasion Taylor appeared as a bride, and went through the form of a marriage ceremony with a man named Mason. The ordinary religious service was celebrated on the occasion.

Both the accused were committed for trial, Wilde on a charge of having committed a misdemeanor, and Taylor on a charge of felony.

An application for bail on behalf of the prisoners was promptly refused by the presiding magistrate.

It is rumored that other persons will be proceeded against on similar charges.

The excitement at Marlborough-street Police Court on March 9 was intense when the suit of Oscar Wilde against the Marquis of Queensberry for publishing an alleged libel came on for hearing before Mr. Newton. Mr. C.O. Humphreys, solicitor, appeared for Mr. Oscar Wilde, and Mr. Carson, Q.C., M.P., defended the Marquis. The case came on the previous Saturday, when the solicitor for the plaintiff asked the magistrate to commit the defendant, who was charged on a warrant, for trial. The evidence of the hall porter of the Albemarle Club, of which the plaintiff was a member, was taken at the previous hearing, and the witness proved that the defendant left a card at the club for Mr. Oscar Wilde, on which the libel complained of was written. The evidence of the inspector who arrested the marquis was also taken, and the case was adjourned, the defendant being allowed to enter into his own recognisances for £1000 and one surety of £500. The peculiar and sensational Character of the case caused fierce competition for admission to Marlborough-street Police Court on March 9. After the usual scrimmage at the doors, which seems to be an indispensable feature of admission to this small and inconvenient court, representatives of the press, to the number of 30 at least, were permitted to scramble for the best places below the bar, and at half-past 11 an undistinguished, strangely-mixed, but exclusively masculine crowd fought its way into the small residuum of "standing room only." A gentleman of military bearing, with a fierce white moustache, who introduced himself as "Lord Queensberry's bail," was the first to arrive of those directly concerned in the case, and he was shortly followed by Mr. Carson, Q.C., the clever Irish barrister, in company with his solicitor. Oscar Wilde arrived about a quarter to 12. With him was also a tall, fair youth, in a coat heavily collared and cuffed with fur. When Mr. Wilde had obtained a seat by the solicitors' table Mr. Newton, the magistrate, turned to the lad and said, "Leave the court, if you please." Turning even paler than he was at first, he touched Wilde's arm, as though appealing for his intervention, but Oscar made no sign, and he was shown out of court by an usher. It presently transpired that the fair-haired youth was Lord Alfred Douglas, the son of the defendant, and the reason of his exclusion from the court was partly apparent. The Marquis of Queensberry, a middle-aged, mutton-chop whiskered man, stepped into the dock when his name was called, but was immediately afterwards provided with a less humiliating place on a chair by the solicitors' table. Wilde was immediately called, and gave his evidence, the principal points of which have already been received by cable. Wilde gave his evidence with ponderous gravity, standing in a characteristic attitude, with his left hand on his hip, and his right, holding his gloves, resting on the head of his cane. He has quietly dressed in a dark Chesterfield overcoat, with collar and cuffs of black velvet. He proceeded to state what was on the card, and described his immediate instructions to his solicitors to commence the proceedings. A warrant was obtained, and the defendant was apprehended. The cross-examination of the prosecutor occupied the whole of the day. Mr. Carson, Q.C., the clever Irish lawyer, said that he had not intended to seek to justify the libel in the court, but, he significantly added, "Justification is a plea which Lord Queensberry will raise, with a full sense of the responsibility that will be upon him, if this case is sent for trial." Oscar made no sign but moistened his lips. Mr. Carson rose again and asked permission to ask the plaintiff how long he had known Lord Alfred Douglas. He was not permitted to do so, and applied that his application might be noted on the depositions, which was done. When the depositions were read over Wilde corrected them in the particular that he now said he first made the acquaintance of the defendant in 1892. Lord Queensberry, speaking slowly and distinctly, said, "I simply want to say this, that I wrote that card with the intention of bringing matters to a head, having been unable to meet Mr. Wilde, and to save my son, and I abide by what I wrote." Mr. Newton thereupon committed him to take his trial.