The Herald - Thursday, April 4, 1895

OUR CABLES.
HERALD SPECIAL SERVICE.
A HUGE SCANDAL
IN LONDON SOCIETY.
QUEENSBERRY ON TRIAL.
OSCAR WILDE'S COMPLAINT.
A FATHER'S JUSTIFICATION.
THE ARTIST'S LETTERS
TO LORD ALFRED DOUGLAS.
SENSATIONAL DISCLOSURES.
LONDON. Wednesday Night.

A highly sensational trial was opened to-day, and is causing intense and wide spread interest.

The Marquis of Queensberry, particularly well known in the sporting world, is the defendant, he having been committed on the 9th ult on a charge of criminal libel preferred against him by Mr Oscar Wilde, the world-famous author and art critic.

The alleged libel consisted of words written upon a post card, and said to have been left by the Marquis of Queensberry at a club to which Mr Wilde belongs.

The defence of the Marquis of Queensberry at the preliminary investigation was that he was justified in the course he took, because he felt it necessary to save his son, Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas, twenty-four years of age, from the demoralising influence of Mr Oscar Wilde.

In this defence the Marquis persisted on his trial to-day.

The court and its surroundings were thronged with people all day, only a small proportion of those who sought it being able to obtain admission.

The card on which were written the libellous words complained of was first put in by the prosecution. It bore the following inscription: — "To Oscar Wilde—Posing as a Sodomite."

A considerable amount of evidence was taken, and facts were elicited of a very startling character.

It appeared from the witnesses that a little time ago Lord Alfred Douglas gave away some old clothes to a man named Wood. It so chanced that in the pockets of these clothes were a number of letters which the young man had forgotten to remove.

Either from Wood or somebody else, a copy of one of the letters was sent to Mr Beerbohm Tree, the famous actor. Mr Oscar Wilde by some means got to know of the circumstance, and of the fact that the letter in question was one purporting to be written by himself (Mr Wilde). The latter was declared to have given Wood £20 on condition that he cleared out to America. Subsequently, through the agency of another man, the important letter is said to have been handed back to Mr Wilde, who is alleged to have paid a sovereign for it.

The document was an extraordinary one, and its contents appear to have become known to the Marquis of Queensberry consequent upon the copy before alluded to having been taken.

The following is the text of the letter alleged to have been written by Mr Oscar Wilde to young Lord Alfred Douglas. — "My Own Boy. — Your sonnet is quite lovely. A marvel! These red rose-leaf lips of yours are made no less for the music of song than for the madness of kissing. — Yours, with undying love — OSCAR WILDE."

The reading of this unique epistle caused enormous sensation in court.

Another letter produced, and admittedly written by Mr Wilde, contained these words addressed to Lord Alfred Douglas. "You are the divine thing I want."

Other effusive letters, said to have been written by Mr Wilde, were also read.

The further evidence showed that the Marquis of Queensberry, his suspicions of impropriety being aroused by what had been told to him, visited Mr Oscar Wilde and charged him with causing "a disgusting scandal." The Marquis threatened to thrash Wilde, and the latter rejoined by calling the Marquis "a most infamous brute," and threatening to shoot him.

At that time Mr Wilde is said to have admitted that he was on terms of friendly intimacy with Lord Douglas. He announced that he would continue that intimacy in defiance of the Marquis of Queensberry's prohibition; but he utterly denied that his intimacy was of an immoral character.

Mr Wilde was in the witness-box this afternoon, and his examination was full of the most intense interest. He explained his use of the term "You are the divine thing I want," by saying that "it was the natural expression of an artist in describing a beautiful personality."?

Under cross-examination, Mr Wilde admitted that he had on different occasions invited boys to dinner in his private rooms, and that he had made presents to his young guests of money and clothes. He also admitted having on one occasion taken a boy to Brighton. He altogether repudiated the idea that any immorality had occurred on these occasions. The further hearing of the case was adjourned.