The Herald - Thursday, May 2, 1895

LATE CABLES.
HERALD SPECIAL SERVICE.
THE LONDON HORROR
TRIAL OF THE ACCUSED,
WILDE AND TAYLOR.
THEY GIVE EVIDENCE.
OSCAR WILDE'S STATEMENTS.
RELATIONS WITH LORD DOUGLAS
AS A DAVID TO A JONATHAN.
PLATONIC PHILOSOPHY.
TAYLOR'S STRANGE CAREER.
COUNSEL'S EARNEST APPEAL.
LONDON. Tuesday Night.

The trial of Oscar Wilde and his alleged associate in abominable conduct, the man Taylor, was continued at the Old Bailey to-day.

The Crown found it impracticable to sustain a case on the original charge of conspiracy, and the accused are called upon, therefore, to answer for misdemeanor only.

Both the prisoners went into the witness-box to-day, and made statements on their own behalf.

Oscar Wilde denied that he had ever been guilty of any of the indecencies alleged against him. He solemnly averred that he was being made the victim of blackmailers, who had conspired to ruin his character. Adverting to his relations with Lord Alfred Douglas, Wilde said that there was nothing in the least degree improper in them. He bore towards Lord Alfred Douglas a deep spiritual affection. That affection was as pure and perfect as the love which David bore to Jonathan. There was nothing in their relations that did not accord in the strictest degree with the philosophy of Plato. Taylor's rooms prisoner admitted having visited, merely because, as a Bohemian, he went to all sorts of places, fearless in his conscious innocence, and not thinking for the time of the fearful risks which he exposed himself to at the hands of a band of blackmailers. The evidence he had given at the trial of the Marquis of Queensberry was absolutely true, and he asked the jury to say that he was an innocent and persecuted man.

Taylor in the witness box told the remarkable story of his eventful career. He said that he had inherited a fortune of L45,000. He lived a life of pleasure so long as the money lasted. He soon got through the whole of his inheritance, and had been declared a bankrupt. After that he enlisted in the army, and served for some years. He denied the charge made against him. He declared that the chief witness, a youth named Parker, and Parker's brother, who also gave evidence, had concocted the stories they told in court. There was no truth in these stories.

Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., addressed the jury for the defence of Oscar Wilde, and spoke for two hours. In a magnificent speech he besought the jury not to accept the evidence of blackmailers. It was perfectly unreliable. The youths who had figured in the case had been used by Wilde for no other purpose than to contribute to his vanity. Wilde had been indiscreet, but had done nothing criminal. He had by his Bohemian mode of life and his disregard of conventionalism made possible the charges brought against him. In an eloquent appeal counsel asked the jury to clear the character of a renowned and highly accomplished man, who had been made the victim of his own eccentricities and a foul conspiracy. The jury should declare him innocent of the horrible charge made against him, and in doing so clear society of a shocking reproach which the prosecution had brought against it.

The case was not concluded.