The Evening News - Thursday, May 23, 1895

WILDE.
His Second Trial at the Old Bailey.

The jury in the Wilde prosecution were early in attendance at the Old Bailey this morning, and sat with their heads together talking of the case.

Wilde stood in the gangway between the dock and the jury-box, sometimes leaning against one or the other, and every now and then exchanging a word with the Rev. Stewart Headlam, who was with him. No one looked at him.

When Mr. Justice Wills arrived Wilde stepped into the dock, and William Parker was called. He is more unmistakably of the groom type than his brother. He went through the now familiar story of how he and his brother met Taylor at the St. James’s Restaurant, how they visited Taylor at his rooms, and subsequently went with him to dinner at Kettner’s, where they met Wilde. Once more the Court listened to the description of the intellectual and material treat afforded on the occasion of "Kettner’s best," and once more William Parker told how Wilde put his arm on his brother, and said, "Charlie is the boy for me," and asked him to go to the Savoy Hotel with him.

Sir Edward Clarke cross-examined: Did you understand that your brother was going to the Savoy for an improper purpose?—Yes.

And you in no way interfered?—No.

You had intended to do the same sort of thing yourself?—Yes (in a low tone).

The Solicitor-General tried to lessen the force of these admissions by asking what Taylor had said to the witness previously, but Sir Edward Clarke objected, and the learned judge upheld him.

AT THE SAVOY.

The next part of the case was that which has been grouped together as "the Savoy evidence":first a bookkeeper, to prove the stay at the hotel of Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas; next the chambermaid, Jane Margaret Cottar. The latter said that on the third day of Wilde’s stay there the bell rang about 11 o’clock in the morning. She went upstairs, and in the lobby met Wilde, who asked her to light the fire. In the room she saw a boy, apparently asleep; he was about 18 or 19, dark, of sallow complexion.

Sir Edward Clarke opened his cross-examination with an extraordinary question: "Why do you wear eyeglasses?" The witness explained that she was shortsighted; and in answer to further questions she said she never wore glasses at her work, though she could not see well without them.

Another chambermaid, Alice Saunders, corroborated Cottar’s evidence in some points.

When Miss Saunders was in the box Lord Douglas of Hawick came into court. The Marquis of Queensberry had not arrived.

Migge, the masseur, next came, and repeated the evidence he has already given more than once. He attended Wilde to massage him on two occasions, and on one occasion he saw a young man in the room.

In cross-examination witness contradicted himself on a minor point as to whether the door was locked or not. He finally said it was not locked, and he had gone at the usual time when Wilde was expecting him.

A waiter at the Savoy testified to seeing young men visit Wilde’s rooms. He had served drinks in the rooms, and once supper, while a young man was there.

Wilde listened to the whole of the Savoy evidence with an air of stolid indifference, occasionally looking round at the clock as if it bored him. But every now and then his right hand stole in front of his face, and concealed in the palm was a small bottle of smelling salts.

Sir Edward cross-examined vigorously, and extracted admissions that the witness first made a statement to the Treasury on Friday last, that he had read the reports of the previous trial, that he had seven sitting-rooms to look after, that the Savoy was a busy place, and there were plenty of suppers to serve. But he thought he could remember the particular supper.

The calling of Mrs. Perkins, the housekeeper, closed the Savoy evidence.

THE VISIT TO PARKER.

Margery Baucroft, the young woman who saw Wilde come to Park-walk to visit Charles Parker, next went in the box, and once again told her story. To the best of her belief Wilde stayed 20 minutes or half an hour, and, looking out of her window, she saw him go away in a cab which had been waiting.

Margery was composure itself under cross-examination. She knew Wilde perfectly well by sight; had seen him in the street. She was certain Parker went away with Wilde the night she saw them, if he had come back her little dog would have barked. At the mention of Margery’s little dog the Court laughed.

As Margery, after finishing her evidence, left the court, the Marquis of Queensberry came in, the length of the court separated him from his son.

The calling of two landladies and an inquiry agent formed a dreary interlude, and Wilde’s glances round at the clock became frequent. He was beginning to look weary and oppressed, and the strain seems telling on him more and more as the trial drags on. The St. James’s place evidence, perfectly familiar by repetition, was given next, and then Inspector Richards told the story of the arrest, and while he was in the box the rumblings of distant thunder filled the court.

The notes of the Queensberry trial were then proved and put in, and the old weary process of reading the evidence was commenced after the little squabble between Sir Frank and Sir Edward as to the way in which it was to be done. The commencement of the reading was the signal for a general exodus.

At half-past one the Court adjourned for luncheon.