London Star - Wednesday, May 22, 1895

QUEENSBERRY.
APPEARS WITH HIS SON
AT MARLBOROUGH-ST.
THE TELEGRAM AND LETTERS
WHICH LED TO THE FIGHT.
The Two Sides of the Story are Told, and
an Odd Telegram Sent by the Marquess
is Read--Father and Son Bound Over
in a Big Sum to Keep the Peace.

The little court at Marlborough-st. has never been so crowded as it was this morning since Oscar Wilde initiated the famous libel proceedings against the Marquess of Queensberry. As then, so now the Marquess figures in the role of the defendant, but on this occasion he has a companion in adversity in the person of his own son, Lord Douglas of Hawick. Both the principals of the Piccadilly rumpus were early upon the scene, the Marquess being the first to arrive. For a few minutes he loitered outside the court, the central figure of a gathering crowd, but after he had been joined by his solicitor he proceeded to push his way through the group which barred the entrance to the court. In his buttonhole he wore three Marechal Niel roses. Lord Douglas entered the building soon afterwards, and it was at once observed that

BOTH HIS EYES WERE BLACK

--more black than lovely. As soon as Mr. Hannay had taken his seat both were put into the dock and charged with disorderly conduct and fighting in Piccadilly.

The first witness was Constable C.R. 32, who was on duty at the corner of Bond-st., and whose attention was called to large crowd across the street outside Scott's, the hatters. He went there, and found the Marquess and his son fighting. The constable separated them, after which they again closed, and witness parted them again. Both father and son then crossed Bond-st. They met again outside Stewart's confectionery shop, and there

RECOMMENCED FIGHTING.

Witness thereupon arrested the Marquess, and his son was taken in charge by another constable. At Vine-st. the Marquess, in reply to his charge, said, "It is quite correct."

The Marquess, who defended himself, only asked one question, which suggested that Lord Douglas began the attack, and continued it while the Marquess was walking to his hotel. The constable, however, could not altogether agree with this version.

Mr. S. T. Stoneham (for Lord Douglas): At the station did you hear the Marquess say anything?

Witness: I heard the Marquess say he was willing to

FIGHT HIS SON FOR £10,000.

You did not hear Lord Queensberry call his son an opprobrious name? - No.

Constable C. R. 6, who was also on the spot, was asked who struck the first blow, and the witness replied that he fancied it was Lord Douglas.

It was C. R. 6 who took Lord Douglas to the station, and during the journey his lordship remarked, "The Marquess has been writing to my wife letters of an obscene nature. I have written to my father on several occasions asking him to cease writing them. But he has refused to do so, and this is the only remedy I have. That is the cause of the row."

Mr. Stoneham: Didn't Lord Douglas say that he had spoken to his father, and asked him to discontinue those letters, and that they were

THE CAUSE OF THE ROW?

Witness: Yes, similar words to those.

The inspector who received the distinguished defendants at Vine-st. was the next witness. After the charge had been read over to them the Marquess exclaimed, "That is my son who has bailed Oscar Wilde to-day. H =e has been following me about, and struck me in Piccadilly." Lord Douglas added, "Yes, that occurred through my father writing letters to my wife of a most disgusting character."

The Marquess Speaks.

This was the case for the police, and the Marquess then proceeded to make his statement. He had driven, he said, from the Old Bailey to the bottom of St. James's-st. As he was crossing the road to go up Albermarle-st., he saw his son walking down Piccadilly. As soon as the latter recognised him Lord Douglas "came straight at me, almost at a run, and pushed me up against a shop window, at the same time speaking at the top of his voice. "I struck him certainly," added the Marquess, "but it was done in self-defense."

Lord Douglas's Story.

Mr. Stoneham, in giving Lord Douglas's version of the affray, said he and a friend walking in Piccadilly saw Lord Queensberry crossing the street. The Marquess had evidently just come out of a post-office, where he had sent to following telegram to Lord Douglas's wife:--

To Lady Douglas.
Must congratulate on verdict. Cannot on Percy's appearance; looked like a dug-up corpse. Fear too much madness of kissing. Taylor guilty. Wilde's turn to-morrow.--
QUEENSBERRY.

"That," said Mr. Stoneham, "is a sample of the letters Lord Queensberry has been writing not onlu to Lord Douglas's wife, but to other members of the family. He has been requested time after time to stop those letters, but he still persists in continuing the annoyance, and your worship will remember the application I made some time ago in order to get Lord Queensberry bound over to keep the peace." Mr. Stoneham added that his client, seeing his father in the street last night, went up to him and asked whether he intended to cease writing these filthy letters. Lord Douglas was repeating the question when his father hit him in the eye with his fist. All that his client intended to do was to obtain an assurance from his father that this sort of behavior should cease.

Lord Queensberry here broke in with the remark that, as his son refused to receive any letters from himself, he was obliged to write to his wife.

Mr. Hannay thought these family affairs had nothing to do with the case, and suggested that the Marquess should call his witnesses.

Eye-witnesses' Accounts.

Accordingly Mr. Charles T. Sheriff, who was an eye witness of the occurrence, was called to say that Lord Douglas began the attack. Both defendants admit fighting, the only question at issue being who struck the first blow.

Lord Queensberry's second witness, Mr. Charles Taylor swore that he saw the son begin the fight by knocking his father against the painters' trestles outside the shop.

Lord Douglas's only witness was Mr. Fred Weston, the gentleman in whose company he was at the time. Mr. Weston's story was that the son approached the father in the most respectful fashion, and merely asked him to stop writing obscene letters to his wife. The Marquess's only reply was to make "a noise with his lips."

Mr. Stoneham: Who struck the first blow?

Witness: It was a near thing, but I think the Marquess was the quicker. (Laughter.)

Mr. Stoneham: He naturally would be, seeing that the Marquess is a boxer. (Laughter.)

An Adjective Objected to.

Lord Queensberry, with the magistrate's permission, then offered an explanation of the letters he had written to his son's wife. He objected to the adjective "obscene" which had been applied to them. Hearing, he said, that Mr. Oscar Wilde was staying at his son's house, he went down to see whether his other son (Lord Alfred) was also there. He saw Lord Douglas's wife, who gave him her word of honor that Lord Alfred was not staying there, and then he was obliged to tell her what he had called for.

Mr. Hannay once more interposed, and the Marquess's further explanation was abandoned.

The Magistrate's Decision.

In giving his decision, the magistrate said it seemed to him to be a matter of very little importance who began the fight, because both were fighting, both were close to policemen, and neither evoked their assistance. Under those circumstances he should bind over both defendants in their own sureties of £500 to keep the peace for six months.

Father and son, who had carefully taken up their positions in the two extreme corners of the dock and who seemed to be unaware of each other's presence, were then escorted into the gaoler's room to be bound over. A small crowd was waiting outside the court to give them a parting salute.