The Morning Post - Thursday, May 2, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
THE WILDE CASE.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday, before Mr. Justice Charles, the trial was resumed of Oscar Wilde, aged 40, author, and Alfred Taylor, aged 33, of no occupation, on an indictment charging them with certain misdemeanours.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday, before Mr. Justice Charles, the trial was resumed of Oscar Wilde, 40, author, and Alfred Taylor, 33, of no occupation, on an indictment charging them with certain misdemeanours.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday, before Mr. Justice Charles, the trial was resumed of Oscar Wilde, 40, author, and Alfred Taylor, 33, of no occupation, on an indictment charging them with certain misdemeanours.
At the Old Bailey, London, yesterday, before Mr Justice Charles, the trial was resumed of Oscar Wilde, 40, author, and Alfred Taylor, 38, of no occupation, on an indictment charging them with certain misdemeanours.
At the Old Bailey, London, yesterday, before Mr Justice Charles, the trial was resumed of Oscar Wilde, aged 40, and Alfred Taylor, aged 33, on an indictment charging them with certain misdemeanours.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday, before Mr. Justice Wills, the trial was resumed of Oscar Wilde, 40, author, on an indictment charging him with certain misdemeanours.
At the Central Criminal Court on Saturday, before Mr. Justice Wills, the trial was resumed and concluded of Oscar Wilde, aged 40, author, on an indictment charging him with certain misdemeanours.
At the Central Criminal Court, London, yesterday, before Mr Justice Wills, Oscar Wilde, 40, author, and Alfred Taylor, 33, of no occupation, were indicted a second time for certain misdemeanours.
At the Central Criminal Court, London, yesterday, before Mr Justice Wills, Oscar Wilde, 40, author, and Alfred Taylor, 33, of no occupation, were indicted a second time for certain misdemeanours.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday, before Mr. Justice Charles, Oscar Wilde, aged 40, author, and Alfred Taylor, aged 33, of no occupation, were severally indicted for certain misdemeanours under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885.
Mr. C. F. Gill and Mr. Horace Avory prosecuted on behalf of the Treasury; Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., Mr. Charles Mathews, and Mr. Travers Humphreys represented Oscar Wilde; Mr. J. P. Grain defended Taylor.
Mr. C. F. Gill and Mr. H. Avory prosecuted on behalf of the Treasury; Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., Mr. Charles Mathews and Mr. Travers Humphreys defended Oscar Wilde; Mr. J. P. Grain and Mr. Paul Taylor defended Alfred Taylor.
Sir. C. F. Gill and Mr. H. Avory prosecuted on behalf of the Treasury; Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C, Mr. Charles Mathews, and Mr. Travers Humphreys defended Oscar Wilde; Mr. J. P. Grain and Mr. Paul Taylor defended Alfred Taylor.
Mr. C. F. Gill and Mr. H. Avory prosecuted on behalf of the Treasury; Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., Mr. Charles Mathews, and Mr. Travers Humphreys defended Oscar Wilde; Mr. J. P. Grain and Mr. Paul Taylor defended Alfred Taylor; Mr. Leonard Kershaw watched the case on behalf of persons interested.
The Solicitor-General (Sir F. Lockwood, Q.C.), Mr, C.F. Gill, and Mr. Horace Avory conducted the prosecution on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., Mr. Charles Mathews, and Mr. Travers Humphreys defended Wilde; and Mr. J.P. Grain defended Taylor.
The speeches for the defence and the reply for the Crown were concluded the previous day.
Mr. Justice Charles, in summing up, commented on the importance of the case to the accused and on the gravity of the charges. No unfavourable impression ought to be drawn from a work like "Dorian Gray," as, in his opinion, a writer ought not to be confounded with the persons he created; nor ought the result of the Queensberry case to weigh with them in the least. The case was an important one to the community. The testimony that had been adduced by some of the witnesses was obviously tainted evidence, and it required strong corroboration. It was a question for the Jury to decide if there existed independent and untainted corroboration. His Lordship dismissed from consideration the literary aspects of the case, being of opinion that Wilde was not responsible for the writings of others. If they were satisfied that the evidence supported the charges, they ought fearlessly to say so by their verdict. Wilde was a man of high intellectual gifts and education; Taylor belonged to a good class of persons, and they might think it unreasonable to suppose that they would have acted in the manner suggested. The Jury, however, could not disregard the evidence, and it was only upon the evidence that their verdict ought to be determined.
The Jury retired to consider their verdict, and, after an absence of three hours and three quarters, they returned into Court, when the foreman said that they were unable to agree to a verdict.
Sir E. Clarke asked that an acquittal be entered on the conspiracy counts, which the prosecution withdrew.
The Jury returned a formal verdict of not guilty in respect of these counts and two other counts.
Sir E. Clarke applied for bail for Wilde. He did not think that the Crown would oppose the application after what had occurred.
Sir E. Clarke applied for bail for Oscar Wilde, observing that he did not think the Crown would offer any objection after what had occurred.
Mr. Clarke Hall applied for bail for Taylor.
Mr. Gill did not desire to say anything about the matter of bail.
His Lordship—I do not feel able to accede to the application.
Mr. Gill said that the case would certainly be tried again.
The Jury were discharged, and the case was ordered to stand over until the next Sessions.
Sir Edward then asked that the case against Wilde should stand over until the next sessions.
The prisoners were removed in custody.