La Presse - Wednesday, June 26, 1895
This report was originally published in French. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
Une visite à Oscar Wilde
Le Galignani Messenger publie l'information suivante concernant Oscar Wilde :
« Un ami de l'auteur du Portrait de Dorian Gray est allé lui rendre visite dans sa prison ; il a trouvé Oscar Wilde en parfaite santé, le teint frais, mangeant d'un excellent appétit. Son état mental ne laissait rien à désirer. Le prisonnier semble avoir accepté son sort avec résignation, secondé en cela par les conseils de sa femme, qui a contribué pour beaucoup à ce revirement.
En ce qui concerne le mode de châtiment auquel Wilde est soumis, il ne consiste nullement, comme l'ont dit plusieurs journaux français, en la terrible peine du treadmill ; le prisonnier travaille à des ouvrages manuels, mais il n'est nullement soumis au supplice qui consiste à faire tourner une roue plusieurs heures durant. Wilde a même obtenu l'autorisation d'avoir des livres.
A l'expiration de sa peine Wilde a l'intention de vivre à l'étranger et de se consacrer entièrement à la littérature.
A visit to Oscar Wilde
The Galignani Messenger publishes the following information regarding Oscar Wilde:
“A friend of the author of The Picture of Dorian Gray went to visit him in his prison; he found Oscar Wilde in perfect health, with a fresh complexion, eating with an excellent appetite. His mental state left nothing to be desired. The prisoner seems to have accepted his fate with resignation, assisted in this by the advice of his wife, who contributed a great deal to this turnaround.
As regards the mode of punishment to which Wilde is subjected, it by no means consists, as several French newspapers have said, in the terrible punishment of the treadmill; the prisoner works at manual works, but he is in no way subjected to the torture which consists in turning a wheel for several hours. Wilde even got permission to have books.
At the end of his sentence Wilde intends to live abroad and devote himself entirely to literature.