The New York Herald (European Edition) - Friday, April 5, 1895

THREATENED TO SHOOT HIS FATHER.
Lord Alfred Douglas Carried a Loaded Revolver for that Purpose.
EVIDENCE OF MR. OSCAR WILDE.
For Eight Hours He Was Subjected to a Merciless Cross-Examination.
VISITS TO LITTLE COLLEGE-ST.
Taylor Introduced Young Men in Rooms Lit Up and Heavy with Perfume.
OPENING OF THE DEFENCE.
[BY THE HERALD'S SPECIAL WIRE.]

London, April 5.--If the trial of the Marquis of Queensberry for libelling Mr. O. Wilde, which was resumed yesterday seems most possible, to wreck several reputations, there is no doubt at all that it has already made one. The marvellous cross-examination conducted by Mr. Carson on Wednesday, followed by his masterly opening of the case for the defendant yesterday, has, in the opinion of many eminent barristers to whom I spoke in Court last evening, placed him in an impregnable position as one of the leading counsel of his day-- if not of his generation.

His strongly marked, clean shaven, Savonarola-like face, his extraordinary voice, which whether raised to the highest pitch in his fiercely denunciatory passages or dropped to a gentle whisper of sovereign contempt, is ever strangely musical, are but adjuncts of a keen intellectual process and strong dramatic sense which in conjunction signal him out as a born advocate.

If it was practically Mr. Carson's day on Wednesday, still more so was that the case yesterday; for his great rival Sir E. Clarke was only on his feet for a short time, and during that time produced but little impression on the spectators.

ANOTHER CROWDED DAY.

I was told, by the way, that these same spectators were not present in quite so great numbers as on the previous day, but I saw little to justify the statement. Every available inch of space, as well as many inches which were not available, was occupied with a swarm of juvenile barristers, who monopolised nearly all the sitting room, with reporters or with friends of members of the corporation.

The important question as to whether Mr. Wilde was in London or Ostend, which was still being eagerly discussed in the early morning, was settled shortly after ten o'clock when that person of gradually lessening importance made his way into the Court-room, accompanied by Lord Alfred Douglas, and sat himself down at the solicitor's table.

Shortly afterwards, the Marquis of Queensberry, with a pleasant smile on his ruddy countenance and with his blue stock of the previous day exchanged for a loosely folded whitescarf, bustled in, chatted to some of his friends on the floor of the Court, and then unostentatiously marched of his own accord into the dock some ten minutes before Mr. Justice Collins took his seat upon the Bench. He stood as heretofore, leaning on the ledge in front of him, occasionally making a note with paper and pencil, with which he had provided himself, and otherwise taking the keenest interest in all that went on. Now and then he would smile broadly ; once of twice he laughed heartily, while at intervals he stared somewhat inquisitively across the Court-Room at his son Lord Alfred, who during part of the proceedings stood by the judge's entrance.

MR. WILDE IN THE WITNESS-BOX.

As soon as the judge had taken his seat Mr. Wilde resumed his seat and place in the witness-box and with it the negligent attitude of the day before, and Mr. Carson with an expression like a Grand Inquisitor, arose to continue his cross-examination. This necessarily lacked some of the striking effect of the previous day and did not give rise to so many keen encounters between counsel and witness. Nevertheless it was something more than suggestive. Mr. Carson elicited the fact that Mr. Wilde had known the man Taylor, who arranged meetings between him and Wood for some years and had frequently visited him at his rooms in Little College-street.

ROOMS ALWAYS LIT AND PERFUMED.

These, it appeared, were artistically furnished, were always lit by artificial light, a double set of curtains being drawn whether by day or night, and were usually heavy with scent of burning perfumes. Taylor, it appeared, had introduced Wilde to many young men, with five of whom he subsequently became on friendly terms, calling them by their Christian names and giving them all five either money or presents.

Mr. Wilde was then questioned as to his friendship with some of these young men, of whom two at least had been or were gentlemen's servants, and one had formerly had some sort of connection with a bookmaker. This latter had been taken by Wilde to Paris, and stayed with him about a week at 29 boulevard des Capucines.

While questioning Mr. Wide as to his relations with the young servant of Lord A. Douglas at Oxford, Mr. Wilde volunteered the remark that the boy was very--indeed "unfortunately" ugly.

THE PLAINTIFF "INSULTED."

Mr. Carson picked up the expression, and for the first time Mr. Wilde's nerves gave evidence of being very much shaken. He burst out passionately : "You have unnerved me by your insults ; you have stung me by your insulting question, and in such a condition one says things flippantly, when, perhaps, one should speak more seriously."

It was shortly after this outburst that Mr. Carson ended his cross-examination.

With great impressiveness Sir. E. Clarke then arose to play what was supposed to be the trump card of the prosecution. This consisted of a series of letters written by Lord Queensberry to his son, in which it had been rather more than darkly hinted that references of a most significant nature were made to various exalted personages.

Certainly, the names of Lord Rosebery and the Queen were mentioned in these letters, but only with reference to Lord Queensberry's well-known complaint that he had been unfairly dealt with in relation to the late Lord Drumlanrig's admission to the House of Lords. Otherwise the letters were such as any father might have written to a son whom he considered to be under the evil influence of a third person.

A FUNNY TELEGRAM.

A telegram from Lord Alfred to his father, which elicited one of the letters ran as follows : "What a funny little man you are," an expression of filial opinion which was received with loud hisses by the crowded Court. A post-card written by Lord Alfred to his father was also read. In this he threatened if attacked by his father to defend himself with a loaded revolver which he always carried for the purpose, and asserted that either he or Mr. Wilde would be justified in so acting in self-defence against a violent and dangerous "rough" such as he considered his father to be, and ended by saying that if the marquis were dead, not many people would miss him.

Some very commonplace letters from Lady Shelley, to whom Mr. Wilde was introduced by Mr. John Lane, the publisher, were also put in by Sir Edward, and the case for the prosecution was closed. Mr. Wilde left the Court immediately after, having been some eight hours on the witness stand.

THE DEFENCE OPENS.

In opening for the defence Mr. Carson, with slow, telling emphasis, said that the Marquis of Queensberry would withdraw nothing. From beginning to end he had been influenced by one hope of saving his son. Mr. Carson went on to say that Mr. Wilde had associated with men well known to the police as some of the most immoral men in London, and especially Taylor, whom, though he was in Mr. Wilde's company as last as last Tuesday, and though Mr. Wilde asserted that he was still on intimate terms with him, the prosecution did not dare to put in the witness-box.

Mr. Carson then took up Mr. Wilde's books and asserted that if the case rested alone on Mr. Wilde's literature, Lord Queensberry would have been justified in the course he had taken. He did not accuse Mr. Wilde of crime, but he asserted that he had posed as a most immoral man and that the literature he was responsible for was of a distinctly immoral tendency, as Mr. Carson endeavored at great length to prove, referring to Dorian Grey and the Chameleon, and so by degrees to the two letters which had been read the day before.

Finally he referred to the incident of the alleged blackmailers and asserted that on the morrow the young man would be put into the witness-box and would tell the story from his point of view. At this somewhat effective point Mr. Carson suggested and adjournment, the request being immediately granted by the Judge, and the Court rose until this morning.

Of the incidents which caused remark or attracted especial attention from the spectators yesterday there were fewer than on Wednesday. However, as a result of the rumors of Mr. Wilde's departure for the Continent which were prevalent during the previous evening, the fact that after the luncheon recess he did not appear in the witness-box until nearly a quarter of an hour after Mr. Justice Collins was in his seat caused general comment.

APOLOGIES FOR THE CLOCK.

When he finally pushed his way through the throng and entered the box, after an elaborate apology and reference to the misdemeanors of the clock at the hotel here he lunched, a sigh whether of satisfaction or regret, it is impossible to say, rose from the crowd.

It was noticeable, too, that as Mr. Wilde left the Court his step had lost its wonted buoyancy and he almost staggered as with bent head he passed out to the open air.