Sligo Champion - Saturday, June 8, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
The London Correspondent of the Freeman writing on Thursday morning says :—I understand that there is no truth whatever in the alarming story published as to Oscar Wilde's mental condition since his incarceration at Pentonville. As a matter of fact I am informed on the most reliable authority that Wilde is both physically and mentally quite well, and is doing the usual term of first-class hard labour, of which the treadmill forms the principal part. It is quite true that on the night of his conviction he was in a semi-comatose condition, but he was practically well the next day. Those who are accustomed to dealing with criminals know that in a case of this kind, where the guilt of the prisoner is beyond question, his condition after the passing of the sentence is almost always much better than immediately before. This has been the experience of Oscar Wilde. He is quiet, and performs his allotted tasks with average energy and docility. The statement that he is or has been confined in a padded room was apparently a mere effort of the imagination.
London, Thursday Morning. [...] I understand that their is no truth whatever in the alarming story published as to Oscar Wilde's mental condition since his incarceration at Pentonville. As a matter of fact I am informed on the most reliable authority that Wilde is both physically and mentally quite well, and is doing the usual term of first-class hard labour, of which the treadmill forms the principal part. It is quite true that on the night of his conviction he was in a semi-comatose condition, but he was practically well the next day. Those who are accustomed to dealing with criminals know that in a case of this kind, where the guilt of the prisoner is beyond question, his condition after the passing of the sentence is almost always much better than immediately before. This has been the experience of Oscar Wilde. He is quiet, and performs his allotted tasks with average energy and docility. The statement that he is or has been confined in a padded room was apparently a mere effort of the imagination.