The Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, April 7, 1895

OSCAR WILDE'S DOWNFALL
He Is Liable to Be Sentenced
to Penal Servitude
for Life.
MUCH SYMPATHY FOR HIS FAMILY
No Statute of English Law Which
Will Permit His Wife to
Secure a Divorce.
PUBLIC SENTIMENT IS AROUSED
Other Prosecutions Will Probably
Follow - The Tragic Death of
Lord Drumlanrig Recalled.
Special Cable to The Inquirer, Copyright, 1895.

LONDON, April 6. - Oscar Wilde's real or assumed indifference during the frightful revelations of to-day was, if assumed, an excellent piece of acting. It seems absolutely certain that he will convicted, and the minimum penalty is ten years’ imprisonment with a maximum penal servitude for life. Public opinion will certainly demand an exemplary sentence, for, as I cabled you some weeks ago, it is well known throughout society that quite a large section of certain literary, artistic and theatrical circles in London is equally guilty with Wilde. Public sentiment is aroused against this group to a degree that other prosecutions may follow.

The "Chameleon Magazine," so often referred to, was horribly open in its practical defense of the crime. Much sympathy is felt for Mrs. Wilde, who is a very estimable lady, and for her two beautiful children. A curious feature of English law is that even if the husband is convicted and sent to penal servitude Mrs. Wilde cannot get a divorce on either ground.

QUEENSBERRY’S FAMILY.

Lord Archibald Douglass, speaking, it is understood, for his sister-in-law, the divorced wife of the Marquis of Queensberry and mother of Lord Douglass, of Hawickw, and Alfred Douglass, and also for his sister, Lady Florence Dixie, vigorously denies to-day the statement of Lord Douglass that all the family repudiates the action of the Marquis. Lord Archibald is a Catholic priest. The Marchioness of Queensberry is, happily perhaps, absent in Florence just now.

There are curious stories afloat explaining the action of Lord Douglas in supporting his younger brother. The revelations of this week also revive certain whispered conjectures at the time of the death of Lord Drumlanrig, of which I cabled you a full account last September. It is now recalled that while the charge from Lord Drumlanrig's gun entered his mouth and blew the back of his head off, his teeth were uninjured, which raised the suspicion that he had put the muzzle of the gun between his teeth and deliberately fired.

From the testimony in the present trial it appears that his death corresponds with the period when his father first entered upon the pursuit of Oscar Wilde and when it must have been known to Drumlanrig that the family scandal would shortly be exposed. He was about to be married, and occupied an enviable position in political life.

ALL TRINITY GRADUATES.

Another coincidence is that Oscar Wilde, Mr. Carson and Mr. Gill, the leading counsel against him, as well as Judge Collins, who tried the case, are all Irishmen and all graduates of Trinity College, Dublin. Carson, who was Balfour's right-hand man throughout his coercive regime in Ireland, was a contemporary of Wilde’s at the University, but whereat Oscar had a most distinguished course, Carson did not gain a single prize.

Alfred Wood, who testified to-day, is a common young clerk. Marmaduke Woolds, who was mixed up in the Belle Bilton divorce, is in no way concerned in the present trial.

BALLARD SMITH.