The Wilde Trial Verdict.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 142, 15 June 1895, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Wilde Trial Verdict.

'In important criminal trials ib occasionally • happens that the viows of the publicformed on'necessarily superficial newspaper reports—-and the views of the jury and those in court—formed on evidence and the de-* meanour of the witnesses —differ materiallyThis was so in the Wilde trial concluded on Wednesday. -? W-hilsb the public anticipated wibh confidence a conviction, all.who had heard the case through looked hopefully for an acquittal. In tho end, as you know, the jury disagreed.^ 1 append a brief resume of the hearing, and have only to add that in summing-up tho judge took the line vtfiich you will see I expected, viz., he dismissed the tainted testimony of the blackmailers, and directed the jury to consider chiefly.young Shelley's evidence and other independent witnesses, especially the hotel servants. The demeanour oi Shelley in the witness-box was impressively dwelt on, also his letters, which id seems contradict some statements he made. Mr Justice Charles, .evidently doubted whether he mighb nob be subject to delusions. Nor did the other evidence appear irresistible to his lordship. Altogether^ he summed up strongly in favour of both the accused. i.The jury .were seven to five. Mr Gill promptly stated the case would be re-feried next session. : V : ■i,; , ■, >".. ;« The Trial of Oscar Wilde. • ' The trial ot Oscar Wilde and Taylor was merely a repetition in its earlier stages of what occurred at the'Police'Courb,wibh edifying additions in the shape of crossexaminations. Mere lads stood forth eelf-confessed blackmailers or ' bouncers,' creatures for whom Michael Davitt in his prison reminiscences says even hardened gaol -! bird 3, feel and express ■ ineffable contempb. Yet they themselves seemed to be incapable of understanding the vileness of their own cbnducb. ' The" detective who had them in charge sayß they wore as ingenuously excited with regard to playing a part In the Wilde tragedy as boys are in hunting down" a" burglar. * Shall Ibe called again ? Will he ask me any more ? Who ■was the old buffer in the wig beside the judge?' -Wood astounded the Courb by boldly confessing thab . bis share of the blackmailing incident referred to by Parker was £175. On Saturday riighb at the clubs one heard but'a single opinion. Unless the case were proved outside * such evidence, there must be an acquittal. Edward Shelly, the publisher's clerk, wa3, however, ■ a harder nut than the * bouncers/ for Sir Edward Clarke, to crack, and this he evidently felt. The lad is vain and weak, bub far^from coarse or naturally immoral. The story told of Mr Wilde's first noticing him, of his 'subtle flattery, of the dinner ab the Albenoarlei of the brilliant talk of books and men, and of his horror abwhab followed, rang painfully true. 'But,'said Sir Edward Clarke remorsefully, 'if you' were bo Bhooked ' w hy did you go back to the Alberinarle;nexb' evening.' Shelley ex; plained he bbougbb Mr' Wilde, like himself, had taken too much wine.. Also, he believed he was 'sorry for what occurred. Pressed further, -the lad, with scarlet cheeks and lowered eyelids, could only suppose he was •■a young fool.' The situation was summed up in the sentence^ 'He was Oscar VVilde and I was a publisher's clerk.' Lebtera were produced addressed by Shelley' to Wilde, in' which the lad prai?ed' Oscar's poems and plays in ecstatic terms. Later/ came epistles .written in extravagant language, /accusing' Wildo in one breath o/i - ft?l9g Jh>? t? u'P».--W. .i^?p.thet. .of, be.ing ,b|s ;"'" "dearesT friend, "in a* third' asking him f|>r money, in* a fourth apologising as was npb qqitfi right in his mind ab times. On t^iis last phrase counsel fastened, • Was ib tru^j V Shelley shot a glance ab his former friend, and !besitated. Should he sacrifice himself for the man in the dock ? Wilde had ruined Kirn in a way, bub; ho had also been wery kind to him. ' Few knew the many sid/js of •Tbhis erring bub talented creature blebfcor ' than be. 'Yes,'* he said, 'I seemtC) lose Jny headafi'timee.'- In a fib,of this kind he / had-assaulted his own father,"to whpm he ' .; wr'as-mneh attached." During the jperiod '■\..following-his discharge from Matthefvs's he ••was on many occasionss hardly responsible. 'With tbis^Sir Edward Clarke" was content. Nob, however, the Grown. ■ Shelley?had to confess in re-examination he was qirite himVelf when visiting Wilde ab the Albjemarle. TTpon the lad -leaving the*box a] general "' opinion was expressed thab Shellny's was the mpsb damaging evidence extanij againab tho accused. -' ■' ' ■''~.. ••< J By this time the line of defenjee to be adopted \ Was tolerably appare/at. The \ witnesses all agreed'there had never been the faintest,secrecy in Oscar's! relations with them. He greeted the* lafds in the Btreet, received them ab public resorts, made no secret of his dinner-fparties for them. Were the jury sure ibf waßn'b all parb of Oscar's Hellenism-run-mad pose ? Monday was; taken up entirely with the reading over toth'e jury of Oscar's famous cross-examination in tho Quoenaperry case. r ,: ■• ' The Defence, j ■ ■ ■■'•.•"■ *■' 'On Tuesday to simplify njiattera and 6nable the prisoners if so disposed to give evidence on their own behalfa the Crown withdrew the charges of cons] piracy. Sir Edward Clarke in opening M.is case re-' » marked he did nob think ib quite fair of Mr Gill to have insisted; üßion reading Wilde's cross-examination upqm his books and writings. Ib was nob fair to judge a man even by his booksf but thai prosecution had gone further than thab, anil had sought to judge; Wilde by books which he did nob 1 writer and by a.n- articlei--'whitish he^had repudiated as horrible and; dißgrustiDg. He pointed out) thab tho lacesb djite afc which Wisconducb was charged again(3b Wildo was eighteen' month 3 ago, and tha.fa ib was his own act in prosecuting Lord JQaeensberry that brought the matter before the public. He (Sir E. Clarke); with the cjounsel acting ■with him, was responsible far the advice given to Mr Wilde in the Queiinsberry case, arid ib was partly owing to that fact that he ;was there again on 'Wilde'si nehalf to meeb the accusation which could npb properly be tried then. Men charged:? with offences alleged against Mr Wilde shrrunk from investigation, and he submitted that the fact of Wilde's taking the imtiajbive of a public trial was evidence of his innocence. EXAMINATION OF.Osciß WiLDE. .Mr Wilde was then called. He rose with alacrity from his Beat in tiie dock, walked erectly to the vnbness-bojx, and, leaning, across the rail in'-. the same easy attitude that he assumed when heJvas examined by, Mr Carson in the previous case, quietly answered the questions adfdresfeed to him by .Sir Edward Clarke, whicii in tho nrsc:place| dealt with, his earlier career. In 1884 he married Miss Lloyd, and from thab time to presenb : he had 1 ivied with .his wite at ,16, Tite-street, Chelsea./ He.also occupied in Sb. James'e-place,, which ho took for the purpose of his work, ib being out of •the question to get auietude at his own house when his twolyoung sons were'ab home. He bad heard the evidence in this case against himself, and asserted thab there ,was no truth in any ©ne of the allegations of indecent behaviouß. ■•',,. _ i The'Cross/examinationv v Mr Gill began hiafcrosa-examination with * 'Borne questions relating to Iford -Alfred' 'Douglas's poems jvhich appeared in; the 'Chameleon,' which the witness at tho 'former trial had /described as beautiful t :pbemß. It was net, he said in explanation I n of the answers'heihen gave, for,him to ex- J H '■; plain anyone elsoTs work,, bub the ex pi an a- i y given him fw the-authot' was that the,

word . • shame ' in one o£./ the sonnets was used in ■ the sense /of modesty, to feel shame or nob to feel shame. The meaning of;the words in the other sonnet, 'I .am? the love thab dare nob speak its name,1 was iquite clear.. It was said the great love between an elder and a younger man as f between David and Jonabhan, such as Plato made the basis of his philosoplay, such as was to be found in the sonnets of Shakespeare and Michael Angelo; that deep spiritual affection thab was as pure as it waa perfect, and thab pervaded great works of arb like those of Michael Angelo and Shakespeare. Ib was beautiful, it was pure, ib'was noble, ib was intellefibual this love of an elder man with his experience of ilife and a younger with all the joy apd hope of life before him. (Applause andhi'ssesin thegallery, jwhich his lordship ab qmce suppressed.) The witness was next examined as to the two famous letters from,' himself' to Lord Alfred Douglas, in which the expressions, ' Your slim-gilb soul' a.nd • bhe rose-leaf lips' appeared. One 6f theaa, he said, was a sort of prose sopneb in answer to one he had received Jfrom Lord Alfred Douglas. There wasi nobbing in either letter of which he wo^ the leasb ashamed. In'regard to the Wds Charles Parker, Alf Wood, Atkins and Shelley, he said their evidence as to/ his association with them, bhe dinners a/nd presents he gave them was mainly tru/j, bub there waa not a syllable of truth in fihab parb of their evidence which allegecl improper behaviour. He did nob think there was anything exbraordinary aboub /Taylor's rooms.' They were Bohemian, thfib was all. Examination of Taylor. 'Alfred Taylor Ziexb wenb into the box. He said he was fhirty-bhree years, of age and was educated, ab Marlborougb. When he was twenty-c-no ho came into £45,000. In a few years he ran bhrough ib, and ab aboub the time tie went to Chapel-streeb ho was made a / bankrupt. The charges, againab him for! inisebnduci). were entirely unfounded. . / Speec.'h for the Defence. ■ After luncheon Sir E. Clarke addreßsed the jury in /defence of Wilde. Ho carefully analysed the evidence, and submitted that they puld nob possibly find Wilde guilty on the Btatoment of thoso tainted wibnesses. /He pointed out thab Wilde had himself produced one of the letters which had been made so much of by tho prosecution, and staid thab he had made no secret of bis yUlting Taylor's rooms and giving dinners t& some of the witnesses. Wilde was an fextraordinary man, and he had written J.ettora which might seem highflown, exaggerated, absurd if they likod, bub hq' was nob afraid or ashamed to produce those letters. Council dwelt forcibly] upon the character of some of the testimony offered, especially upon that given liy those witnesses who had been j proved/ to have been guilty of blackmail. ''Fix your minds,' concluded Sir Edwac'd Clarke, 'firmly on the teats that oughb/to be applied to the evidence before you c/in condemn a follow man on a charge like this. Then I trust thab bhe result of your; deliberations will be to gratify those thon/iand hopes that are waiting upomyour verdficb. I trusb bhab that verdict will clear itodi this fearful imputation one of the mos.b accomplished and renowned men of letfers of to-day.' At tho conclusion of Sir Edward's earnest an/d eloquenb address, Mr Wilde, who was vfsibly affected, wrote a brief note, which Was handed down to tho learned counsel, jf Mr Grain then replied to the charges Against Taylor. He said thab all the resources of the Crown had been unable to produce any corroboration of tho charges; made by tho two Parkers. Tayior, ho added, having run through his money, had been living on an allowance made by members of hio late father's firm. „. ~£iaf & heady stated,, the.jury disagreed. •. .