A CELEBRATED LIBEL CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9786, 5 April 1895, Page 5

A CELEBRATED LIBEL CASE.

OSCAR WILDE V. MARQUIS OF

QUEENSBERRY.

EXTRAORDINARY ' DEVELOPMENTS.

Press Association.—Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. London, April 3. Immense crowds attend the trial of the Marquis of Queensberry on a charge of libelling Oscar Wilde. The evidence adduced to-day showed that Wilde paid heavy blackmail for his gushing letters to Lord Alfred Douglas (the Marquis' son), which were found in the pockets of his old clothes when given away. The defence is based on revelations made in these letters.

London, April 4.

Oscar Wilde explained the effusive language of the letters addressed to Lord Douglas as the natural expression of an artist attracted by a beautiful personality. The Marquis of Queensberry visited his residence and threatened Wilde, to which that gentleman responded with, " You are the most infamous brute in London."

Wilde was subjected to a stringent cross-examination with the view of showing that " Dorian Gray," and some articles in a magazine, Chameleon, with which he is connected, are of an immoral tendency. Wilde insisted that they are merely an expression of the artistic faculty. His letters to Lord Douglas were prose poems — extraordinary, perhaps, but not justifying an immoral interpretation. He admitted that he gave one of his alleged blackmailers twenty-one pounds, and lunched with him in a private room afterwards.

The case was adjourned, defendant being admitted to bail.