A LONDON SCANDAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5222, 1 April 1895, Page 4

A LONDON SCANDAL.

John Sholto Douglas, Marquis of QtieensIberry, was arraigned before Mr Newton, Magistrate, in the ' Great Marlborongh Polioe Court, London, on the afternoon of March 2, on a charge of having libelled Oscar Wilde.

Mr Wilkes Lawyer, in presenting the Case, sat forth that his client was a husband who was living upon the most affectionate terms with his wife and two sons. For the last nine or ten months, he said, the Marquis of Qaeensberry had persecuted Mr Wilde with the utmost cruelty. The last act of persecution occurred o& Feb. 28, when the Marquis left for Mr Wilde at a clnb of which both are members, an open card npon the back of which waa written a vile epithet. The porter of the club upon readrng the words enolosed the card in an envelope so that it might not be seen by any other person than Mr Wilde. The detective who arrested the Marquis at Dover on the morning of March 2 testified that when' he approaohed the Marquis and informed him oC the . coiaplfiint upon which he was 'Arrested his Lordship said-!-" This has been going : oji for two yciars."' Sir , <Reorge= Lawifi, the' MawjMa of .:Qaeenßber»y'a r ßoli^^ ':;■ icitor, in hisaddress to the Con aaid that Z when .'the tjfoQta be£amej fully ''■„ fcnown it i : would be found,- that, thai Marq»iß.|iad " been acting under the influence of great indignation, based upon abundant provocation. It has nob been a secret, Days the, despatch, that the reason for the Marquis of Queensberry'a resentment was to be found in the intimate relations existing beteen Mr Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, who, until the death of Lord Druinlanrigg placed him next in succession, was the younger eon of the Marquis. Owinjyto the friendship existing between Mr Wilde and Lord Alfred, the latter became estranged from his father, wbo, feeling his position more acutely by reason of sundry reports concerning the nature of the relations between Mr Wilde and hia son, whisth are also common property, conceived a most violent antipathy to Mr Wilde.