The First Criminal Trial: Reg ina v . Wilde and Taylor , Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey)

This chapter focuses on the proceedings of Oscar Wilde's first criminal trial, which began on Friday, 26 April and ended on Wednesday, 1 May 1895. It opens with the hectic sequence of events that took place during the intervening seven days, mentioning the grand jury that found true bills on all twenty-five counts of the indictment. It also mentions Wilde's solicitors, Humphreys, Son, and Kershaw, who informed the Press Association that he would plead not guilty as they intended to fight the case to the end. The chapter recounts the libel trial against John Sholto Douglas, the Marquess of Queensberry that had been terminated on the same day Wilde was arrested. It highlights the authorities' fear that the young men who had enjoyed intimacy with Wilde or involved in the homosexual circles he moved in might abscond.