Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-07-09
WILDE PICKS OAKUM,
SCREAMED, THREW UP HIS HANDS
AND TAINTED ON THE TREADMlLl.

Ragged AT tho Ghhpihin His WIS Auopts
Another Name-TaIses Her Children to
the Continent.
How Is Oscar Wilde bearing tho strain
of his now life ns convict In dreary Pen
tonville prisonS That IL question often
asked nowadays by thousands who were
dazzled or scandalized by his opigrams,
said or written. So far there has boen no
authentic answer. IL has come In the way
Of the present writer TO find out something
about Il that can DO relied upon, AZ 1t
comes from the best possible source. An
interesting and, In one way, terrible story
IL makes.
All the world knows how he broke down
when the inevitable end OF his trial came
before him; how he was dragged from the
court 70 prison with the scathing denun-
Citations Of the Judge, with the Kisses and
curses Of his fellow citizens; how he was
sent To Pentonville the ugliest and most
savage Of English prisons, there to be shorn
and clad In the convict uniform and made
ready for the treadmill.
The cell into which they put him md
which will be his home for the next two
years Is In extreme contrast To his luxu-
rious apartments Of n few weeks ago. IL Is
very small, perfectly bare, made even more
hideous by rough coating of whitewash.
There is "a wrotched, hard bed and n table
with no cloth to cover its plain broad top.
On the table Is the only literature permit
ted him, II copy Of the Bible. He must
read this or he may not read at all.
He rises at 9 a. m, and before breakfast
he must clean his cell-sweep 1t, make the
bed and In every way get Ii into condition
for the sharp eyes OF the inspector.
H.On H.. -, h~.- -I.Au
eight ounces of whole meal wheaton bread,
q pint Of COCOA sweetened with molasses
or, by way Of variety, pint of Cruel,
Scotch oatmeal, salt and water. At 6:45
no goes to prayers, standing In the files
with several hundred other oonvicts, and
compelled to an attitude of reverence.
At noon he has his two course dinner,
which varies regularly with the day of the
week. On Sunday and Wednesday 1t is
potatoes and suet pudding. On Monday
and Friday he always has potatoes and
boiled beef. On other days there Is So
berer, more ascetic diet OF potatoes and
soup. There is always eight ounces Of
bread. Occasionally, as great surprise,
instead Of boiled beef, they give him cold
mutton or beans and bacon. At 6p. IN.
he has supper, q daily repetition of the
frugal breakfast. Between supper and bed
he may mediate as he sits In his cell or
may read the Bible. At $3.50 p. m. lights
must be out, and every convict, including
Convict Wilde, must be stretched out in
bed. Wilde has not yet reached the point
where sleep straightway comes to shut out
the waking hours that must seem to him
dream.
All this is detestable enough to the
brutal and ignorant wretches those Grim
inal" classes about whose knowledge Of
aesthetics Wilde was speaking with such
contemptuous epigram on the witness
stand in the trial Of his libel suit. To
Wilde 1t Is 80 hideous that he cannot yet
believe that he Is not under the spell Of
some frightfuf dreasl. There have been
many stories that he has lost his mind, but
the truth Is that he is still sane, but in u
dazed, trancelike condition, from which
he is seldom reused.
The first time he showed any sign of q
realization Of the depth TO which he has
sunk was the second day of his imprison-
ment, when he was put upon the tread
mill. This awful remnant of prison dis
cipline in former years has a wheel which
the convicts must climb for six hours d
day-three hours in the forenoon, three
hours in the afternoon. The speed of the
wheel is 82 feet a minute, and the convict
who pauses while the wheel is in motion
is struck and bruised by the edges of the
ever descending steps. At the end of ev
cry Is minutes there Is q rest of Ave min
utes.
The second day Wilde, dased and auto
matte, was led out and put upon the wheel.
Mechanically no trod the steps for 15 min
utes, took the 8 minutes rest and be-
gan again. In the second Is minutes he
stopped, threw up his arms, gave vent to q
horrible scream Of anguish and fell In a
swoon. The prison surgeon examined him
and said his heart was In such condition
1t would be dangerous to put him on the
wheel again. So Wilde is allowed to sit in
his cell. They throw in q quantity of oak
um every morning, but he need not pick
IL unless he wishes to do SO. OF late he
has begun to pick the oakum. Any occu-
patton is better than sitting idle and
thinking thinking, thinking.
The second arousing came through the
gentle, earnest old chaplain, the Rev. w.
Frederick Stockton. 1t Is the duty as
well AS the pleasure of Mr.. Stockton to
labor spiritually with the convicts, to
strive to bring them to repentance and the
consultations Of religion. He was eager to
begin upon Wilde, whom he regarded as
the most hardened and desperate pervert
from Christianity that had ever come un-
der his spiritual care.
So Wilde had not been In Pentonvillc
many days before the old clergyman pushed
timidly into his cell. Wilde, seated Mt the
table with his face buried I'm his hands,
glanced at the old man, saw his occupation
in the cut Of his cloth and flushed anRrily.
What do you mean by intruding your
self upon mep" he demanded
The old man looked sympathetioaliy at
the fallen pagan and said in his gentlest
voice:
81 wish to offer you the consultations of
religion and to help you to reflect upon
your condition.
Il do not need the consultations Of re-
ligion and am still capable of conduct
ing my own reflections, said Oscar sneer
ingly.
II hope you are not impenitent," the