The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-11-23
TWO NOTED PRISONERS.


IT
Wilde also q Physical Wreck.
Copyright, 1906 by the Associated Press)
LONDON. Nov. 2a-Irom a high NM
clal connected with her majecty's prison
at Norwood Scrubbs. the Associated
Press Is furnished with the following
account OF the prisoners Mrs, Maybrlek
and Oscar Wilde. ITO any me who
knew Mrs. Maybrlck, as did, before
her incarceration, she would not now be
recognized. She Is a complete mental
and physical wreck. I Wish to say right
here, that this condition Is not due to
prison treatment, but Is the direct result
OF confinement ana mental worry. While
she Is not Insane, thr condition borders
closely upon 1t. She has not been at
Norwood Scrubs for many months,
but Is now In the smaller prison at Ayles-
bury, in Bucldnyhamshlra. It Is found
that prisoners In her mental state re-
Qulrc as much charge as Is consistent
with prison regulations, and for this
reason she has been an inmate OF 80
many penal institutions,
While at Norwood Scrubbs she was
In the hospital for nine months In the
year and her health has demanded like
treatment at Aylesbury. She has grown
thin and her check bones protrude In n
manner most unpleasant to see. Her
complexion IL ghastly and her eyes have
n haunted look. She has all the cuh-
ming OF nm insane person. This Is shown
| by the fact that she has twice endeavor-
cd TO commit suicide, once nearly sue
cessfully, despite the strict and seach-
ing watch to which she Ia constantly
subjected. One of these attempts was
evidently made in an endeavor to con
vince the doctors that she was suffering
from Internal hemorrhage, and went too
far. She subsequently made the same
attempt and very nearly succeeded. The
other attempt was by near of strangu-
lat!on. Since these attempts the watch
to which she has been subjected pre-
| cludes another such repetition.
I'm talking with her she once said to
me L deserve all I have got This was
significant, but her mental condition at
the time was such that ] did not attach
much Importance to her remarks. How
ever, that may be, she was not, In my
| opinion, ever proven guilty. ! am firm
ly OF the belief that she will not survive
another year OF prison life. She has now
been In confinement since July, 1889.
| Ordinarily, Imprisonment for life means
twenty years, there being but few in
stances where prisoners have been con-
| fined on life sentence after that period,
unless some new and pointed facts in re-
latlon to their guilt has COM to light In
the interim. I also think that the efforts
to secure her release that have come
from America and elsewhere and which
have been In the nature OF coercing the
home office, have operated against her,
and 1 also believe that she will be set at
liberty within n year."
The official was also asked regarding
Oscar Wilde, said he:
wilde was also removed from the
Scrubs O short time ago. He Il now at
Reading. His health Is also wretched
and he seems aged and broken. He has
spent much time in the hospital and, like
Mrs Maybrlcle, has been frequently
transferred and for the same reason.
While at Woodwork Scrubs he was a
model prisoner, SO far as complying with
the regulations was concerned, but his
work was done In a perfunctory man
ner. I must decline TO say at what labor
he was employed. Like Mrs. Maybrlck,
I do not think he would survive another
year of prison life, but. fortunately for
him, his sentence expires the last OF
March. Personally, I do not believe that
any petitions for his release VIII be
| rrontpdo