The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-14
WILDE'S LIFE IN PRISON
HIS TWO YEARS SENTENCE WILL
EXPIRE NEXT WEDNESDAY.
His Crime One for Which GOod Con-
duet Fails tops9eaRErAHy Allow
ance from the Full Term.

Oscar Wilde will be liberated from Read
ing prison d week from next Wednesday,
his two years sentence expiring on that
date, the crime for which he was con-
Victed being among the very few for which
there is no remission for good behavior. In
the ordinary routine Wilde win be turned
cut of the prison gate at Reading and
given the railroad fare to London. No
ether course can be followed except by di-
1ect order from the home secretary, and
up TO the present time no such order has
been issued. x1at
Nothing has been definitely known up to
this time as TO Wilde's life in prison or the
effect of his Incarceration upon his health,
since he Was brought before the registrar
ina bankruptcy for public examination two
or three months after beginning his term in
prison. AT that time the effect of impris-
onment was unmistakahle. He was very
much reduced in weight, his heavy cheeks
were pallid and shrunken and he wore
patches of shaggy, black beard. He
stopped painfully, and there was the APP
pearance as if his chest were contracted.
His face bore a scared, hunted expression,
and he obeyed every motion of the jailer
who had him in charge with cringing SER
Witty.
Aoo v O1l1S 1CSdlISQ lOSI
weight, but is actually fourteen pounds
heavier than when he entered the prison.
His complexion is clear and healthy. and
the prison physician says that the distin-
Sulshed convict is in perfect physical con-
dltlon- Ills personal appearance has under
gone many changes, but. curiously enough,
IN view of the indignities to which he was
subjected, his hair was allowed to grow.
ana now hangs in heavy, luxuriant tresses
upon MS shoulders. His face has been kept
smoothly shaved the last year, To-day |
OBTAINED details of Wilde's life i'm prison
the pubic.
After his sentence Wilde was first taken
70 W anusWoftE prison, where he was con-
Ilhed SIX months, and where he endured
the most terrible part OF his punishment.
Inc main object of English prison treat
rnent during the first few months is to re-
duce the convict to complete subsection.
mentally and physically.
me nfst TOUR months of Wudes impris-
onment, therefore, were devoted to con
Stant exercise upon the. treadmill, during
which time he was restricted to the lowest
class of prison diet, consisting of three
meals a day. A bowl of thin Cruel with
TWO ounces of bread, was served in his cell
at > o'clock each morning, after he had
hours on the endless staircase
WORKED THE pREADMILL.
After breakfast he returned to the tread
mill until noon, when a dinner of bread and
beans, varied once a week by the addition
of suet pudding, was served at / o'clock.
A short term on the treadmill then began,
and was followed by parade in lock step
about the exercise ground until 6 o'clock.
when supper, invariably the same as break
fast, was eaten in hisneelF. s.
This consumed, Wilde was ordered to
make up his bed, strip himself n hand
out his clothes to the turnkey and then re-
tire for the night. iTaet bed was then a
hard straw mattress rolled out on a plank.
with one coarse blanket. and in the winter
a species of padded horSecloth to throw
over the blanket. In Wilde's case a special
warden was detailed to keep him under
continued observation. The warden aWak-
ened him at 6 o'clock each morning, threw
in his bundle of clothes and ordered him
to dress and proceed to- the treadmill.
On leaving Wandsworth eighteen months
ago, Wilde babe farewell. to the treadmill,
lie was taken TO ReildiIGg 5prfson. where he
is still confined, and where he has been
and is known as b "a, which designation
he wears on the arm. Here his work was
first scrubbing corridors and polishing brass
knobs and steel ratings, after which he
was put at sewing coal sacks, which is the
particular industry of Reading prison. He
has been shown no special faVOTS, but the
fact that no single complaint has yet been
recorded against him accounts Tor his be-
ing favored recently. with the light work of
repairing and keeping in, order bindings
and covers of Bibles. prayer books and
Iy IIIl OOObos Will 1i4N - OOANN - Ia
supplied. This special duty has not, how
ever, freed him altogether from the ordi-
nary routine, and when there were no books
to repair he has been engaged at oakum
picking and sack stitching.
For many months he was almost invari-
ably the first man to report the completion
port that he has maintained more than or
binary CheerfulneSS and has MADE no COM
plant in regard to his treatment either to
the visiting justices, her Majesty,s inspec-
tor of prisons, the governor or the prison
or wardens themselves. He was, however,
much depressed for, a week some SIX
months ago when he inquired what COM
mutation of time would be mace Tor Sood
behavior, and was informed THAT IN his
case the full term must be served. lie mas
not spent aesingle day IN the nospltal, ana
has not ONCE required medical treatment.
Recently he has been allowed an hours
extra exercise three days each week IN or
der to check his tendency 70 put on 1esh.
The keepers report that Wide, VINO mas
been compelled to attend rellglous services
daily for the last eighteen months, has
been the most attentive listener 70 Rev. M.
T. Friend. the prison chaplain. me clergy
man is not certain whether ne mas mace d
convert of Wilde, or whether ms discourse
was listened to out of mere pohteness ana
as a means of relieving some OF the tedlum
of prison routine 1f@
WILL DO LITERARY WORK.
Elwyn Barron, another American CORE
spondent here, says Wilde, when released,
will go Immediately to Paris, where he is to
nave d DOSlllpl VI lll6 ANIo sun - q
daily paper. An American manager had
rather a clever scheme for utilizing the
genius and brilliance of this disgraced man,
which, had it not for some reason been
abandoned, might have proved a good spec
ulation. It was supposed that Wilde, on re-
gaining his liberty, would be at the neces-
sity of hiding himself in obscurity, away
from the walks of those he had known IN
.triumphal days. Therefore, the manager
was to secure Wilde an asylum IN some
agreeable part OF Europe, supply MN uDef-
ally with money for all his needs, ana en-
ter into contract with him Tor all ms inter-
airy and dramatic work for the next ten
years. The plan was that Wilde should con-
fine himself chiefly to the writing or pays,
and these plays were to be produced ana
exploited as the works of a literary ma,
but the real authorship was &c. be concealed
until the fortunes of the peculiar nTm were
established. That money could nave been
made in this way there is no doubt Tor
Wilde's plays were giving him a great rep
utation as a dramatist at the time he was
exposed to a whitening intamy; Dut ! 90
not see that secrecy was necessary IHls
strangely constituted world may 40 some
very severe things in the throes OF a moral
paroXysm, but, the shock over, IL speedlIy
fOrgetS the occasion of its Indignation. Al
the time of his disgrace VlrtuouS managers
obliterated his name from programmes, but
went on representing his plays IN winch
were brilliantly prophetic and deity sug-
gestiVe lines bearing on his moral ldlOSyn-
~crasieS. And recently / have seen ADVERTISE
mentS of the revival of his plays IN amer
lea: so that it would seem that WildeS
name NAV have a new commercial value
with his emergence from prison. warrant
YOU if ii be known that he has a play
for the market he viii not lack Tor bidders
on both sides of the Atlantic because he
made a shameful descent from the plane OF
manhood. Let It be suspected that there
are jewels slowed in a carton carcass ana