The Elbert County tribune. [volume] (Elbert, Elbert County, Colo.) 18??-1920, 1905-03-30


That trailed its raveled heeces by.
Thus in THE Ballad of Reading
Gaol," under his prison pseudonym of
&C. 3d. wrote Oscar Wilde, whose
book, DE Profundis," has just been
published, and revealed the secret
sorrows and humiliations of one who
rightly claimed to have been "a lord
of language"
A former prison warder who was
at Reading jail during the entire
period of Wilde's incarceration, has
further drawn aside the veil that hid
the Inflated man of genius during his
degration and despair "in the depths"
The publication of the posthumous
book by the great literary genius, who
"sinned and suffered" has induced
this warder. who had charge of Oscar
Wilde during his Imprisonment, to tell
how that unhappy man of letters
'circled the center of PAIN" as he in
poignant phrase described the daily
prison ordeal.
Poor Wilde" writes his former
prison custodian. 1.-The governor new
er told us the name. but directly the
prisoner arrived we saw that C 80,
which was his prison letter and num-
Der, afterward made famous by him
thus signing the The Ballad of Read
ing Gaol,' was none other than Oscar
Wilde.
Il remember my first sight of the
fallen literary idol of whom all the
world was then talking in terms of in
fanny.
"A tall figure, with large head and
fat, pendulous cheeks. with hair that
curled artistically. and hopeless look
in his eyes-that was Oscar Wilde
as first met him.
Not even the hideous prison garb,
or 'C33,' the badge of ignomfny he
bore, could altogether hide the air of
ual force that lifted him always far
above the herd of brutes' as he SO
, bitterly afterward styled his fellow
convicts and himself.
ID From the first it was apparent to
us that he was totally untitled for
manual work or hardships of any kind
and he was treated accordingly.
HE was no good for anything-ex-
cept writing, and that, as a rule has
small place inside prison. But on
account of his former greatness a
small concession was made him, and
he was allowed to read and write as
much as he pleased.
Had this boon not been granted
him, he would, l am confident have
pinned away and died. He was so I'M
like other men. Just a bundle of
brains-and that is all.
When he arrived his hair was long
and curly. and it was ordered to be
cut at once.
ut fell to my lot as warder in
charge to carry out this order and
cut his hair, and never shall forget
it
ITO Oscar Wilde 1t seemed as
though the clipping of his locks, and
thus placing him on the same level as
the closely shorn, bullet-headed pris-
oners around him, was the last drop
in the cup of sorrow and degradation
which he had to drain to the bitter
0regs.
"The only task Wilde was put to
was to act as 'schoolmaster's orderly
which was in the nature of a great
privilege, for it meant that he could
take charge of the books and go
around with them to other prisoners,
besides having the pick of the litera-
ture for himself. Strange as 1t may
seem. considering his literary bent.
he failed to accomplish even this task
satisfactorily.
1.-THE saddest story know of Wilde
was one day when his solicitor called
to see him to get his signature l
think, to some papers in the divorce
proceedings then being instituted by
his wife-a suit which, of course,
wilde did not defend.
unknown to Wilde his wife had