The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1905-03-31
Sad Fate of Fallen Genius
Warden Who Had Charge of Oscar Willie !, ,;,ru
of His Prisoner.

-l.i,,t saw d man VINO looked
WIN SuCh WlStful eve.
CF0n that little patch of bua
men prisoners call the sky:
am nv a. every wandering cloud
AIoI 'Ealied its raveled tieeces by
Thus in The Ballad of Readin
Gaol,' under his prison pseudopym a
u 50, wrote Oscar Wilde, who's,
Oook, De Profundis," has Just bee,
puOHShed, and revealed the score
sorrows and humiliations of one VIII,
rl5ntIy claimed to have been "a lore
Of language" '0'
A former prison warIer who woe
at Reading jail during the entire
period OF Wilde's incarceration, has
lur'her drawn aside the veil that hid
ne Inflated man of genius during his
ueSfatIon and despair in the dentbs "
me publication Of the postbumons
LOOK by the great literary genius, who
s!NEed and suffered" has induced
rniS Warder, who had charge of Oscar
"Hoe during his imprisonment to fell
70" that unhappy man Of 1ottors
c!Tcled the center of pain" as he in
poignant phrase described the daiIv
prison ordeal. '''''
F0of Wllde,' writes his former
prison custodian. THE governor new
er told US the name, but directIv tbo
PRISONER arrived we saw that g %,
when was his prison letter and num- |
oer' a1terward made famous nv him
mus signing the The Ballad of Pood
ing Gaol,' was none other than Oscar
Wilde. ''l' 0'C"l
/ remember my first sight of the
fallen literary idol of whom all tho
world was then talking in terms of in.
fanny. 80 y ''''' u LII
"A tall figure, with a large head .rd
fat' pendulous cheeks, with hair that
ourled artistically, and a hopeless look
IN his eyes-that was Oscar Wildn
IS | first met him.
Not even the hideous prison earh
)r 'C39,' the badge of ignominv b. {
'oEe' could altogether hide the air Of |
distinction and eyer-present intellect |
ia force that lifted him ALWAYS far
DoVe the herd Of brutes' as ha ca 7
lt%erIy afterward styled his fellow n
oTVlcts and himself.
FROM the first it was apparent to a
S that he was totally united for r.
lanual work or hardships of apv kind T
au lie was treated accordingly.
he was no good for anything-ev. y
7pt writing, and that, as a rule has A
nan place inside a prison. But on
count OF his former greatness
Hall concession was made him, and | o
was allowed to read and write as W
UGH as he pleased.
Had this boon not been granted tn
M he would, | am confident, have B;
ned away and died. He was 81 I'm. in
10 otner men. Just bundle of NJ
that is all.
When he arrived his hair was lone in
q curly, and it was ordered To bo of
t at once. w of
W Any lou as Warder in Z.
arge TO carry out this order and Gu
MS hair, and never shall I forget de-
sol
To Oscar Wilde it seemed az {
ugh the clipping of his locks and mu
Is placing him on the same level az he
closely shorn, bullet-headed pris- tiol
IFS around him, was the last dron on
tne cup Of sorrow and degradation 49,,
lcn ne had to drain to the bitter r r
gs '1''oi Anf m
The only task Wilde was nut To Tb "A
10 act as 'schoolmaster's ORDERLY, c
lcn was in the nature of a great A9 nc
'liege, for 1t meant that he could And
charge of the books and 90 "
and with them to other prisoners "
lues having the pick of the litera. whe
for himself. Strange as II nav mai
m, considering his literary bent sceI
60 ~ accomplish even this task rich
sfactorily. ''''A 9"
fhe saddest story I know of Wilde GOO,
one day when his solicitor called it'll
see MIN to get his signature " h
k to some papers in the divorce " r
'eedlngs then being instituted bv to +
Wlfe-a suit which, of course the
Tn,.a nv ueleiu' shou
Unknown to Wilde his wife had az