El Nacional - Tuesday, July 16, 1895
This report was originally published in Spanish. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
LOS
ESCANDALOS DE LONDRES
OSCAR WILDE EN LA CARCEL
Lo que son los trabajos forzados
(hard-labour).
Nuestros lectores saben qne el escandaloso proceso entablado contra Oscar Wilde, fué desfavorable al desdichado esteta.
Ahora bien, para que los lectores de EL NACIONAL tengan idea de la ferocidad de la ley inglesa, vean à qué se reduce lo llamado en dicha legislación hard—labour, que literalmente quiere decir trabajos duros. Duros, muy duros son en efecto, como se verá por los informes dados de Londres á un corresponsal del Gaulois, por Sir Edward Clarke, respetable jurisconsalto del foro londinense, solicitor—general durante el mlnisterio Salisbury y defensor de Wilde:
"Mi opinión, dice Sir Edward Clarke, es que Wilde sufrirá toda la pena. Se le ha impuesto la condena más severa que puede imponerse. El hard-labour consiste en un régimen implacable con su absorbente regularidad y sus exigencias.
Oscar Wilde, cuyos largos cabellos de esteta han sido cortados al rape, está ahora vestido con un traje de lona burda; en el pecho tiene una flecha pintada, que se llama broad arrow, signo distintivo de los convictos. Su celda, demasiado estecha, tiene por único mueble una cama, ó mejor dicho, una tabla con cuatro patas y un cobertor. No hay colchon, y la [...] es de madera. A pocos pasos de la cama un [...].
Oscar Wilde se halla sometido á tres clases de trabajos: Primeramente, en su celda, sentado en en su escabel, debe, durante cierto número de horas, proceder a reducir en frag mentitos, enormes cuerdas alquitranadas, de esas cuerdas que sirven para amarrar los barcos. Este trabajo lo hace con ayuda de un clavo y de sus uñas. Trabajo que tiene por objeto desgarrar y destrozar las manos. Después se le lleva á un patio, en donde cambia de lugar cierto número de balas de cañón, transportándolas de un lugar á otro, y colocandolas en montones simétricos. No bien se ha terminado el trabajo, cuando es destruido por el mismo Wilde, quien se ye obligado á volver á llevar las balas, una á una á su primitivo lugar.
Por último, le someten á la pena del treadmill, que es la más dura de todas. Figuráos una immensa rueda, en cuyo interior se encuentran escalones circulares. Oscar Wilde, colocado en uno de esos escalones, hace mover la rueda con ayuda de sus pies, los escalones su suceden así bajo sus pies, en una evolución rápida y regular. Sus piernas se hallan sometidas á un movimiento precipitado, que se concierte en una fatiga enervante y enloquecedora al cabo de algunos minutos. Pero Wilde debe dominar esa fatigua, ese enervamiento y ese dolor, y continuar moviendo las piernas, so pena de ser derribado, arrebatado y arrojado por la acción misma de la rueda.
Este ejercicio fantástico dura un cuarto de hora. Se concede á Wilde un descanso de cinco minutos, y después vuelve á empezar el ejercicio.
Siempre está solo y puede hablar á su carcelero, sino en determinados momentos. Tiene prohibida por completo todo género de correspondencia de lectura, con excepción de la de una biblia y la de un libro de oraciones, que se [...]en la tabla que le sirve de cama. Sus parientes no serán alitidos como visita sino á finos del primer [...] de condena. No bebe mas que agua. Las comidas son á hora fija, pues es muy importante que siga un régimen regular para cumplir los trabajos tan rudos, á los que se halla sometido.
"Como se ve, termina el eminente abogado, el hard labour consite en un régimen severísimo y particular. Muchos convictos, en el caso de Wilde, han dicho, al salir de la cárcel, que hubieran preferido diez años de servidumbre penal, á esos dos años de hard labour. Los sufrimientos morales allí igualan á los fisicos. Repito que es la pena más severa que pose nuestra legislación."
Esta largo cita, termina dichendo el Gaulois, establoce la verdad [...]. Son las palabras de un hombre eminente y serio á quien su alta posición y su considerable autoridad, prohiben alterar á agravar los hechos. Es preciso que [...] reproducidas, por todos los periódicos de Europa y del mundo civilizado. Así se [...] el alma de la Inglaterra, de ese pueblo que hace [...] de un liberalismo mentiroso al [...] á las demás naciones, cuando, [...], trata por medio del toremento las cuestiones de moral y aplauda la aplicación de leyes, que serían antiguallas grotescas si no fuesen monstruosidades feroces.
THE
LONDON SCANDALS
OSCAR WILDE IN JAIL
what is forced labor
(hard labour).
Our readers know that the scandalous process filed against Oscar Wilde was unfavorable to the unfortunate esthete.
Now, so that the readers of EL NACIONAL have an idea of the ferocity of the English law, see what is reduced to what is called hard-labour in said legislation, which literally means hard work. Hard, very hard indeed they are, as will be seen from the reports given from London to a correspondent of the Gaulois, by Sir Edward Clarke, respectable jurist of the London forum, solicitor-general during the Salisbury ministry, and defender of Wilde:
"My opinion," says Sir Edward Clarke, "is that Wilde will suffer the full penalty. He has been given the severest sentence that can be meted out. Hard labor consists of a ruthless regime with its all-consuming regularity and demands.
Oscar Wilde, whose long esthete hair has been cropped short, is now dressed in a coarse canvas suit; on his chest he has an arrow painted, which is called a broad arrow, a distinctive sign of convicts. His cell, too narrow, has a bed as its only piece of furniture, or rather, a table with four legs and a cover. There is no mattress, and the [...] is made of wood. A few steps from the bed a [...].
Oscar Wilde is subjected to three kinds of work: First, in his cell, sitting on his footstool, he must, for a certain number of hours, proceed to reduce enormous tarred ropes into little fragments, one of those ropes that serve to tie the ropes. boats. He does this work with the help of a nail and his nails. Work that is intended to tear and destroy the hands. Then he is taken to a patio, where a number of cannon-balls are moved from place to place, carried from one place to another, and placed in symmetrical heaps. As soon as the work is finished, it is destroyed by Wilde himself, who is forced to return the bullets, one by one, to their original place.
Finally, they put him through the treadmill, which is the hardest of all. Imagine an immense wheel, inside which there are circular steps. Oscar Wilde, placed on one of these steps, makes the wheel move with the help of his feet, the steps follow like this under his feet, in a rapid and regular evolution. His legs are subjected to a precipitous movement, which turns into an enervating and maddening fatigue after a few minutes. But Wilde must master that fatigue, that enervation and that pain, and continue moving his legs, lest he be knocked down, snatched and thrown by the very action of the wheel.
This fantastic exercise lasts a quarter of an hour. Wilde is allowed a rest of five minutes, and then the exercise begins again.
He is always alone and can speak to his jailer, except at certain times. All kinds of reading correspondence are completely prohibited, with the exception of that of a bible and that of a prayer book, which are […]on the table that serves as his bed. Their relatives will not be alitidos as visits but at the end of the first sentence. He drinks nothing but water. Meals are at a fixed hour, since it is very important that he follow a regular regimen in order to carry out the harsh work to which he is subjected.
"As can be seen, concludes the eminent lawyer, hard labor consists of a very severe and particular regime. Many convicts, in the case of Wilde, have said, upon leaving prison, that they would have preferred ten years of penal servitude, to those two years of hard labor. The moral suffering there equals the physical. I repeat that it is the most severe penalty that our legislation poses."
This long quotation, the Gaulois ends by saying, establishes the truth [...]. They are the words of an eminent and serious man whom his high position and considerable authority prohibit from altering or aggravating the facts. They must be [...] reproduced by all the newspapers in Europe and in the civilized world. Thus is [...] the soul of England, of that people that makes [...] a lying liberalism to [...] other nations, when, [...], it treats through the I torment questions of morality and applaud the application of laws, which would be grotesque antiquities if they were not ferocious monstrosities.