0238 Page – Leo Frank Georgia Supreme Court Appeals Records, 1913, 1914

Reading Time: 3 minutes [393 words]


Here is the extracted text from the image:

he sued the Marquis for damages, which brought retaliation on
the part of the Marquis for criminal practices on the part
of Wilde, this intellectual giant and when the English
language is read, the effrontery, the boldness, the coolness of
this man, Oscar Wilde, as he stood the cross examination of the
ablest lawyers of England -- an effrontery that is characteristic
of the man of his type, that examination will remain the subject
matter of study for lawyers and for people who are interested
in the type of pervert like this man. Not even Oscar Wilde's
wife, for he was a married man and had two children, -- suspected
that he was guilty of such immoral practices, and, am I say, it
never would have been brought to light probably, because committed
in secret, had not this man had the effrontery and the boldness
and the impudence himself to start the proceeding which culminated
in sending him to prison for three long years. He's the man who
led the aesthetic movement, he was a scholar, a literary man,
cool, calm, and cultured, and as Isay, his cross examination is
a thing to be read with admiration by all lawyers, but he was con-
victed and in his old age, went tottering to his grave, a confess-
ed pervert. Good character? Why, he came to America, after having
launched what is known as the "aesthetic movement" in England,
and throughout this country lectured to large audiences, and it
is he who raised the sunflower from a weed to the dignity of a
flower. Handsome, not lacking in physical or moral courage, and
yet a pervert, but a man of previous good character.
Abe Ruef, of San Francisco, a man of his race and religion--
was the boss of the town, respected and honored, but he corrupted
Schmitt, and he corrupted everything that he put his hands on, and
just as a life of immorality, a life of sin, a life in which
he fooled the good people when debauching the poor girls with
whom he came in contact, has brought this man before this jury
so did eventually Abe Ruef's career terminate in the penit-
entiary. I have already referred to Durant. Good character isn't
worth a cent when you have got the one before you. And crime
don't go only with the ignorant and the poor. The ignorant, like
Jim Conley, as an illustration, commit the small crime, and he
doesn't know anything about some of this higher type of

Related Posts
Top