Yesterday was the birthday of Oscar Wilde, a famous writer and infamous litigant. The trials of Oscar Wilde began with his claim against the Marquis of Queensbury for libel and ended with his own criminal trial for indency. Wilde’s libel trial unraveled when he was cross examined by Edward Carson.
Carson asked a question to which he apparently did not know the answer: “Did you ever kiss him?” That question violated one of Irving Younger’s Ten Commandments of Cross Examination (i.e., do not ask a question unless you already know the answer). However, Carson was listening to the answer (which did conform to another of the Ten Commandments). He pursued Wilde’s answer and, ultimately, set Wilde on a course toward prison.
The cross examination included (excerpt):
C–Do you know Walter Grainger?
W–Yes.
C–How old is he?
W–He was about sixteen when I knew him. He was a servant at a certain house in High Street, Oxford, where Lord Alfred Douglas had rooms. I have stayed there several times. Grainger waited at table. I never dined with him. If it is one’s duty to serve, it is one’s duty to serve; and if it is one’s pleasure to dine, it is one’s pleasure to dine.
C–Did you ever kiss him?
W–Oh, dear no. He was a peculiarly plain boy. He was, unfortunately, extremely ugly. I pitied him for it.
C–Was that the reason why you did not kiss him?
W–Oh, Mr. Carson, you are pertinently insolent.
C–Did you say that in support of your statement that you never kissed him?
W–No. It is a childish question.
C–Did you ever put that forward as a reason why you never kissed the boy?
W–Not at all.
C–Why, sir, did you mention that this boy was extremely ugly?
W—For this reason. If I were asked why I did not kiss a door-mat, I should say because I do not like to kiss door-mats. I do not know why I mentioned that he was ugly, except that I was stung by the insolent question you put to me and the way you have insulted me throughout this hearing. Am I to be cross-examined because I do not like it?
C–Why did you mention his ugliness?
W–It is ridiculous to imagine that any such thing could have occurred under any circumstances.
C–Then why did you mention his ugliness, I ask you?
W–Perhaps you insulted me by an insulting question.
C–Was that a reason why you should say the boy was ugly?–
[The witness began several answers almost inarticulately, and none of them he finished. Carson’s repeated sharply: “Why? Why? Why did you add that?” At last the witness answered]:
W–You sting me and insult me and try to unnerve me; and at times one says things flippantly when one ought to speak more seriously. I admit it.
C–Then you said it flippantly?
W–Oh, yes, it was a flippant answer. No indecencies ever took place between myself and Grainger. I went down in June, 1893, to stay at a cottage at Goring. I brought over Grainger as under-butler. He had asked me to get him a situation. I never on any occasion asked him to come into my bedroom. I don’t know where the butler I had then is now.