Volume 18 , Issue 14

Where Darwin Isn't Taught, Planning To "Make A Monkey Out of Bryan" - July 1925

It was in the Times-Leader, WIlkes=Barre, Pennsylvania, dated 10 July 1925, page 18, we found this write-up of the Scopes Trial: "Where Darwin Isn't Taught Planning To Make A Monkey Out of Bryan."

The principal lawyers for the defense of John T. Scopes were shown conferring with Scope. Those involved with the defense were Chicago lawyer, Clarence Darrow, who defended Loeb and leopold; Dudley Field Malone, former collector of the port of New York; Dr. John R. Neal, chief of the defense counsel.

Found on Newspapers.com

Chronology of Case (1925)
March 7 - Anti-evolution bill introduced int he Tennessee Legislature by Representative A. K. Butler.

March 12 - Governor Peay signed the anti-evolution bill making it a law.

March 15 - John Thomas Scopes, teacher of biology in Rhea County High School, Tennessee, and is friends conceive the idea of bringing up the test case to determine the validity of the law. Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution.

May 9 - preliminary hearing given Scopes.

May 14 - William Jennings Bryan announced he would aid in prosecuting the Scopes case and defending the law.

May 15 - Clarence Darrow, of Chicago, announced he would aid in the defense of Scopes.

May 25 - Scopes indicted before grand jury, Dayton and trial set for July 10 (1925).

July 6 - John R. Neal, Scopes' attorney, acting for defense counsel, filed petition with Federal Judge Gore, of the middle district of Tennessee, asking that the Scopes case be tired before a Federal Court. Petition denied.

July 10 - Scopes case went to trial in Rhea County court house, Dayton.

Fine Is Penalty; No Jail Term
The Judge, J. T. Ralston, Winchester, Tennessee, judge of the 18th Tennessee circuit court.

The Plaintiff - The people of Tennessee, through their legal officers, in defense of the law enacted by their legislature forbidding the teaching of evolution in public schools.

The Defendant - John Thomas Scopes, of Paducah, KY, 24 years old, teachers biology at Rhea County High School, Dayton. The Charge - That Scopes taught his pupils that man was descended from a lower order of animals, in violation of the law.

The Penalty - A fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500. Counsel for the prosecution (9) - William Jennings Bryan, thrice Democratic Presidential candidate; Ben McKenzie, ex-District Attorney of the Dayton district; J. Gordon McKenzie, his son; Sue and Herbert Hicks, young Dayton lawyers; E. T. Stewart, circuit Attorney General; Walter White, Supt. of schools and county prosecutor; W. C. Haggard, Dayton Attorney and William Jennings Bryan, Jr., the Commoner's son.

Counsel for the defense (3) - Clarence Darrow, of Chicago, noted criminal lawyer, defender of Leopold and Loeb; John R. Neal, Knoxville, formerly acting dean of the University of Tennessee law school and Dudley Field Malone, attorney and former collector of the port of New York.

The Place - Rhea county courthouse, Dayton, Tennessee.

Thousands Make Way To Scene of Evolution Trial
Dayton, Tenn., July 10 (1925) (United Press) -- The green foothills of the Appalachians as a backgrounds, a little country town fairly bristling with new dignity and fresh paint, an old ivy-clad courthouse crowded with juristists, scientists, clergy and laymen famous the world over - such as the setting as the trial of Professor John T. Scopes on a charge of teaching high school pupils the theory of evolution opened on that date in Dayton, Tennessee.

Here and there in the throng that milled about the Rhea County Court House one could single out the beaming features of William Jennings Bryan, the stooped figure of Clarence Darrow, or catch a glimpse of the young broad shouldered, serious mined defendant as well-wishers pushed forward to shake his hand.

Vastly more than the offense of young Professor Scopes against the laws of the state was at stake on that date - the theory of the freedom of education was on trial. Scopes and his textbook were merely tangible things about which the two great schools of thought whose leading exponents gathered on that date could weave their arguments and base their contentions.

Accordingly, it was the distinguished counsel, and the unofficial observers, who drew the stares of the curious and the excited buzzing of comment as they presented credentials and passed through the lines of troopers who guarded the court house against a stampede by those, whom lack of space forbade admission.

This was a red letter day for the towns folk of Dayton. Let the lawyers for the defense, Bainbridge Colby, a former secretary of state, and Clarence Darrow, a lawyer of international fame, deplore this attitude of holiday making and urge the seriousness of the issues at stake.

There were some Dayton citizens on that date whose exuberance at the momentary focus of national attention knew no bounds. But at the trial itself, with Judge John T. Raulston of the Criminal Court presiding, everything was seriousness itself. Opposing counsel exchanged courtesies with a deal of formality. Professor Scopes, the defendant, was the most serious of all, his face slightly pale behind his horn-rimmed glasses. he was only 24, this Kentucky youth who was the central figure in what had grown into one of the most famous trials of theory in history. When not engaged in the classroom at the local high school, he coached the athletic teams.

In his best known remark ament the present case, Professor Scopes said it was "drug store argument that got out of control." As a matter of fact, he was persuaded, somewhat reluctantly, to play his part in what men interested in education in Tennessee felt should be made a test case.

Scopes taught his pupils from a textbook approved by the school board which contained an exposition of the theory of evolution. He was indicted on a charge of instructing his charges in a "theory that denies the story of Divine creation of man as taught in the bible, and to teach instead that man had descended from a lower order of animals." There was no doubt that this law was on the statute books, it being the work of John W. Butler, a farmer-legislator, who lived 100 miles away over the rolling foothills on a badly run down little farm.

The defense, including on the legal staff professor John R. Neal, chief counsel, Clarence Darrow, Dudley Field Malone and others in various capacities, would seek to show:

First, that the theory of evolution is by no means a denial of the story of Divine creation;

Second, that education is scientific subjects should not be denied the school children of the Untied States because it occasionally entered upon controversial ground.

If Scopes was convicted, as nearly everyone believes he would be at this trial, he would be subject to a fine of from $100 to $500. An appeal would be taken, and it is in their arguments before a higher court that the counsel for the defense hope to do their most telling work.

The prosecution on this day in 1925 was represented by Attorney General Frank M. Thompson, with William Jennings Bryan as his associate. The Commoner had thrown himself into the fight with an enthusiasm matched only by that of the counsel for the defense.

Bryan's slogan, upon which he was expected to expound when his turn came to speak, was: -

"The hand that writes the pay checks should rule the schools. The teachers are employed of the tax-payers and should no more be allowed to teach what they personally wish than a clerk should be allowed to dictate the policy of a bank. The greatest menace we have to face today is the substitution of education for religion."

To which Professor Neal, who was professor in the College of Law of Tennessee University previous to his removal incident to a somewhat similar dispute over freedom of education replied: - "the question is whether the Tennessee legislation has the power to prevent the young minds of Tennessee from knowing what has been thought and said by the world's greatest scientists, thus preventing them from forming their own judgment in regard to question of life and science."
  |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---