"THE COURT HAS THE RIGHT TO HOPE"

OBSERVERS AWAIT POSSIBLE CONTEMPT OF COURT RULING FOR CLARENCE DARROW

Dayton, Tennessee (JFK+50) With the Scopes anti-evolution trial set to resume proceedings tomorrow, The Sunday Star reports that there is great interest here in Dayton on what may happen to defense attorney Clarence Darrow* who last week "deliberately affronted" Judge John T. Raulston "practically challenging him to start contempt proceedings."

The Star says that Darrow's behavior in court was so bad that the Chattanooga Bar Association was considering action against the attorney.

In question is Darrow's reply to the Court's indication of "hope" that Mr. Darrow "intended no disrespect to the court."  Darrow replied...

"The court has the right to hope."

*Clarence Seward Darrow (1857-1938) was born in Farmdale, Ohio & educated at Allegheny College, University of Michigan & University of Michigan Law School.  

CSD was known for trade union causes & represented the ACLU in many cases.  He is considered by some to be the greatest lawyer of the 20th century.

SOURCE

"Darrow Expected To Pay For 'Insult' To Judge Raulston," The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., July 19, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

Clarence Darrow

1925

PD-ART

"EMPHASIS ON ISSUE OF FREEDOM OF TEACHING & LEARNING"

SCOPES, ACCUSED OF TEACHING EVOLUTION, TO BE DEFENDED BY DARROW AND MALONE

Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) On March 17, 1925, The Sunday Star reports that yesterday nationally known trial lawyers Clarence Darrow* and Dudley Field Malone** have offered their services in the defense of John Thomas Scopes*** of Dayton, Tennessee.

Mr. Scopes is charged with violation of the recently enacted Tennessee state law (Butler Act) "forbidding teaching of any theory of evolution."

The offers were accepted by Dr. John R. Neal, leading defense counsel.  Dr. Neal emphasizes that the forthcoming trial, slated for the summer months, will center around the issue of freedom of teaching and learning rather than the validity of the theory of evolution.

The American Civil Liberties Union hired Dr. Neal "to test the constitutionality" of the Butler Act.

JFK+50 NOTE

The Scopes "Monkey" Trial was held July 10-25 1925 in Dayton (Rhea County) Tennessee (north of Chattanooga).   It sparked a national debate on the role of science & religion in public schools.  Although Scopes was found guilty & fined $100, the verdict was later overturned.

*Clarence Seward Darrow (1857-1938) was born in Farmdale, Ohio & educated at the University of Michigan Law School.  CSD became famous as a high-profile advocate for trade union causes & some said he was the greatest lawyer of the 20th century.

**Dudley Field Malone (1882-1950) was born in New York City & educated at Fordham University School of Law.  DFM was one of the most prominent liberal attorneys of the 1920s.

***J.R. Neal, Jr. (1876-1959) was born in Rhea Springs, TN & educated at the University of Tennessee (AB), Vanderbilt University (LLB) & Columbia University (PhD).  JRN served in the TN state legislature & became known as the "Great Objector" supporting progressive causes.

SOURCE

"Darrow and Malone Aid Is Accepted For Scopes," The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., March 17, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

J.R. Neal Jr & John T. Scopes

Bain News Service (1925)

Library of Congress

LIFE AT THE PRICE OF COWARDICE IS DISHONOR

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2421

DARROW DEFENDS U.S. ENTRY INTO WWI

Rockford, Illinois (JFK+50) 100 years ago today, September 3, 1917, criminal attorney Clarence Darrow*, speaking before an audience of 10,000 "representing the labor army of Rockford and Camp Grant," said...

"Life at the price of cowardice is dishonor and not worth keeping."

Mr. Darrow's speech was given in Blackhawk Park**, "the local Mecca for Socialist expression."  He defended America's entry into the world war and "battered down all defenses of the pacifist."

He concluded...

"Whether the war lasts one or fifty years, it must go on until Prussian militarism is crushed."

*Clarence Seward Darrow (1857-1938) was born in Kinsman, Ohio & studied at Allegheny College & University of Michigan.  Despite not earning a degree, he became an internationally famous criminal lawyer who, in more than 100 murder trials, never lost a client to hanging or the electric chair.  One of his most famous cases was the defense to John T. Scopes in the Dayton, Tennessee "monkey trial" of 1925.

**Blackhawk Park is located at 101 15th Avenue in Rockford, Illinois.

SOURCES

"Blackhawk Park", www.virtualrockford.com/

"Clarence Darrow Is Dead In Chicago," On This Day, New York Times, March 14, 1938, www.nytimes.com/

"Darrow Stirs Big Labor Army To War Cheers'", Chicago Daily Tribune, September 4, 1917.

Clarence Darrow

1922

Library of Congress Photo

A STATUE TO HONOR CLARENCE DARROW

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2034

RHEA COUNTY COURTHOUSE TO GET CLARENCE DARROW STATUE

Dayton, Tennessee  (JFK+50) Ninety-one years ago last month the Scopes Monkey Trial, held at the Rhea County Courthouse here in Dayton, made national headlines.  The two major protagonists of the trial were William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution and Clarence Darrow for the defense.

The courthouse lawn has been adorned with a statue of Mr. Bryan for many years but there has been none for Mr. Darrow.  Associated Press's Travis Loller says that is about to change.  He writes..."a group of atheists" is responsible for a statue of Clarence Darrow which is now a work in progress by Zenos Frudakis of Glenside, Pennsylvania.

William Jennings Bryan was both a three-time Democratic candidate for president of the United States and a Christian fundamentalist.  He professed belief in the creation of man as described in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible.  Clarence Darrow, on the other hand, took the side of evolution as supported by science.

Mr. Loller writes that there has not been much "vocal opposition" in the community to the addition of a statue of Darrow.  It has been argued, however, that Bryan's statue is on the courthouse lawn not merely because of his role in the trial, but because he is the namesake for Bryan College founded in Dayton in 1930.

The Rhea County Courthouse is still serving the people of the community today and its' basement houses a museum of the Scopes Trial.

SOURCE

"New Scopes trial statue stirs echoes of event," by Travis Loller, Knoxville News-Sentinel, August 8, 2016, www.knoxnews.com/

Rhea County, TN Courthouse

Dayton, Tennessee

Photo by Calvin Beale (2006)

TENNESSEE MONKEY TRAIL BEGAN 88 YEARS AGO

July 10, 1925

TENNESSEE MONKEY TRIAL BEGAN 88 YEARS AGO TODAY

Dayton, Tennessee (JFK+50) On this day 88 years ago, John Thomas Scopes*, a high school teacher in this small town located just north of Chattanooga in Rhea County, went on trial for violating Tennessee's recently enacted anti-evolution law.

                          John Thomas Scopes
                       Photo by Watson Davis
                                   June 1925

*John T. Scopes (1900-1970) was born in Texas and lived in Wisconsin and Illinois.  He graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1924 with a major in law and minor in geology.  He became football coach at Rhea County High School in Dayton, TN where he also was employed as a substitute teacher.

After the trial, Scopes did graduate work at the University of Chicago and later worked for Gulf Oil Company in Venezuela and United Gas Company.

The Butler Act**, passed by the Tennessee State Legislature in March 1925, made it unlawful to "teach any theory that denies the story of Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible".

Mr. Scopes, in the role of substitute biology teacher at Rhea County High School, admitted to teaching evolution to his class by reading from a chapter of the state Biology textbook.

He was charged with violation of the Butler Act on May 5, 1925 and indicted on May 25.  The Baltimore Sun covered the $500 bail required for Scope's release pending trial. 

The trial, conducted by Judge John T. Raulston, took place at the Rhea County Court House from July 10 through July 25, 1925. 

**John W. Bulter (1875-1952) was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives 1923-1927.  He also headed the World Christian Fundamentals Association.  

Butler later admitted he knew nothing about evolution but heard that students were coming home from school telling their parents the Bible was all nonsense.

                    Rhea County Court House
                         Dayton, Tennessee
                 Photo by Calvin Beale (2006)

Coming to Dayton, along with a host of reporters and ordinary citizens, was the three time Democratic candidate for President of the United States, William Jennings Bryan. 

Mr. Bryan, a religious fundamentalist, came to assist in the prosecution of the Rhea County science teacher.  The primary prosecutor was Tom Stewart.***

Defending Mr. Scopes was the widely acclaimed defense attorney Clarence Darrow.

The Scopes Monkey Trial came as a result of the American Civil Liberties Union offer to finance a test of the Butler Act along with George W. Rappleyea's**** seizing on the opportunity to bring public attention to Dayton.

Mr. Rappleyea read about the ACLU offer in a Chattanooga newspaper and soon met with town leaders at Robinson's Drug Store to propose the idea of bringing the trial to their town.

After a two week trial, John Thomas Scopes was found guilty but sentence was but a $100 fine.  The fine was never paid and the verdict was later overturned.

***Arthur Thomas Stewart (1892-1972) was born in Dunlap, TN and earned a law degree at Cumberland University.  After the Scopes Trial he served as one of Tennessee's United States senators, but was defeated for renomination by Estes Kefauver in 1948.

                     Arthur Thomas Stewart

****George W. Rappleyea (1894-1966), the chief architect of the Scopes Trial, was born on July 4th in New York City.  He graduated from Ohio Northern College in 1912 with a degree in civil engineering.  He served in the US Army in WWI.

Rappleyea became superintendent of the Cumberland Coal Company in Dayton.  During WWII, he was Vice President of the Higgins Boat Company which made the landing craft used by US forces during the war.

          George Washington Rappleyea
            Photo by Watson Davis (1925)

EUNICE KENNEDY BORN 92 YEARS AGO TODAY

Brookline, Massachusetts (JFK+50) Mr. & Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. of 51 Abbottsford Road here in Brookline, Massachusetts announced the birth of their fifth child and third daughter 92 years ago today, July 10, 1921.

The baby, named Eunice, was delivered by Kennedy family doctor, Frederick L. Good of 64 Commonwealth Avenue.*

*Eunice Kennedy Shriver died on April 11, 2009.

Eunice with Special Needs Children*
      Cape Cod, Massachusetts
            By David Lenz (2009)

*Eunice founded the Special Olympics.