The defense found the ideal
defendant in the
person of twenty-four-year-old John Thomas Scopes.
Defense lawyer Arthur Garfield Hays said of John Scopes credits his English
born
father,
Thomas Scopes, as being the major influence in his life.
In his When John was eleven, his family
moved
from John Scopes came to A date “with a beautiful blonde” at an upcoming church social kept Scopes in Dayton for a few days beyond his originally scheduled departure in May of 1925, at the end of the Rhea County school term. He was playing tennis one hot afternoon on the town’s tennis court when a small boy approached him. You’re wanted down at “Doc” Robinson’s drugstore, the boy said. One of the enduring debates concerning the Scopes trial revolves around whether Scopes ever actually taught the subject of evolution. George Rappalyea posed the question, holding up a copy of George W. Hunter’s Civic Biology, at Robinson’s drugstore. “You have been teaching ‘em this book?” he asked. Scopes answered, “Yes,” then went on to explain that, while substituting for the regular biology teacher in April 1925, he had assigned his students Hunter’s chapter on evolution. Illness the next day, however, kept him home and, to his recollection, no class discussion of the evolution materials ever took place. Scopes, however, remembered teaching the topic in a general way earlier in the same month to his general science students. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The
entire prosecution case in the trial of John Scopes occupies less than
two
hours of a Wednesday afternoon session of court. The
state calls only four witnesses. School
Superintendent Walter White and Fred Robinson both testify that Scopes,
in a
conversation at Robinson's drug store-soda fountain-book dispensary,
admitted
having taught evolution. Howard Morgan,
age 14, and Harry "Bud" Shelton, age 17, appear as two eyewitnesses
to the crime. Prosecutor
Thomas Stewart calls Morgan, the son of the owner of the Dayton Bank
and Trust
company (and also owner of the home Clarence Darrow occupies during the
trial),
as his second witness. Spectators smile
as Morgan, a clean-cut boy wearing white pants and a white shirt, with
a tie
pulled down and to the side, nervously takes his seat in the witness
chair. A
few days earlier, Morgan, having been tracked down by visiting members
of the
press anxious to know what effect the teaching of evolution might be
having on
Dayton's young people, eagerly offered his views on the subject. "I lapped it up," he told one
reporter, "all about monkeys and things." Stewart
asks Morgan if "Professor Scopes" ever taught him "anything
about evolution." "Yes
sir," the boy replies in a barely audible voice. "Just
state in your own words, Howard,
what he taught you and when it was," Stewart requests.
"It was along about the second of April.
He said that the earth was once a hot molten
mass, too hot for plant or animal life to exist upon it.
In the sea, the earth cooled off; there was a
little germ of one cell organism formed, and this organism kept
evolving until
it got to be a pretty good-sized animal, and then it came on to be a
land
animal, and it kept on evolving, and from this was man."
From the defense table, Arthur Garfield Hays
offers his congratulations on Morgan's history of life on earth: "Go to
the head of the class." Stewart
asks Morgan if Scopes classified "man with reference to other
animals." He had, Morgan says,
called humans "mammals." In
his cross-examination, Clarence Darrow focuses his attention on the
question of
what it meant to be classified a mammal.
"Dogs and horses, monkeys, cows, man, whales: he said all
of
those
were mammals?" "Yes sir,"
Morgan answers, "but I don't know about the whales."
Apart from calling man a mammal, Darrow wants
to know, "Did he tell you anything else that was wicked?"
Morgan looks at his teacher and smiles.
"No,
not that I remember of," he
finally answers. "It has not hurt
you any, has it?" Darrow asks, concluding his cross-examination. "No sir," Morgan answers.
As the courtroom erupts in laughter, Darrow
turns to Mrs. Rappalyea, seated behind him, and asks, "Would you
believe
this is the twentieth century?" Harry Shelton
takes
the stand
next. Three years older than Howard,
Harry studied evolution in Biology in mid-April, when Scopes
substituted for an
ill teacher. His brief part
in the
drama
having been played, Later
that day, a visiting reporter interviews mothers of the teenagers. Howard's mother tells the reporter, "The
teaching of evolution hasn't hurt me or my boy.
I don't think any of us here in the mountains have studied
evolution
enough. I wish I knew more about
it." Harry's mother expresses a
similar view. "As far as I'm
concerned," she says, "they can teach my boy evolution every day of
the year." She adds that the
subject threatened little harm because "he had forgotten most of his
lessons" and "had to get the book out and study it up" for
trial.
Scopes later described the
fateful
meeting at
Robinson’s that led to his agreeing to test the Butler Act as “just a
drugstore
conversation that got past control.” Many times over the coming months,
he
would regret having anything to do with the case. Scopes
had hoped to spend the summer selling
Fords for a five per cent commission, but with the comings and goings
in Defendants, as a general rule,
select
their own
attorneys. In the Scopes case, however,
the ACLU—as the organization that would pay the defense bills—had its
own
strong ideas about who should defend the teaching of evolution, and
those ideas
did not include Clarence Darrow. The
ACLU asked Scopes to travel to its headquarters in Reporters peppered Scopes and his
party
with
questions when they arrived at Pennsylvania Station.
Scopes told the journalists that he did not
expect to testify in his upcoming trial because it “would look rather
foolish
for me to express my opinions, which really don’t amount to much, as to
evolution and religion, when I may be able to get able men who are
authorities
on such subjects to testify for me.” He
expected to be convicted because “it’s pretty hard in The next day, after a swim at the Yale Club, Scopes attended a lengthy meeting that, according to him, “mostly amounted to a briefing.” For the next few days, the meetings “were a rehash of the first meeting.” Scopes became convinced “the group was stalling.” He also got the distinct impression, he said, that the ACLU was “afraid that I would give them some kind of trouble.” Scopes filled his spare time with
sightseeing,
including a trip to the Finally, an event that promised
some
decisions: a
luncheon-conference which would be attended by fifteen to twenty
leading civil
libertarians from Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. (Among the attendees: Professor Felix
Frankfurter of Harvard (later to be Supreme Court Justice Frankfurter)
and
Socialist Party leader, Norman Thomas.) Scopes sat next to Dudley Field
Malone,
a prominent After ACLU Director Roger Baldwin
called the
business portion of the program to order, Malone rose to address the
group. Malone announced, “I am
authorized by Mr. Clarence Darrow to offer his services as a defense
counsel
for the American Civil Liberties Union and to this steering committee
for the In the end, however, someone on
the
steering
committee thought to ask John Scopes himself who he might want to
represent
him. “I pointed out to the group,”
Scopes later recalled, “that if they thought that Darrow would have too
much
influence on the course of events, then they had forgotten apparently
that
William Jennings Bryan was himself a well-known figure.”
The headlines were already “playing up” Bryan
and his side needed an attention-grabber, too.
Besides, Scopes suggested, speakers concerned about Darrow
sensationalizing the case should see “The hard core of opposition to Darrow as senior defense counsel died hard,” Scopes reported, but on a vote his offer was accepted—“but just barely.” ACLU Director Baldwin expressed his own displeasure with the Darrow appointment by canceling plans to attend the most famous trial ever handled by the organization he helped found. After news that his offer to help
defend Scopes
had been accepted, Darrow hastened by train from From On July 7, William Jennings Bryan
arrived by
train in Dayton, and that evening the Dayton Progressive Club hosted a
dinner
in his honor. When John Scopes (as “a non-paying deadhead,” to use his
own
words) met Clarence Darrow arrived the next
day. Scopes, joined by his
sixty-five-year-old
father down from In the busy two days before the
start
of his
trial, in addition to greeting arriving lawyers and taking daily swims,
Scopes
showed his father around On the first day of his trial, Scopes appeared in court wearing a blue shirt and a hand-painted bow tie. He took a seat in the front row between his father and George Rappalyea. John Washington Butler sat nearby in the same row. At 9:22 on Friday, July 10, 1925, Judge John Raulston called the case of State vs. John Thomas Scopes. A grand jury was quickly empaneled and Raulston read the Butler Act that Scopes stood accused of violating. Then he read the first chapter of Genesis. He told the jury to “investigate” the charge against Scopes, and if they find a violation of the act, to “promptly return a bill.” The fondness of Scopes quickly fell into the daily trial routine. After spending one hot morning in court, Scopes and William Jennings Bryan, Jr. (who Scopes described as a “retiring and pleasant fellow,” and very unlike his famous father) headed out during the noon recess for a quick swim in a natural pool in the eroded limestone of the nearby foothills. They arrived a few minutes late for the afternoon session. Arthur Garfield Hays turned to Scopes when he finally took his seat at the defense table: “Where in the hell have you been?” After Scopes answered, the defense lawyer lectured the young teacher on the importance of punctuality in trials. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shortly
after eleven o’clock on the morning of the last day of the Scopes
trial, the
jury deliberates its verdict. There is
no question what they will decide.
Defense attorney Clarence Darrow has asked the jury to
come back
with a
verdict of “Guilty” so that the case might be taken to a higher court.
After
nine minutes, the jury completes its discussion on the courthouse lawn
and
returns inside to announce its verdict. The
foreman, at the request of John Raulston stands. “Mr.
Foreman, will you tell us whether you
have agreed on a verdict?” The
foreman
says the jury had reached a verdict.
“What did you find?” Raulston asks.
“We have found for the state, found the defendant guilty,”
the
foreman
answers. Judge Raulston asks John Scopes to come before him. He proceeds to pronounce his sentence, fixing his fine at one hundred dollars. Then, almost as an afterthought, Raulston asks if Scopes wished to say anything “as to why the court should not impose punishment upon you.” The defendant, coatless and looking rather tired, moves away from his lawyers and looks directly into the eyes of the judge. “Your Honor,” the young teacher says, “I feel that I have been convicted of violating an unjust statute. I will continue in the future, as I have in the past, to oppose this law in any way I can. Any other action would be in violation of my ideal of academic freedom—that is, to teach the truth as guaranteed in our Constitution of personal and religious freedom. I think the fine is unjust.” With the prospect of a free graduate school education at a prestigious university, Scopes declined the offer—conditioned on Scopes’s willingness to “adhere to the spirit of the evolution law” —to return to Rhea County High for the 1925-26 year. In the days and weeks following
the
trial,
letters and telegrams poured into Scopes.
One writer offered Scopes a position as the Bishop of a
new
liberal
church; several female writers proposed marriage; fundamentalists asked
if they
could “save” him. The mail arrived in
such a volume that When the movie version of Inherit
the Wind
opened in 1960, producer Stanley Kramer asked Scopes, then a commercial
geologist at United Gas
in |