Transcript from scopes trial

McKenzie, Darrow, and Neal joined the heated discussion. Bryan then turned the tables on Darrow by using against him his argument in the Leopold and Loeb murder case. Legal technicians Stewart and Hays finished out the day of stirring speeches by debating on principles of interpretation.

Stewart pointed out that the intent of the legislature rather than individual words such as and in the Butler Bill was the rule in Tennessee for interpretation Trial Eastwood to pray before the sixth and shortest day of the trial, which was on Friday, July Judge John Raulston began by summarizing in clear and careful detail the arguments of the prosecution and the defense on the important matter of the admission of expert testimony presented the day before.

Then he sustained the motion of the attorney general to exclude expert testimony. After a lengthy discussion, Raulston agreed to allow the defense to include the expert testimony but in the absence of the jury , to read it into the record though the judge and the prosecution preferred that time be saved by simply submitting it in written affidavit form , to protect it from cross-examination though Bryan requested this privilege , and to give the defense a recess of the rest of the day to prepare documents that the defense lawyers could read into the record though the judge preferred direct dictation from the witnesses, and the prosecution was unhappy at losing so much time.

The evaluation of trial historian L. But without comment at a. Though there had been some dramatic and interesting spots, the trial proceedings up to this point had been long, technical, and uninteresting to the average layman.

The worldwide audience coverage continued, but the audience in and about the courtroom began to thin out. On Saturday, July 18, the exodus began: H. Thompson headed to Florida, W. Bryan, Jr. Monday, July 20, the seventh day of the trial, began hot and was to get hotter both in weather conditions and word confrontations. The opening prayer was delivered by the Reverend Standefer. After lengthy discussion taking up ten pages of the court record and similar to that on day six, Arthur Garfield Hays was finally permitted to summarize and read verbatim into the record twelve written testimonials of the scientific and Biblical experts the defense had congregated.

The reading took the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon. In order of presentation, statements from the following were inserted in the record but not as an official part of the trial as far as the jury and cross-examination were concerned but as indications of what the defense proof would have been, should the case go to a higher court in the appeal process:. The documents ranged from one to eighteen pages. Charles H. In between the statements by Dr.

Curtis and Dr. Rosenwasser, the court recessed for lunch. Judge Raulston inspected cracks in the first-floor ceiling caused by the weight of the crowd upstairs. Stewart conferred with the defense and arranged for Darrow to apologize to the court. After the recess, Darrow apologized grudgingly but sufficiently to satisfy the big-hearted judge, who quoted Scripture and forgave Darrow. Because of the building stress, the heat, and the crowd, Judge Raulston reconvened the court on a platform in the courtyard below.

The heat, the boredom of the expert testimonials being read by Hays, and the dim prospects of anything important or exciting happening from this point on tempted all but a half dozen of the more than one hundred reporters either to go back home or seek cooler, more inviting surroundings that afternoon. As a result they missed not only the cooler court setup of being out under the trees but also one of the hottest exchanges of the entire trial.

Because so few reporters were present when Bryan took the stand to be interrogated by Darrow, Scopes was conscripted to write covering news stories for the delinquent newsmen Scopes Much of the Scopes Trial news coverage in and ever since leaves a great deal to be desired. On the lowest level there was character assassination. On a level not much higher was the one-sided, biased reporting which presented the remarks of Darrow, Malone, and Hays as virtually flawless but described the utterances of Bryan as vividly faulty.

In addition to the inexcusable bias, the press also did a poor job on the level of the trial issues. Also largely ignored was the fact that Bryan was not against the teaching of evolution — if it were taught as a theory rather than as a true fact — and if equal time were given to other major options, such as creationism. Another overlooked point was that Bryan did not ask that religion be taught in the public schools. What he objected to was religion being attacked in the public schools Smith ; Levine , , Bryan as a witness.

The highly irregular procedure of calling an opposition lawyer as a witness was objected to by Attorney General Stewart but permitted by Judge Raulston and agreed to by Bryan — with the understanding that he would be allowed to put Darrow, Malone, and Hays on the stand Trial , , ; de Camp , Reactions by reporters and subsequently by historians ranged the gamut.

A few were positive. The above-mentioned conflicting evaluations necessitate an examination of the trial transcript. And so it went for almost two hours, ranging over some fifty topics with several related questions each. Bryan was careful to define terms, adhere to known facts, distinguish between literal and figurative language, and frankly admit when he did not know the answer.

From time to time Stewart questioned the legality of the proceedings, especially when Darrow cross-examined his own witness. And they disclosed that Bryan was flexible enough to allow for the days of creation being longer than twenty-four hours each and perhaps as long as millions of years. The eighth and final day of the trial, Tuesday, July 21, was opened in prayer by the Reverend Dr.

Camper of Chattanooga. Rainy weather moved the trial back into the courtroom. Another reason for this move may have been a secret visit by Sheriff Harris and other officials to the judge, urging him to bring the trial to a conclusion as soon as possible in order to avoid injury, for emotions were running high, and both Darrow and Bryan had received threats de Camp ; Harris.

This move prepared the way for an appeal to a higher court, spared Darrow from having to be questioned by Bryan, and circumvented the summation arguments and the threat posed by the concluding address that Bryan had been working on Scopes Since there were indications that some of the jury were getting feisty over being excluded from so much of the trial, and others were showing sympathy for Scopes, there was reason to suspect that the jury might find Scopes innocent.

Stewart, Raulston, and Darrow consulted together. After Raulston gave a lengthy charge to the jury, Darrow was permitted to explain to the jury that they should not worry about their verdict, for it could enable the defense to take the matter to a higher court.

Neal, asked Scopes if he had anything to say de Camp ; Trial 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 that the fine is unjust. For five days following the trial, Bryan stayed in Tennessee. On Sunday, July 26th, Bryan drove from Chattanooga to Dayton, was called upon to deliver the morning prayer at the First Southern Methodist Church, and that afternoon died in his sleep.

Haggard and B. John Thomas Scopes rejected F. On 31 May , the appeal hearing finally began. Scopes did not attend any of the legal sessions after the Dayton trial Scopes The prosecution was represented by E. And the spirit of William Jennings Bryan was there in the form of quotations from his undelivered Last Message, which the State used Ginger On the contrary we think the peace and dignity of the State.

Such a course is suggested to the Attorney-General. Supreme Court de Camp The next year, George W. Hunter published A New Civic Biology , updating the textbook Scopes supposedly used and presenting a very cautious treatment of evolution that did not even name the term. Arthur Garfield Hays resumed his law practice, continuing to champion the underdog, and he died in Dudley Field Malone returned to his divorce law office, got divorced himself, remarried, and when his practice declined, became a Hollywood bit-part actor for about ten years, dying in Sue Hicks went on in law, got elected to the state legislature, and later became a judge.

Robinson continued to hustle as a druggist, opened up a second store in Spring City, and before his death in , aided in the development at Bryan College, serving as a founder, incorporator, and chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Clarence Darrow took on two more cases and then retired to write, lecture, and travel. Senate in Neal, eccentric until his death in , ran unsuccessfully for senator or governor and one year for both in the same primary. Mencken lived to see his American Mercury magazine taken over by ultra-conservative Christian Fundamentalists. After a stroke in , which made him unable to read or write, he died in In , the Butler Act was repealed de Camp , , Then in , Tennessee became the first state to pass an equal-time law which stipulated that evolution should be labeled as a theory and not a scientific fact and provided that alongside of evolution other theories, including the Genesis account, should be taught.

Ironically, in the fiftieth anniversary year of the Scopes Trial this so-called Genesis Bill was declared unconstitutional. The entrepreneurship spirit of Dayton which initiated the Scopes Trial has survived the unfittest of situations and sparkles periodically.

When Hollywood made the play Inherit the Wind into a movie, Dayton agreed to host the world premiere in A Scopes Trial Day was sponsored. John T.

Scopes returned and was given the key to the city. Twelve years later the city played host to another film premiere: The Darwin Adventure , with Francis Darwin, a descendant of Charles, as special guest. Participating on the panel were professors of law, history, and biology. Several times Inherit the Wind has been dramatized at the courthouse. Since , Bryan College and the Dayton community have cooperated in organizing a four-day Scopes Trial Festival whose main feature is a documentary drama based almost entirely on the transcript of the trial and performed in the Scopes Trial courtroom.

Allem, Warren. Davidson, Donald. The Tennessee. New York: Rinehart, The Great Monkey Trial. Garden City: Doubleday, Fenwick W. Fecher, Charles A. Mencken: A Study of His Thought. New York: Knopf, Ginger, Ray. Six Days or Forever? Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. New York: New American Library. Gorman, Laurel, and Kate Staiger.

An American Frontier. Grebstein, Sheldon Norman, ed. Monkey Trial: the State of Tennessee vs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Harris, Robert C. Telephone interviews. Larson, Edward J. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, Lawrence, Jerome, and Robert E. Inherit the Wind. It remained on the books for another forty-two years until it was repealed in nineteen sixty-seven. A year later, laws banning the teaching of evolution were ruled unconstitutional by the U.

Supreme Court. TIM: Well, the issue is actually still alive. Most recently, opponents of evolution have proposed the teaching of something called intelligent design. It holds that life on Earth is too complicated to have evolved on its own, and that it must have been designed by an intelligent being.

Over the years, some states have allowed intelligent design to be taught alongside evolution. But several court cases have determined that intelligent design is based on religion, so it's pretty much not allowed to be taught as an alternative to evolution in public schools.

Wiki Content. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? View source. History Talk 0. How dare you, sir!

The judge bangs his gavel. A boy, Tim, joins Moby. MOBY: Beep. TIM: How dare you?! Moby laughs and hands Tim an envelope. Tim reads from a typed letter. An animated map of the United States highlights the state of Tennessee. An image shows Clarence Darrow. TIM: It was a very theatrical trial. An image shows William Jennings Bryan speaking passionately as he waves a Bible. An image represents Bryan and Clarence Darrow debating their positions. An image shows Darrow cross-examining Bryan.

An animation shows a judge giving his verdict and banging his gavel. An image shows the Tennessee State Courthouse. An image shows the United States Supreme Court building. Moby holds up a picture depicting an evolution from fish-robots to humanlike-robots.

TIM: No, robots didn't evolve. They were actually created. Moby frowns.