A Religious Orgy in Tennessee (13 page)

William Jennings Bryan arriving in Dayton on July 7, 1925. He was greeted at the train station by town leaders, a band playing religious and patriotic songs, and a crowd of over 1,000 people.
(BRYAN COLLEGE)

Dayton, Tennessee. Robinson's Drug Store is on the right. Owner Fred Robinson was one of many who thought the trial would bring a boom in tourism to the town, and he tried to capitalize on it by stringing an advertisement over Main Street.
(BRYAN COLLEGE)

John Scopes, left, walks to the courthouse with one of his attorneys, John Neal, center, and George Rappelyea, right. The “Read Your Bible” banner is typical of the many trial-related posters displayed around Dayton during the trial, and identical to one that hung in the courtroom until the judge begrudgingly removed it upon the strenuous objection of the defense.
(BRYAN COLLEGE)

Henry Louis Mencken
(ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY)

Friday, July 10, 1925: The jury is sworn in for the case of
Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes
.
(BRYAN COLLEGE)

Bryan addresses the bench during the trial. Prosecutor Ben McKenzie sits with arms folded to Bryan's left.
(BRYAN COLLEGE)

Clarence Darrow addresses the court. Note the standing room only crowd. The trial was held in the Rhea Country Courthouse in Tennessee's largest courtroom, which had seats for over 500 people – but no ceiling fans.
(BRYAN COLLEGE)

One of the tensest moments in the trial occurred when Darrow was threatened with a contempt charge for saying he didn't think his client was able to get a fair trial in Raulston's courtroom. Here, standing from left to right, defense attorney Dudley Field Malone and prosecutors J. Gordon McKenzie, Wallace Haggard, Herbert Hicks, and Tom Stewart listen to Darrow's forced apology to the court. (Note the WGN microphone. The Scopes trial was the first ever broadcast live to a national audience. The man below the microphone stand is commonly misidentified as Mencken.)
(BRYAN COLLEGE)

Judge John T. Raulston issues a ruling from the bench. Seen here with the two policeman that he kept stationed on either side of himself with fans. Raulston carried a Bible into the courtroom every day, brought his family to listen to a Bryan sermon attacking the defense at the local Methodist church (sitting in the front row), and began the trial each day with a prayer—despite the vociferous objection of the defense.
(BRYAN COLLEGE)

Temperatures throughout the trial were in the 100-degree range. Here, Bryan shows one of the effects of the heat.
(LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

Due to the heat in the courtroom and to accommodate growing crowds, on July 20, 1925, Raulston moved the trial outdoors for what were expected to be closing arguments. Darrow surprised the court, however, by calling Bryan to the stand. Despite objections by his fellow prosecutors, Bryan agreed to testify. The two-hour exchange would go down in history, but not in the court record—Raulston expunged it the next day, saying it was irrelevant. Darrow immediately urged the jury to find his client guilty so that, as planned all along, he could appeal to a higher court.
(LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)