Evening star., 1925-07-14
FRIENDLY TRIAL"
BECOMES BITTER
Charges of Bigotry and
Fling at "Foreigners" Bring
Tension in Scopes Case.
BY ROBERT T. SMALL.

BY ROBERT T. SMALL.
DAYTON, Tenn, July 14.-This
''triendly" trial of John Thomas Scopes
has become a battle of the wolves.
Clarence Darrow has leaped at the
throat Of William Jennings Bryan,
casugating him with a lash Of snarl-
ing fury.
Religious bigot" he has hurled in
the teeth of the Commoner, not once
but dozens of times, as a changing
hammer would ring on sledge. Bryan,
he has shouted, would set man against
man, brother against brother, and to
the beating of the drums and the
glare of lighted fagots would lead the
world back to the sixteenth century,
with its burning witches. its hatred,
tQrtures, crueltieS and miseries of re-
lgiouS war.
The prosecution, in turn, has un-
ieashed its "furiesr on the invaders"
from the North. Ben" Mckenzie, the
Dayton 'whirlwind," has wheeled into
action and stung the visitors" to
resentment by his slurring references
10 their native abodes of New York
and Chicago. Ben" has been in train
ing as the boy who was going to skin
Darrow and the others alive" Already
he has started severe ructions. AL
ready he has injected the feared ele-
and he has warned the attorneys from
foreign States" that he hasn't got
really mad as yet.
Bryan Sits Silent.
Mr.. Bryan sat silent Monday after
noon as Darrow flung his poison-tip-
ped arrows at him. He famed him
self furiously at times, but made no
attempt to interrupt him. 1t was
plain to be seen, however, that the
Commoner could not remain silent
much longer. There was no place al
loted to him in the first bitter debate
of the trial-the motion to quash the
indictment of the young high school
teacher on the grounds Of vaguenesS,
obscurtty and unconstitutionality. The
crowd constantly in the courtroom
was beginning to become disappointed
today not to see Bryan in action any
where except on the street corners or
in the courthouse yard
1t has dawned upon the people at
last that the real prosecution of young
Scopes is in the hands of the circuit
attorney general, Tom Stewart, who
looks for all the world like a Young
edition Of Senator Borah. and wears
about him the same cloak of serious
. mindedness. 1t also was disclosed that
Mr.. Bryan was being reserved for
forensic efforts and exhortations 1t
has been so long since the Commoner
practiced law that the prosecution has
thought it unwise to send him for
ward in the fights which turn upon
techn1calities OF the law, lest this un-
familiarity with his subject lead him
into pitfalls set by the willy men of the
unregenerate defense.
Seek to Get Bryan In.
Darrow, Malone, Hays and the
local Judge Neal of the defense have
been beckoning to Mr.. Bryan to
come on in They have wanted to
get him on the griddle Darrow did
everything in his power-and he is a
genius at taunting-to get a rise out
or Mr.. Bryan on Monday. He ac-
cused "the gentleman from Florida"
of being directly responsible for the
anti-evolution law in this State, this
foolish, wicked and mischievous act"
Darrow was picturesque in his first
set appearance before the hostile
Tennessee audience which he faced in
the courtroom. For nearly two hours
a he sWayed to and fro in the burning
heat. His coat was off, his broad
banded suspenderS served most OF the
time as sings for his restless hands,
his left elbow protruded unassisted
from a big tear in the sleeve of
shirt which soon was as wet as If
=
stream of the nearby Tennessee River.
Darrow was typicalIy a man of the
masses, man of the people. He
was not speaking to the spectators,
not to the jury for it had been with
drawn, but was addressing himself to
the judge alone, supposedly on points
OF constitutional law.
Pleads for Tolerance.
But the audience heard and the
audience understood. The prosecution
listened to a man. The court listened.
Two stalwart- 5lue-coated policemen
on either side Of Judge Raulston, stood
transf&ed. Men and women climbed
upon tables. Darrow was daring at
times, but he was heard in respectful
silence. The fundamentalist outburst
of applause on the first day of the
trial held no terrors for the defender
of Leopold and Loeb. The Bible he
handled with kid-gloved hands. Reli-
gion he did not attack. He admitted
it had caused more wars and more
sufferings than anything else in the
world, but he also admitted it had
brought more comfort to hundreds of
millions of people.
DarTow pleaded for tolerance, for
policy Of live and let live, for freedom
of thought and education. He in.
weighed against bigotry and ignorance
and each time he uttered the words
In tones of biting scorn he directed his
gaze at Mr.. Bryan. The latter famed
bit harder with his palm leaf cooler,
gazed back at his accuser, but said
nothing.
Mr.. Bryan also was a picture. He,
too, was in shirt sleeves-stiff- bosom
shirt, cut with a low V neck and ell
bow sleeves. Mr.. Bryan said the
shirt was an invention of his wife.
who sat with him in her wheel chair.
People for Bryan.
Daytonians still look askance at
Clarence Darrow. Bryan they fairly
worship as man of God. DarroW
they expect to have smell of brtfn-
stone about him. The people of the
town sympathize with the lady who
would not rent her home as a local
residence for the attorney-the aRnos.
ttc-saying she was sure she could
been occupied by such a man." Yet
Darrow has appeared mild enough.
He has not shielded some of his
doubts. about the Bible and about re-
ligion in general, but he has asked
anew how he or any one man can say
what Is right when there are 500
Christian sects in the world, all quar-
reling among themselves The fires
have been lighted and Dayton today
is tense for the first time since the
trial began.
Copyright. 1881
Twenty-Five of the 1912 war widows