Evening star., 1925-07-14
DARROW DEFEATED
IN EFFORT TO BAR
u PRAYER At TRIAL
Judge "PIeaSed" to 0verruIe
Scopes Attorneys-Be-
IieVeS in Pleas to Deity.
HOT ARGUMENT STARTED
BY MOVE OF DEFENSE
Stewart Says Objections of "Ag-
nostic Counsel" Foreign to Be-
lievers-Court Session Brief.
sBy the Associated Press.

IBy the Associated Press.
COURT ROOM, Dayton. Tenn, July
14.-Objection by Clarence Darrow of
defense counsel, TO the daily custom
hOf prayer in court created intense ex-
Citement for few minutes at the
sshort session of the trial of John T.
hrScopes here this morning. Judge John
vt. Raulston, presiding, overruled the
SDbjection and then ordered the court
irecess until l o'clock that he might
5Complete the preparation of his opin-
don on the motion of the defense to
kquash the indictment argued yester-
day
, Soon after Judge Raulston mounted
the bench Clarence Darrow stepped
forward to say, II want to protest
your honor, at prayer being offered
here daily in the presence of the jury
jn this case"
The defense attorney continued, Il
do not object TO any one praying in
private, but l do object to this court
being turned into a meeting house"
Wants Prayer Taken Down.
Mr.. Darrow in making his excep-
Gons said that he understood from
the court himself that he sometimes
opened the court with prayer and
sometimes did not.
We took no position on the first
day, but seeing this is persisted in
every session, and the nature of this
case being one where it is claimed by
the state counsel that there is a con-
f1ict between science and religion,
above all other cases, there should be
no part taken outside of the evidence
in this case, and no attempt by means
of prayer or in any other manner of
influencing the deliberations and con-
sideration of the jury of the facts in
this case.
For that reason we object to the
opening of the services with PRAYER
and l am going to ask the reporters
to take down the prayer and make
specific objections again TO any such
parts as we think are especially OBJ
noXiouS to our case"
Ben T. Mckenzie suggested that
the matter had been passed on by the
Supreme Court.
Gives States Position.----.
Attorney General A. T. Stewart fol
lowed with an announcement that he
would place the States position in the
record.
THE State makes no contention" :"
he said, ''as stated by counsel, that
. this is a conflict between science and
religion in so far as the merits are
concerned. 1t is a case involving the
fact as to whether or not a school
teacher has taught a doctrine pro-
hibited by statute, and we, for the
State, think it is quite proper to open
this court with prayer If the court
sees At to do it. and such an idea ex-
tended by the agnostic counsel for the
defense is foreign to the thoughts and
ideas of the people who do not know
anything about infidelity and care
less"
Arthur G. Hays noted an exception
TO the statement "agnostic counsel, 4"
which brought Dudley Field Malone
to the floor to state that he respected
his colleagues right to believe or not
as long as he was as honest in his
belief as the speaker was in his
belief
Speaking of prayers in court, Mr..
Malone said:
They help to increase the atmos-
phere of hostility to our point of view,
which already exists in this COM
munity because of widespread propa-
ganda."
Judge Halts Argument.
After the discussion had been in
full tilt for some minutes Judge
Raulston suggested:
Gentlemen, do not turn this into
an argument"
This statute says no doctrine shall
be taught which is contrary to the
divine account contained in the Bible"
persisted Darrow. 80 there is no
question about the religious character
of these proceedings"
This court has no purpose except
to find the truth and do justice to
all the issues involved in this case"
said Judge Raulston, closing the dis
cussion.
I'm answer to counsel for the de-
fendant, as to my custom, l will say
during the several years I have been
on the bench l have used my discre
tion in opening the court with prayer.
''At times when there was minis
ter present and it was convenient to
do so, l have, and other times when
there was no minister present and no
large assemblage of people, L have not,
always followed this custom, but l
think it is d matter wholly within the
discretion of the court.
Believes in Prayer.
II have instructed the ministers
who have been invited to my rostrum
TO open the court with prayer to make
no reference to the issues involved in
this case. / see nothing that might
influence the court or the jury as to
the issues. l believe in prayer my
self. l constantly invoke divine guild
ance myself when l am on the bench
and off the bench. I see no reason
why l should not continue to do this.
1t is not the purpose of this court
TO bias or prejudice the mind of any
individual, but to do right in all mat
ters under investigation. Therefore,
! am pleased to overrule- the objection
of counsel and invite DIR. Stribling to
open the court with prayer"
The minister's prayer occupied less
than minutes.
Judge Raulston told Mr.. Darrow
that he would have the record show
his motion made and overruled every
morning.
Court was recessed until 1 pm,
when Judge Raulston announced that
he would need several hours to pre-
pare his decision on the motion to
ouash the indictment against Scopes.
Lack of lights in Dayton last night
prevented him working on it, he eX-
planned in asking Indulgence.
AS court was recessed Mrs. William
Jennings Bryan was being assisted
a. from the courtroom. Dudley Field Ma
lone stepped up smiling.
1nEa,y 7 Give vntr q liff the Iafap %