Evening star., 1925-07-28
ORDEAL Of TRIAL
| AFFECTED BRYAN
Change Apparent From Time
of Clash With barrow
Near Close.
BY ROBERT L. SMALL.

= MlLN AUkEE, WIS, July %
Where is little doubt in the minds of
those who attended the Scopes trial
in Dayton, Tenn, that the storm and
stress of that Midsummer madness
hastened, if it did not bring about. the
death of William Jennings Bryan.
In the early stages of the trial Mr..
Bryan was placid and apparently un-
perturbed, but toward the close he was
excited and agitated in manner, which
caused general comment. From the
moment he was called to the witness
stand by Clarence Darrow his entire
uemeanor changed. From that time
FORWARD the great Commoner appeared
70 teel that he was on the defensive.
He was deeply hurt. He issued state
mentS to reassure his followers and
The public in general. He set forth
MS various political, intellectual and
IenSlouS atta1nmentS, claiming that
DarroW had taken an unfair advan-
IASe OF him by asking purely scen-
uHc questions of u man who had
given little or no thought to such sub
6ects.
Climax Proved Ordeal.
: To be grilled as he was in public be-
Sore his friends, to be deprived of
putting his tormentor in the same de-
1enSlVe position and finally to be ma
neuVered out of delivering his address
pe1ore the jury-all of this proved
more OF a cross to bear than even Mr..
bfHan himself suspected. To all out
Wdfd appearances he carried bravelv
forward, but something inside him
snapped; and today he knows the So
autlon OF 1t all-he knows whether or
not the theory of evolution is true: he
SnoWs the after rewards of a God
9StuihS nte or else sleeps the long
sieep as peacefully as he passed away
aIdI qulet Sabbath afternoon in the
Hh nut deserted village where he had
spent four eventful weeks of his life
clarence Darrow, with whom he had
STARTED his world famous debate in
layton, Is still the agnostic-he still
uoes not know. Mr.. Bryan has no fur-
hher quarrel with him. He is at peace
ana now 1t is permissible to tell
-. - Mf. Bryan's experience on the
witness stand at Dayton was due en-
1lrely to a misapprehension on the
part or Judge John T. Raulston, who
was was presiding at the Scopes trial.
Inc JudSe in some manner got the i'm
preston that Mr.. Bryan wanted TO he
called, wanted to face Darrow. and If
was only because of this impression
Lhat the memorable episode ever oc-
Would Have Avoided Stand
Mr.. Bryan explained later to the
Judge that he had had no such desire
because he felt his own testimony in
the case was no more pertinent or
permissible than the evidence of the
scientific experts which had been
ruled out. He said he would have
peen perfectly satisfied if the Judge
had prevented his taking the stand,
Out once Darrow had made his play
ana had called him and the court had
not lnterceded, the Commoner had no
intention of backing out He did not
ask for judicial consideration. once
the battle had begun, for, as he ex
Plalned to the crowd, he did not want
barrow to go back to his agnostic and
atheist friends and tell them that
Bryan ran away from his questions.
Judge Raulston was much chagrined
when he learned the true state of af-
1airs at the end of the days proceed
1ngs, and was prompt the next morn
ing to expunge the entire episode from
the court records. Naturally, Mr.
Darrow objected to all this, and Mr..
bryan insisted upon having it stated
that his testimony had been elimi-
mated, not because of the answers he
had given, but because of the nature
or the questions which were asked.
No sooner had the Bryan testimony
been expunged than the defense
moved to close the cause without ar
guments. Mr.. Darrow and his as
sociates knew full we'll that this
would cut Mr.. Bryan off from de-
lvering the big address he had pre-