Evening star., 1925-07-15
NERVES IN DAYTON
ALREADY FRAyED
Judge, Lawyers and Every
one Else About Ready
to Snap.
BY ROBERT T. SMALL.

BY ROBERT T. SMALL.
DAYTON. Tenn, July 15.-Every-
body connected with this Scopes trial
is getting the Jumps" Maybe it's
the hot, sitting weather; maybe it
is just the natural heat of eternal
conflict. In any event, the words
which are being banded about are
as sizzling as the superheated air in
the overcrowded room. 1t Wouldn I
be bit surprising if some day soon
somebody hurls a brick. A lot of
ructions have been started in times
agone on much less provocation.
When gentleman of the old South
tells a gentleman of the effete East
in open court to keep your mouth
shut" it is coming dangerously near
TO fighting words. And as yet the
lawsuit" really hasn't started. The
preliminarieS are still in progress.
Even happy Judge RaulstoE is getting
all unstrung, as shown by the fact
that just because an Eastern reporter
took a "hunch" and telegraphed his
papers that the judge was going TO
overrule the defense's motion to quash
the indictment, he stopped the pro-
ceedings and threatened dire punish.
ment for contempt of court" and all
that sort of thing.
May Open Doors to Experts.
Now there is the further hunch go
ing the rounds that after siding with
the State on the sufficiency of the in
dictment and the constitutionality of
the anti-evolution law. Judge Raul
ston will hold for the defense that
scientific and. expert testimony GER
tainly is called for in the case and
will open wide the doors for the visit
ing saVants. This will have the ef-
feet of prolonging the case indefinite
ly, but the judge and the lawyers said
the experts and the "cranks" all seem
to be enjoying themselves and Day
tons progressive merchants and hotel
keepers are simply thrilled. Even the
defendant does not shrink or shrivel
up at the thought of long drawn-out
hearing.
Some one has suggested that he might
be given leave of absence TO go on
lecture tour while the trial is in
progress, the one condition being that
he shall return home some time during
the late Summer to hear the sentence
of the learned court pronounced upon
his luckless blonde head. The de-
fendant is not an heoric figure. He is
just a nice. long boy. He hasn't worn
a coat or a hat since he came back
SpillS NSthS dSO II Oill Ills SpOCIl-
ing visit to New York. But he cer-
tainly would "go big" on the chau
tauqua circuits just about now, and
il seems a shame he cannot reap some
sort of financial harvest from his
scholastic whirlwind.
Prayer Another Row Maker
And then there is all this quarreling
about opening the court with prayer.
II was indicated in these dispatches
several days ago that the defense was
going to object TO a daily invocation.
Some folks thought Clarence Darrow
wouldn't have the nerve to get up in
open court and voice such an objec-
ton, especially after the fundamental
ist demonstrations which have swept
the courtroom from time to time and
have shown which way the sultry re-
ligious winds are blowing down these
Tennessee valleys. They reckoned
without their Darrow.
The Chicago lawyer knew he would
be a second Ajax defying the light
ming; he knew that hot curses would
be heaped upon his aged head and
dropping shoulders. but he stood up
there and had his say, and then no.
body wondered that Dayton's lights
went out and the water supply sud
denly failed. Dayton will never be
the same until Darrow leaves. Even
then it may be marked for life. That
Darrow is an agnostic has been writ
ten deep in the court records of the
county. State counsel hurled the
word at the defense. Malone and
some of the others hotly resented the
charge. Darrow accepted it with that
dry. provoking smile which plays al
ways so close to his lips.
ssH Women Crowd Court
The farmers were at court on the
opening day of the lawsuit" as it is
called down here But nowadays the
audience is made up almost wholly
of the womanfolks. Some are tourists
from the North and West and they
wear knickerbockers and bobbed hair
But nobody seems to mind and the
women all love Mr.. Bryan They
are anxious to see Darrow. too They
wouldn't miss him for the world, but
they hate him.
The verbal battles between counsel
these last few days have been highly
edifying to the populaCe. Everybody,
1t seems, has been waiting for things"
TO warm up.
Some lawsuit. now. amt it, boy?'
exclaimed one delighted farmer as he
slapped his neighbor on the back
ilCNV cast lSIllleSSeG lOlhS ike 10
go TO court even when there's nothing
particular going on. 1t is small won
der that at present they are in their
glory. Visitors have to catch up with
the court Vernacular down here You
have got TO learn. for instance, that
court never meets" or "adjourns" "
It just naturally takes up" and lets
out" 1t is all right TO smoke in the
courtroom until court takes up" but
after that it is verboten. The COM
pliance is almost one hundred per
cent but every now and then COP
has to threaten to drag somebody
out of here directly"
There are signs that Judge Raul
ston is beginning to tire of the depre-
dations of the moving picture and still
cameramen in the courtroom every
morning. For time the movie men
actually sat on the bench. 1t looked
as though at any moment they might
even use the judge as a tripod. The
judge seemed to like it for a time.
but familiarity invariably will breed
some sort Of contempt, AMI today the
court avoWad he would allow Is min
utes for picture taking ani no mo -
To the casual observer. anxious to
see the trial move a little faster. that
seems fair enough. Most courts
wouldn't be 50 tolerant
Copyright. 1921