When Charles Darwin began thinking about the origin of species, he raised a ruckus that continues to this very day. At no time, however, has the debate caused more controversy than in the so-called Monkey Trial of 1925. The jury in that case returned a guilty verdict, giving a leading prosecutor a thumping victory, but he never lived to enjoy it.
It all started when a high school biology teacher by the name of John Scopes decided to test a Tennessee law that prohibited public school instructors from teaching any theory that man is descended from a lower order of animal.
Scopes was immediately indicted and brought to trial. Overnight, the entire country focused on the town of Dayton, Tennessee. The famous defense attorney Clarence Darrow ran to help Scopes, while William Jennings Bryan, three-time presidential candidate, rushed in to advise the prosecution.
The outcome of the trial was a forgone conclusion. The judge, John Raulston, was a rural magistrate from the hamlet of Fiery Gizzard, Tennessee, who was strongly prejudiced against the defendant. Scopes was found guilty of being in violation of the Tennessee law and fined a hundred dollars.
The guilt or innocence of the teacher, however, was not what held the nation spellbound. The attraction of the trial lay in the gargantuan struggle between the liberal Darrow and the fundamentalist Bryan, who agreed to testify as an expert witness on the Bible.
The verdict of history is that the aging politician was no match for his cynical opponent. Through no efforts of his own, his side won the case, but there was a price. Bryan was publicly raked over the coals by Darrow and discredited in the minds of many. Not even the guilty verdict could raise his slumping spirits. After the trial, Bryan trudged home, and within a few days he died in his sleep, never having gained his self-confidence.
So the Scopes trial was the last battle for the aging warrior, but he did have the last word. He may not have convinced the skeptics, but the statute that set the stage for the Monkey Trial spectacle, although later ignored and unenforced, remained on the books. For a long time the state of Tennessee agreed with Bryan and denounced the theory of evolution, while at the same time turning a blind eye to his fundamentalist arguments.
