SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL.....A FRAUD

Amazing how the truth can blow one's mind!

The year 1925. The place Dayton, Tennessee. Population 1,800. Famous for strawberries. Economically depressed.

For seven days, it was the site of one of the world's most famous trials. The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, aka Tennessee v. Scopes, aka the Scopes Monkey Trial. In a 2011 article, Time Magazine listed the Scopes trial as one of the '"Top Ten Trials That Shook The World."

The issue was whether evolution was consistent with the word of God as revealed in the Bible. In other words, whether Darwin's theory of man evolving from lower forms such as monkeys was not inconsistent with Biblical teachings.

John Scopes was a 24 year old high school teacher. He taught mathematics and physics and also served as football coach. One day he substituted for the biology teacher who was sick. 

The State of Tennessee controlled what books were to be used in classrooms. The biology text was Civic Biology by George William Hunter. One paragraph mentioned and briefly explained evolution. Scopes claimed he only taught biology once and that was when he substituted for a teacher who was out sick. He said he taught the paragraph in question that day.

Tennessee had a law known as the Butler Act. It prohibited the teaching of evolution. Yet it was the State that selected the civic biology book to be used as a text book in the biology class taught at Scopes' school.

Nevertheless, Scopes was indicted for violation of the Butler Act. The Judge directed the grand jury to indict Scopes, even though the proof was thin. The trial commanded immediate world wide attention. The attorneys involved were heavy weights. 

William Jennings Bryan was brought in for the prosecution. He had three times been a candidate for President of the United States. He served as Secretary of State. He was the embodiment of today's religious right in his time. He was without question anti-evolution. A crusader, he averaged 200 speeches a year, addressed State legislatures, wrote books and newspaper articles, wrote a nationwide syndicated column titled Weekly Bible Talks, and conducted a weekly Bible class attended each week by 5,000. All relative to the issue of anti-Darwinism, anti-evolution.

Defense attorney for Scopes was the nationally famous trial lawyer Clarence Darrow. An agnostic. His views religiously and in every other respect, diametrically opposed to those of Bryan. 

The trial took seven days. Little Dayton and the trial were front page news.  The world was interested. 

The New York Times ran the trial as front page news. Two hundred newspapers from the United States and two from London were represented in court each day. Telegraphs were the big thing of the time to swiftly convey information. One hundred sixty five thousand words per day were telegraphed over thousands of miles of telegraph wires hung specifically for that purpose.

Two cameramen filmed the trial. Then rushed to an airport to have the film flown out daily. The airport was built specifically for the purpose of getting the film out. Edward J. Larson won a Pulitzer Prize for history for his book Summer For The Gods, which was a tale of the trial.

The courtroom was small, hot and steamy. Bryan and Darrow fought like the big guns they were. The Judge appeared pro-Bible and beat up on Darrow constantly.

Bryan throughout the trial constantly made reference to the fact he was an expert on matters of the Bible. He thought he was. Darrow called Bryan as a witness and questioned him for two hours regarding the Bible. He made an ass out of Bryan.

After seven days, the jury was out only nine minutes. The jury found Scopes guilty. The Judge fined Scopes $100. The Judge then overturned the verdict based on a technicality. Scopes walked out of court a free man, never required to pay the fine.

Based on the jury verdict, Bryan technically won the trial. Worldwide, people viewed Darrow the winner..

Bryan died five days after the trial. His supporters considered him a martyr to the faith. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Bryan was held in such high esteem that $5 million  poured into a fund to erect a cottage in his memory in Dayton. The cottage was opened in 1930. Its purpose to ".....educate students to become servants of Christ to make a difference in today's world."

Now for the truth.

The trial was a fraud from day one. Even before.

Dayton civic and political leaders would meet daily in Robinson's Drug Store. They solved Dayton's problems and those of the rest of the world during those chats. The economy of Dayton was an ongoing concern. More businesses and more people were needed in Dayton.

The American Civil Liberties Union was concerned with the Butler Act and the evolution issue. The ACLU wanted to test the law. The ACLU advertised in Tennessee newspapers that they were ".....looking for a Tennessee teacher who is willing to accept our services in testing this law in the courts.....All we need.....is a willing client."

The Robinson Drug Store crew decided the ACLU offer and intended trial would be good for their community. They got a hold of 24 year old John Scopes. They said.....You are the one. He responded.....I only taught one Biology class as a substitute and I don't think it was the chapter concerning evolution. The town fathers convinced Scopes it made no difference. He agreed to  be the defendant.

The Judge was probably a party to all this. However, there is no firm evidence. Scopes falsely acknowledged at the start of the trial that he had taught the evolution chapter. It was for the jury to decide if he violated the Butler Act.

Prior to the trial, Scopes had to be indicted. Scopes personally prepared three students to falsely testify before the Grand Jury that he had taught evolution. He suborned perjury by getting the three students to testify falsely.

It is generally agreed that neither Bryan nor Darrow knew the case was a set up, a phony.

In June 2006 on  the eighty first anniversary of the trial, William T. Pelletieri wrote in The Woodside News.that "The Scopes Trial was a financially motivated hoax based on lies and perjury."

Though a hoax based on lies, the Scope trial continues to be taught in many of our schools nationwide as the fight between evolution and God's word as set forth in the Bible.

Even further, locally and nationally the trial in one fashion or another is honored. Paid homage. In 1979, the Rhea County Courthouse where the trial was conducted was renovated. A museum of the trial was erected in the basement. A commemorative plaque placed on the front lawn.

Due only to the trial, the National Register of Historic Places listed the Courthouse in 1972. Then in 1976, the Courthouse was decreed a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.

The lie lives on. Amazing!