Many revisionist reports of history would have you believe that the great attorney Clarence Darrow
convincingly demolished Williams Jennings Bryan in a spectacular and heroic stand for evolutionist and against Biblical creationism. The fact, however, is that the 1926 trial was quite different and Mr. Darrow did not finish in the heroic fashion that many are led to believe!In an article written by by David N. Menton, Ph.D.m the facts from the actual court transcript are reveal a much different story:
"After spending much of the seventh day of the trial systematically grilling and ridiculing Bryan for his belief in numerous miracles of the Bible, Darrow abruptly ended the trial by asking the Court to instruct the jury to find his client guilty (abstract page 306)! This incredible concession, together with the judge's decision to strike Bryan's testimony from the record, was very much to Darrow's personal benefit because it prevented him from being subjected to the same kind of inquisition he had just put Bryan through.
"Bryan had agreed to take the witness stand to answer questions on his Christian beliefs with the understanding that Darrow would then also be required to take the stand to answer questions about his own agnostic and evolutionary beliefs (transcript page 284). Both Judge Raulston and Darrow had agreed to this condition. When Bryan asked if Darrow, himself, knew the answer to some of his more ludicrous questions (ie. "Do you know how many people there were on this earth 3000 years ago?"), Darrow responded with "wait until you get to me." Despite the increasing hostility of Darrow's questioning, Bryan thwarted repeated attempts by his colleagues to stop it.
Bryan:
"I want him to have all the latitude he wants. For I am going to have some latitude when he gets through."
Darrow:
"You can have latitude and longitude." (transcript page 288)
It is most unlikely that Darrow had any intention of giving Bryan "latitude and longitude". He had, after all, been unwilling to let Bryan question even his expert witnesses on their religious and evolutionary assumptions, how much less likely would he be willing to subject himself to such questioning after what he had put Bryan through? As it turned out, of course, Bryan was given no opportunity to ask Darrow his questions during the trial."
On other words, Mr. Darrow chickened out! He was afraid to stand up for what he believed, so he actually threw in the towel and let his client lose rather than for Darrow to lose face.
Interesting...
More can be read at http://www.gennet.org/facts/scopes.html
