DAYTON, TENNESSEE USA 37321! Volume 360 Number 123 Suggested Retail Price $0.10
JULY 23, 1925
NEWS OF RHEA COUNTY, ROANE COUNTY AND MORGAN COUNTY
Dayton Update
Scopes “Monkey” Trial By: Maddy Joyce Hundreds packed themselves into one courthouse. Some on seats, laps and many on the floor. Everyone strained so as not to miss a word. The Johnny Scopes trial in Dayton, TN at the Rhea County Courthouse had begun. Johnny Scopes, a high school science and math teacher who at the age of 24 was being accused of teaching evolution in his high school science class and therefore violating the Butler Act.
Dear Dayton Update Journalist,
The Butler Act had been passed on January 21 of 1925. The Butler Act is a law that prohibtis the teaching of the theory of evolution, which denys the Bibles creationism theory. Dayton didn’t stage this case to raise awareness for the new law, they staged it for more publicity. George Rappleyea who was the manager for the coal and iron company, was the first to convince the rest of the school board and superintendent to stage this case. Rappleyea blamed Scopes for teaching out of a textbook that the state required to be taught. In the book it said clearly described the theory of evolution and since that was in the book, teachers were then supposed to break the law. Even though Scopes didn’t remember teaching evolution, he did show his students the evolution chart and part of the chapter. Scopes then said to those at the meeting, “If you can prove that I taught evolution, then you have a trial on your hands.” As many people know, nobody can keep their word. Johnny Scopes believed everything he was supposedly going to get after the trial. Mr. Frank Earle Robinson, owner of Robinson’s Drug Store and also the head
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Advice Coloum
This picture is of the crowded courthouse in the background and Clarence Darrow in the foreground.
of the school board, promised Scopes with his job in the fall of 1925. Well besides Scopes losing the trial, he also had to pay a fine of $100. After the trial ended, Scopes went to Robinson and began talking about his contract. Robinson denied his contract and told him that he wasn’t allowed to teach at Dayton schools anymore. Scopes was fuming because he thought this trial was just to get Dayton on the map, not that it would affect his future. The town of Dayton didn’t stage the case to raise awareness on the newly passed law, they did it to get attention. The people who lived there felt like nobody had heard of their town and they wanted more publicity, so they staged a case about the theory of evolution.
My daddy is the owner of the Robinson’s Drug Store and is the head of the school board. If you didn’t know already, Robinson’s Drug Store is where all the ideas of the Scopes trial began. I am Frances Robinson, daughter of Frank Earle Robinson. I have brought myself into a dilemma. I am in love with Johnny Scopes and even though I am only 15 and he is 24, I fell in love with him and his teaching. If Mr. Scopes is on trial for teaching this book, then so should every other teacher in Tennessee. All schools are required to teach this book so all schools should be in trouble. Besides Johnny Scopes, I have found out what publicity does to your head. My dad used to never lie, but know he does. He lied about Mr. Scopes’s contract and other things that have to do with the trial. If anyone has any advice for a teenage lover or how to handle my father, you can find me at Robinson’s. -Yours truly, Frances Robinson
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