2-378-189 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

'The Protagonists of Dayton', Tennessee, USA, 1925. American lawyers Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) and William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) at the Scopes Trial. Also known as the 'Scopes Monkey Trial' the case was a challenge to the Butler Act, which made it unlawful to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals in state-funded schools and universities in the state of Tennessee. Bryan represented the prosecution and Darrow the defence and the case had such a high profile that it was broadcast across the nation. The defendant, a high school teacher named John T Scopes (1900-1970), was found guilty of teaching Darwin's theories of evolution, in breach of the Butler Act, and was fined $100, but the verdict was set aside on appeal by the Tennessee Supreme Court on a technicality. Bryan died five days after the conclusion of the original trial.