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In the beginning...
Dayton Tennesse was just a normal town, with normal people. But, this is exacltly what Francis Robinson's dad, the owner of Robinson's Drugs, does not want passerbys to think. He wants people to remember Dayton. He wants Dayton to be one of the most well-known cities out there.
Francis is the main character of the story. Although she and her dad are real people, Francis would have been seven-years old during the trial and not as engaged as she was in the story. -
Johnny Scopes is arrested
In order to gain the publicity for Dayton, some people on the Town Board decided to hold a trial that concerns the teaching of evolution in classrooms, which is against the Tennessee Law. Johnny Scopes. one of the teachers, did happen to teach some things on Evolution. So, they "fake arrest" Johnny Scopes so that they can hold the trial in Dayton. The trial will attract national attention and fame for Dayton. Most of the events in this story truly did happen, but with a fictional twist. -
Dayton starts gaining publicity
Word had gotten out that Dayton would be hosting the trial of evolution. Sure enough, places all over the country were hearing about this small town Dayton. Stories were being written about it in large cities, such as Memphis. Plus, two very experienced men were going to come for the trial to either go against Johnny, or to fight for him. -
"The Man-Biting Barber"
In another attempt to gain publicity for Dayton, there was a fight in the Town square. The only catch was, the fight was set up before it actually happened. A man named George Rappleyea claimed that he believed in evolution. A barber named Thurow Reed disagreed and a brawl happened between the two men. The next day, headines proclaimed a story about a "man-biting barber". Once again, the publicity stunt had succeeded. -
The Reporters Come
Hundreds of people starting arriving in Dayton. The reporters came first, hundreds of them. The preachers came too, preaching against evolution. Then, toursits who were curious about the trial and wanted to see "history made" came as well. Mr. Robinson got exactly what he wanted; publicity. -
Francis meets Edmund Duffy and H.L. Mencken
Francis decided to explore the streets and listen to all of the new people roaming the streets. One day, she was stopped by one of the priests. he lectured to her. The preist was also preaching to the reporter H.L. Menken and the cartoonist Edmund Duffy. Francis disliked Mencken very much, but Ed was a very nice man. -
The Trial Begins
The actual trial began on this day. The only thing they did was pick a jury. But the day was very hot, and everyone had to wait for a long time for the jury to be selected. The thing was, there were hundreds of people there to watch it, and after everything was finished, there was the first traffic jam in all of Dayton's history. Mr. Robinson's dream was coing true -
Someone is Sabotaging Johnny
People all over do not want Johnny to win the trial. So, they try to make Johnny look bad to the public. On this day, they hired a girl named Myrna Maxwell to go up to Johnny and kiss him. The picture was on the front page of the paper, and gave a bad refection on Johnnys character. -
The Holy Rollers
Francis decided that she wanted to hitchhike with Ed the cartoonist and H.L. Mencken to a Holy Rollers ceremony. The Holy Rollers were basically Christian extemists and their ceremony was terrifying and during it they basically claimed tha everyone was going to hell. Francis realized that in the town of Dayton, youwe re either a Holy Roller who discrimanted anyone who believed in evolution, or the opposite. -
Dudley Field Malone Gives his Speech
This was one of the best speeches in the whole trial. Despite the fact that Malone was on Johnny's side, he got the biggest round of applause when he was finished. His amazing quote was, "We are not afraid! Where is the fear? We meet it. Where is the fear? We defy it. We as your honor to admit the scientific evidence as a matter of correct law, as a matter of sound procedure and as a matter of justice to the defense of this case, -
The Plotting of Mencken's Murder
H.L. Mencken, the reporter Francis had met and hated earlier, was writing some pretty mean stuff about the town of Dayton. It was the "laughinstock of America" and Mencken was making that worse by calling Dayton "Monkey Town". He constantly ridiculed and made fun of the people of Dayton, too. Soon, some people got so upset that they plotted against him to go hurt him, or even kill him But, Francis stopped them from doing so and told Mencken to leave Dayton. -
The Trial Ends
Clarence Darrow, Johnny's defendent did a spectaucular job making William Jennings Bryan basically admit to the fact that evolution was a possibility. But, the jury still ruled Johnny out, and he lost the trial, as predicted. The jury was beleived to be extrmely biased against Johnny, so it was pretty unfair anyway. -
The After-Trial Party
After the trial, Dayton had a huge party, despite the fact that half of the town was split with different opinions. Everyone got together and celebrated because it was finally done. While there, Johnny and Francis danced. Johnny also told Francis that he was going away. He couldn't stay in Dayton after everything that had happened with the trial.
In real life, William Jennings Bryan died five days after the trial, so there most likely was not a party.
