There are a great many things I am thankful for in this life. On the material side of things, one of those is the miracle of air conditioning. I will never long to go back in time to live in an era that required excessively restrictive, heavy clothing, no matter the season, and not a thing in sight to cool you off. No thank you.
It seems we can’t ever just ease into the next season, or have weather that’s just normal. We’ve been drenched for weeks. It would have been nice to just have the rain stop for about five days. This turning the temperature up to hell is just unnecessary.
A century ago, we were dealing with the opposite problem. The first week of summer brought desperately needed rain and more moderate temperatures. Crops were on the verge of being lost and livestock pastures were close to burnt up. I’ve always said I’ll take too many rainy days over too many dry and hot ones.
Though air conditioning had been invented, it was not yet a common addition to most homes, being entirely cost prohibitive for most folks. A trip to the Whittle Springs swimming pool or Lake Ottosee in Chilhowee Park were a couple of options to keep cool on a hot day, or perhaps a trip up to Elkmont in the Smoky Mountains, if you were lucky enough to know someone with a cabin.
The story dominating local headlines that summer originated 80 miles southwest from Knoxville in Rhea County. June was the lead up to the Scopes Monkey Trial in the county seat of Dayton. The trial, in actuality, turned out to be a publicity stunt concocted by town leaders in the midst of the debate of the teaching the theory of evolution. Tennessee had just passed the Butler Act, which forbade it, while at the same time requiring the use of a specific science text book that included it. The Who’s Who of Dayton were betting on media attention to boost the city’s profile and economy.
It certainly worked for the duration of the trial, which drew press from across the country and was broadcast over the radio. There was also a lot of travel back and forth between Dayton and Knoxville for participants, observers and reporters. Teacher John Scopes’ defense team was led by former UT law professor John Randolph Neal Jr., who had opened a law school in his home county of Rhea. He invited his co-counsels Clarence Darrow and Bainbridge Colby, to take some time during pre-trial meetings here, to address the locals with their thoughts on legislators and what they were legislating.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find a photograph from this event, but on June 23, 1925, Darrow and Colby addressed a burgeoning crowd in the auditorium at Knoxville High School, a crowd that reportedly enthusiastically supported what Darrow had to say. Scopes was in attendance, but stayed hidden away up in the gallery. As the trial was yet to begin, the topic of evolution was avoided.
But one thing Darrow said brought resounding applause:
Sometime we may have a crusade in this country to let people alone.
Indeed.
Beth Kinnane writes a history feature for KnoxTNToday.com. It’s published each Tuesday and is one of our best-read features.
Sources: The Knoxville Journal digital archives, Tennessee Encyclopedia, Library of Congress
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Much of the trial was conducted outside, on account of the heat–Clarence Darrow lost the case, his only case ever in Tennessee, but there is a statute of him (and his opponent, William Jennings Bryant,) in front of the old courthouse, its worth a trip to see.