Jerry Summers: Scopes Trial – Kelso Rice

Jerry Summers

In July 1925, when the true “Trial of the Century” took place, the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, in Rhea County, had a population of 1,903 residents. This would swell the estimated initial crowd of up to 10,000 concerned citizens and visitors.

For security reasons, Dayton Mayor AP Haggard and Sheriff Robert Harris had asked Tennessee Governor Austin Peay for help, asking him to send National Guard troops for the duration of the trial. When that request was denied, the two officials recruited paid police officers from Chattanooga.

Judge John Raulston later selected one of the officers, Kelso Rice (1896-1986), to be a bailiff to maintain order during the trial. One of the early controversies during the trial was the presence of religious signs such as “Prepare to Meet Your Maker,” “Repent or Be Damned,” etc., and “Read Your Bible.” Over time, a prominent sign was placed in the Rhea County Courthouse while attorneys argued over whether the sign should be taken down. Bailiff Price admonished the noisy crowd in the courtroom to be quiet. He made perhaps the worst choice of words in this famous incident when he told them, “This is not a circus. There are no monkeys up here. This is a court case. Keep order.”

After the jury deliberated for five to nine minutes, John Scopes was found guilty of violating the Butler (Anti-Evolution) Act. In one of the prominent photos, Kelso Rice stood next to the defendant while he awaited his verdict. Judge Raulston sentenced him to an illegal $100 fine instead of letting the jury determine the sentence. This violated a provision of the Tennessee State Constitution that requires that any sentence over $50 must be determined by the jury.

Following the unexpected death of fundamentalist lawyer and litigant William Jennings Bryan in Dayton following the trial, Kelso Rice was chosen to accompany Bryan's glass-topped, flag-draped casket in a special Pullman railroad car to Washington, DC, where he was to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. As a final token of appreciation for Kelso Rice's service, Bryan's widow presented him with an ink pen that her husband had used to sign various treaties during his tenure as U.S. Secretary of State.

Another irony of Kelso Rice's decision to serve as a clerk in the Scopes trial is that Chattanooga and the defense had unsuccessfully attempted to move the case away from Dayton and have it tried at the Memorial Auditorium on McCallie Avenue, thus separating federal jurisdiction from that of the state of Tennessee.

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