BUNTING AND BEEF.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 162, 11 July 1925, Page 9

BUNTING AND BEEF.

DAYTON GROWS HECTIC. QUEER TRIAL IN IT.S.A. BIOLOGIST TRIED FOR HERESY <B_r Cable.—PreS9 Association. —Copyright.) (Received 2.30 p.m.) r NEW YORK, July 10. The little rural town ot Dayton, in Tennessee,' : is ' taking full' advantage of the notoriety that has been given to it as the result of the trial of John Stopes, a young teacher of biology, who is charged with teaching the Darwinian theory of evolution in violation of a recent statute forbidding instruction in the State of Tennessee in matters contrary to the letter of the Bible on the subject of the Creation. A strange mixture -of the .spirit of the carnival and the spirit of fanaticism has seized the little town, which numbers only about 2000 people. The right to set up circuses and refreshment stalls has been rented by the Town Council, which used the proceeds to: refurnish the court? house, repair ; the clock 'tower, repaint the benches; sweep the Streets, and pay for extra policemen to assist the town's only marshal to direct the heavy traffic which has invaded the place. Gay bunting flies from the stores and residences during .the daytime, while at night there is a great conflagration on the Courthouse lawn, where the town council lias sold the right of a heefroasting concession. . One hundred newspaper men and photographers have invaded the town, so that every event connected with this strange trial will be heralded all over the country. An army of evangelists from all over the country has come to the village, and they are holding prayer meetings innumerable, the halls being open day and night. These people support the prosecution, and a typical outburst was that of a man who said, "I tell you, they are nothing but a bunch of anarchists, atheists, and scoundrels, who arc trying to take our children to hell with them!" Scattered along the roadways are numerous hoarding posters calling on the passerby to "Read the Bible and be saved," while nearby the real estate agonts' posters advise the passersby to "Locate, build and prosper in Dayton!" (A. and N.Z. Cable.)