The Old Devil by Donald McRae

Author:Donald McRae [Donald McRae]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847377722
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

CHAPTER 12

DARKNESS IN DETROIT

ON THE DAY that Bryan died, Mary Field Parton read her morning newspaper through a glistening veil. Yet the tears that glazed her eyes were in celebration of Darrow. It had taken more than thirteen years, a time sparked by the ignominy of bribery and framed by anguish and loss and then reconciliation. His vindication now moved her in a way she had not anticipated.

Mary had followed the Scopes trial avidly during the eleven days it spanned—relying on the New York Times ’s exhaustive coverage. And now that it was over, at least until it was heard again in the Supreme Court, she could hardly believe it had ended in such personal glory. Holding her section of the Times in quivering hands, a movement she tried to conceal as her husband shared breakfast with her at the table where they had entertained a jealous Darrow at a dinner party two and a half months before, Mary felt overwhelming pride. Russell Owen, one of the country’s leading feature writers, had produced a full-page profile headlined “Darrow Likes to Fight for Lost Causes.” The subheading made her smile: “Self-Educated, a constant student, he enjoys taking unpopular sides—‘I Will Defend Any Man.’”

“Clarence Darrow, champion of the minority, has a passion for lost causes. One of the foremost advocates of reason against the might of the majority, an apparently hopeless struggle has an irresistible fascination for him. It was this sympathy with unpopular causes which led him to defend so many labor cases, and it was his instinctive resistance to anything which seems to impair individual freedom that led him to fight against the Tennessee Anti-Evolution Law.

“Darrow is no fire eater. He dominates by sheer intellectual power, and his manner when he is not roused in debate is one of courteous consideration marked by a delightful sense of humor. When he hunches his bony, square shoulders up under his ears and breaks into a smile, any barrier of hostility must melt. A rather awkward figure in baggy trousers upheld by suspenders, without a coat, one shirt sleeve torn half off, and thin hair sticking damply in all directions, he was a person to hold any eye during the Scopes trial.

“The impression of personal carelessness, however, ends with his clothes. His face is gnarled and deeply lined, and sets forward a little on his shoulders. Sunken and piercing eyes shine out from under a bulging brow. His lips protrude a little when he laughs or frowns at an opponent with a look that stabs deep. And his expression can shift in a moment from penetrating scorn to a genial or a quizzical smile.”

As the glowing feature rolled on, Mary remembered how different it had been amid their fall in Los Angeles. Then, she had been frightened by the absence of hope in Darrow. “It’s over, it’s over, it’s over . ,” he had said, as if each repetition shut down another part of his life. His career was over. Their relationship was doomed.

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