13-03-2025
Knoxvillian, former UT professor represented defendant in famous Scopes Monkey Trial
The Scopes Trial that occurred 100 years ago was considered one of the more unusual in 20th-century America in attempting to delve into the debate of creationism versus evolution.
Also unusual was a Knoxville man involved in the trial. John Randolph Neal Jr. represented defendant John Scopes, the Rhea County instructor charged with teaching evolution, then a violation of a new state law.
While Neal was not as well-known as fellow defense team member Clarence Darrow or prosecution lead attorney and former presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, he still stood out during that Dayton, Tennessee, trial and in his career. And it was not just for his praised legal skills, but also for his seemingly unkempt appearance and lax grading standards while he was earlier a University of Tennessee law instructor.
Born in Rhea County in 1876 as the son of Confederate Civil War veteran and Third District U.S. Congressman John Neal Sr., he had taught at the UT law school from 1909-23. While popular and respected among his students, his unorthodox mannerisms resulted in a clash with Dean Malcolm McDermott. This included accusations of not always showing up for class and talking more about current events than giving legal lessons.
As a result, he was one of several professors fired throughout campus by the UT Board of Trustees in 1923, despite his support among students. He had also been supportive of a fired psychology professor, Jesse Sprowls, who had taught evolution.
To him, as someone who deeply cherished American freedoms, the situation was more about man than monkeys. 'I don't care whether man descended from a monkey or whether the story of Genesis or evolution was true, to me it was a fight for the freedom of teaching,' he was quoted following his death as having said.
He apparently left UT amicably, but his inner anger over what he perceived as the world's wrongs remained and he would continue to fight them in legal circles.
The former UT undergraduate, who had gone to law school at Vanderbilt University and received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia, would go on to start his own law school named after his father. It was primarily for part-time and night students and thrived until about 1943, when a law was passed saying law schools had to be full-time colleges.
The former state senator – who in later years would often run unsuccessfully for the state's highest offices – was also known to support liberal and progressive causes. That included his strong advocacy for a public Tennessee Valley Authority to help the larger region instead of just private companies building power plants in places like North Alabama. He had also been involved in cases involving civil liberties and workers' rights.
When the Scopes Trial began, he had volunteered to lead the defense. He clashed with attorney Clarence Darrow, who later joined the team, over strategy. Noted reporter and writer H.L. Mencken, who covered the trial, did call Neal a brilliant attorney, however.
The July 1925 trial, which was held in a still-standing courthouse designed by Walter Chamberlin of Knoxville, had resulted in Scopes being found guilty, although the verdict was thrown out on a technicality regarding the fine. The Butler Act preventing the teaching of evolution was repealed in 1967.
Despite all his high-profile work and good mind in conversation throughout his life, Neal was always a study in contrasts. Besides his unusual dress and appearance habits, the lifelong bachelor preferred living in hotels. A check in some old city directories at the McClung Historical Collection in downtown shows him beginning before World War I as living in such places as the Stratford Hotel at 409 Wall and the Vendome at 417 W. Clinch Ave.
He later lived at the Oxford Hotel across Clinch Avenue and at the time of the trial lived at the Atkin Hotel at Gay Street and Depot Avenue. He later lived in the Watauga Hotel at 316 N. Gay St. before moving to the Spring City area beginning in the late 1940s. The Watauga building later had several floors taken down and became the site of Regas' restaurant for years.
His college at the time of the Scopes Trial was at the Union National Bank building at 302½ S. Gay St. before relocating to the Fretz Building, later called the McTownlee Building, at 603 Market St.
The UT law school during his time there was in now-razed Old College on the hill, then South Hall, and later Ayres Hall.
Neal lived in Spring City and attended Spring City Methodist Church for more than 10 years until his death from pneumonia in a Rockwood hospital on Nov. 23, 1959, at the age of 83. He was buried at Ault Cemetery in Roane County, with former law students among his pallbearers
Despite his sometimes-unkempt appearance, he tried during his lifetime to bring order to the legal issues regarding civil liberties for all.
For those wanting more information on Neal, Knoxville historian Jack Neely will be speaking on him and the trial at noon March 24 in Room 132 of the UT College of Law.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxvillian represented defendant in famous Scopes Monkey Trial
