In 1925, when he volunteered to defend John Scopes' right to teach evolution, Clarence Darrow had already reached the top of his profession. The year before, in a sensational trial in Chicago, he saved the child-killers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb from the death penalty. The Scopes trial would bring him even greater notoriety.
Clarence Darrow grew up in an unconventional household. His father was a carpenter and part-time undertaker in the little town of Kinsman, Ohio. He was also an atheist. "The fact that my father was a heretic always put him on the defensive," Darrow later wrote. "We children thought it was only right and loyal that we should defend his cause."
After practicing law in a small Ohio town, Darrow moved his young family to Chicago. In five short years he was general attorney for the Chicago and Northwestern Railway. He was making lots of money representing the powerful railroad, but he yearned to do something important with his life.
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