Clarence Darrow
| Clarence Darrow | |
|---|---|
Clarence Seward Darrow ca. 1922
|
|
| Born |
April 18, 1857 Kinsman, Ohio |
| Died | March 13, 1938 (aged 80) Chicago, Illinois |
| Cause of death | Pulmonary heart disease |
| Alma mater |
Allegheny College University of Michigan |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Clarence Seward Darrow (/ˈdæroʊ/; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer, leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and prominent advocate for Georgist economic reform. He defended teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks (1924). Some of his other cases included defending Ossian Sweet, and John T. Scopes in the Scopes "Monkey" Trial (1925), in which he opposed William Jennings Bryan (statesman, orator, and three-time presidential candidate). Called a "sophisticated country lawyer", his wit made him one of the most famous American lawyers and civil libertarians.
Clarence Darrow was born in Warren, Ohio, on April 18, 1857. He was the fifth son of Amirus and Emily (Eddy) Darrow. Both the Darrow and the Eddy families had deep roots in colonial New England, and several of Darrow's ancestors served in the American Revolution. Darrow's father was an ardent abolitionist and a proud iconoclast and religious freethinker. He was known throughout the town as the "village infidel". Emily Darrow was an early supporter of female suffrage and a women's rights advocate. Darrow attended Allegheny College for only one year. Over the summer the Panic of 1873 struck, and Darrow was determined to not be a financial burden to his father any longer. Over the next three years he taught in the winter at the district school in a country community. Clarence attended Allegheny College and the University of Michigan Law School, but did not graduate from either institution. While teaching, Darrow started to study the law on his own, and by the end of his third year of teaching, his family urged him to enter the law department at Ann Arbor. Darrow only studied there a year when he decided that it would be much more cost effective to work and study in an actual law office. When he felt that he was ready, he took the Ohio Bar exam and passed. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1878. The Clarence Darrow Octagon House, which was his childhood home in the small town of Kinsman, Ohio, contains a memorial to him.
...
Wikipedia