"Inside every lawyer is the wreck of a poet."

March 30, 2006 4:06 AM

This is Darrow,
Inadequately scrawled, with his young, old heart,
And his drawl, and his infinite paradox
And his sadness, and kindness,
And his artist sense that drives him to shape his life
To something harmonious, even against the schemes of God. [MI]
posted by amro (7 comments total)

More about the trial of William "Big Bill" Haywood. More on the Leopold and Loeb trial. Marquis James's 1925 New Yorker column and more of HL Mencken's columns on the Scopes trial. More on the Sweet trials.
posted by amro at 4:06 AM on March 30, 2006

This is a great post! I had no idea that Edgar Lee Masters had been Darrow's law partner. (I also think it's funny that Mencken's column is hosted at positiveatheism. It would be hard for me to describe Mencken as positive--smart, witty, cynical and determined, maybe, but not exactly positive.
posted by OmieWise at 5:25 AM on March 30, 2006

Darrow was certainly an excellent attorney. But if you look at his small town county lawyer/defender of the poor cant, you can see that same archetype being played out today by many lawyers (not all of them good). I can't say if Darrow was authentic and whether he is just aped today, or if he was using the same act and would just fit in today. But he is interesting in that he has some pretty awesome cases that he was lucky enough to handle. He was practicing, and practicing at the highest level, at an interesting time.
posted by dios at 6:45 AM on March 30, 2006

Interesting stuff. Forgive me for being ignorant; what does [MI] mean?
posted by sluglicker at 7:10 AM on March 30, 2006

sluglicker: It means "more inside." It indicates that there's more information and/or more links inside the thread, as opposed to the front page.
posted by amro at 7:22 AM on March 30, 2006

whether he is just being aped

Heh.
posted by George_Spiggott at 8:03 AM on March 30, 2006

amro: Thanks. And for the post.
posted by sluglicker at 2:08 PM on March 30, 2006