The Warrant for his arrest was sworn in front of Justice of the Peace Arthur C. Benson -- except a Sheriff or a deputy was needed for the arrest. When somebody mentioned that Deputy Perry Swafford was nearby, Scopes volunteered to fetch him. When the two arrived the ACLU representative rushed out with the warrant and demanded that Scopes be arrested. On Saturday April 9, Scopes appeared before three Justices of the Peace, the pertinent passages about evolution were read from Hunter's textbook and the defendant was released on 1000 dollar bond.  Thus began the two week long "Great Monkey Trial", the strangest, most whimsical, and most publicized trial of the 20th century.

The trial was taken over by two well known rival celebrities: Williams Jennings Bryan for the prosecution, and Clarence Darrow for the defense. Bryan was an enormously popular man. He was known as a man of the people because he was always standing up for the common man. He had in fact come very close to being elected to the Presidency of the United States three times. He was also well known as a man of God. In constrast Darrow was, at that time often referred to as the "Devil". His prior representation of two cold blooded murderers (Leopold and Loeb), just a year before, had cast hime as defender of the indefensible and provided the appropriate justifications for such a title.

On July 10, 1925 the eight-day long trial opened in sweltering heat. Indeed from the first day Darrow and Attorney General Ben McKenzie of the prosecution discarded their jackets. Darrow with a keen sense for publicity was pictured for posterity wearing his suspenders at the trial.

The court room was packed full. Throughout the trial Bryan fanned himself with a fan provided as a gift by a local funeral home. Despite the heat, the court was packed full.

Press and radio were thoroughly represented. There was a major bustle of activity throughout the trial. Most of the proceedings were punctuated by lively audience participation, which the court was unable (perhaps unwilling) to control. A prospective juror was a Minister. When Darrow asked whether he preached for or against evolution, his reply: "Of course, I preach against it" was received with thunderous applause. Judge Raulston threatened to exclude the public if the applause was repeated. This warning, however, was not heeded or enforced since the record indicates that in the early stages almost anything that Williams Jennings Bryan said was welcomed with applause. All twelve men of the selected jury described themselves as farmers, though four of them gave additional occupations -- U.S. marshall, merchant's shipping clerk, cabinetmaker and carpenter.  One of them was illiterate.

The first great maneuver of the proceeding came when the defense objected to Judge Raulston's custom of opening with a prayer. This was not an uncommon custom for those days. The objection was overruled.

The prosecution was aware that the defense was importing to Dayton a number of distinguished scientists, who were intended to serve as witnesses for the case. The prosecution made a motion that all such expert evidence be excluded. The motion was resisted by the defense which had gone to considerable effort and expense to bring these scientists. Judge Raulston ruled in favor of the prosecution and Darrow's witnesses were unable to testify. The greatest excitement came to the proceedings when the defense called Williams Jennings Bryan as a witness. Bryan was not subpoenaed and didn't need to testify, he did so willingly, which would turn out to be a big mistake.