Verdict of the Planet of the Apes

The Graphical History Tour has one more stop to at the Scopes Monkey Trial today. We've got exciting courtroom drama, a momentous verdict, and an unexpected twist at the end <Law & Order .wav>!

"The Monkey Hasn't a Word to Say" by W.A. Rogers in Washington Post, July 9, 1925

Given that President Coolidge, Congress, and the Supreme Court were all on their summer vacations, little Dayton, Tennessee became the center of the editorial cartooning world when the trial convened on July 10, 1925. Some cartoonists, such as Edmund Duffy, J.P. Alley, and Carey Orr, drew two or three cartoons per week about the trial.

After all, if there were only so many gags to be drawn about monkeys, the conflict between science and the Bible was a great source of inspiration — so too was the creationists' ardent defender William Jennings Bryan.

"The Volunteer Fireman" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 14, 1925

On the other hand, there were a few, for example Grover Page at the Louisville Courier-Journal, who did not produce a single cartoon about the trial during the entire month. I suppose that on this issue, Page might have had strong disagreements with his editors or publisher. Or his wife. 

"Fame" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, July 14, 1925

The Baltimore Sun — hardly a disinterested bystander, its publisher having put up the $500 (almost $9,200 in 2025 bucks) for teacher John T. Scopes's bail — sent their editorial cartoonist, Edmund Duffy, to cover the trial in person.

Courtroom sketches by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, July 16, 1925

In addition to his regular editorial cartoon, Duffy provided his newspaper with occasional sketches of the trial principals, witnesses, and by-standers.

"The Dayton War Cry" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, July 15, 1925

There is a rough, sketchy quality to Duffy's cartoons from Dayton. He didn't stick around to witness the second week of the trial; this next cartoon is more typical of his usual output.

"Let There Be Darkness" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, July 19, 1925

Cartooning for the prosecution, the Memphis Commercial Appeal's J.P. Alley defended his state's anti-evolution law and biblical inerrancy. 

"They Ought to Submit a Few 'Exhibits' to the Supreme Court" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, July 1, 1925

Alley correctly but disapprovingly noted that teacher John Scopes freely admitted having broken the law by teaching Darwin's theory of evolution, and that the defense's intention from the very beginning was to attack the law itself as unconstitutional.

I have noticed that all cartoonists gave John Scopes the title of "Professor," although those who drew him tended to cartoon the 24-year-old teacher diminutive and even childlike.

"4.4 Stuff" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, July 14, 1925

Here Alley twitted the out-of-state journalists and movie men descending upon little Dayton, Tennessee. Was the trial as disappointing as 4.4 ABV (alcohol by volume) beer? Alley may have been alone in that perception.

(4.4 ABV is light beer to you and me, but considerably more potent than the legal Prohibition limit of 0.5 ABV.)

"Darrow's Paradise" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, July 15, 1925

Tell us what you really think of "Dangerous Darrow," Mr. Alley.

"Her Bodyguard" by Carey Orr in Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1925

Bravely staking out the middle ground, Carey Orr (who started his cartooning career in Tennessee) offered a defense here of religious faith, but dismissed anti-evolutionists as being of any particular importance to it. We shall get to Orr's regard for its chief spokesman presently.

"Sweet Punishment" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Register, July 22, 1925

In the last days of the trial, Darrow cross-examined Bryan on the stand — testimony later stricken by Judge Raulston — and Bryan in turn announced the questions he would have posed to Darrow had the judge allowed it.

Pressed by Darrow, Bryan proclaimed that he believed every word of the Bible to be true, although he couldn't answer Darrow's question about where Cain found a wife, how recorded Chinese history could be millennia older than biblical estimates of the planet's creation, or how the snake got around before God condemned it to crawl on its belly ("Do you know whether he walked on his tail or not?").  By the time Darrow brought up the creation of rainbows, both he and Bryan were shouting and pointing fingers in each other's face.

Darrow answered Bryan's questions outside the court. He did not believe in miracles, he said; asked whether he believed in the immortality of the soul, he answered, "I have been searching for proof of this all my life... and I have never found any evidence on the subject." 

Responding to other questions, Darrow said he found "much that is of value in the Bible" but that it was not divinely inspired; and that "the Christ prophesied in the Old Testament was a great Jew who should deliver his people from their physical bondage, and nothing else." 

"The Verdict" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, July 22, 1925

In the end, Scopes was found guilty and fined $100 ($1,837 adjusted for inflation), which came nowhere near covering the cost of the trial. In addition to routine court costs exceeding $300 and hundreds more spent by the prosecution, Scopes's defense lawyers had spent $20,000 to $25,000 bringing expert witnesses to Dayton, some of whom were barred by Judge Raulston of ever offering their testimony.

"Will the Gun Hurt" by Michael E. Brady in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 26, 1925

"When Shall We Three Meet Again" by Ed Gale in Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1925

Emboldened by the Scopes verdict, fundamentalist legislators elsewhere proposed laws similar to Tennessee's. A government clerk, Lauren Wittner, brought suit in Washington D.C. against the teaching of evolutionary theory in the nation's capital on the theory that an appropriations bill passed by Congress forbade the district from using federal funds "to teach disrespect for the Bible." 

"Migrating" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Register, July 25, 1925

The question appeared destined to be argued all the way to the Supreme Court. Darrow, however, gave notice that he would not represent the evolutionists any further.

Which leaves us with William Jennings Bryan.

"A Chip Off the Old Block" by Carey Orr in Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1925

Bryan had been a prominent public figure for thirty years by the time of the Scopes Monkey Trial — a lifetime for some of the cartoonists our Graphical History Tour features today. Carey Orr, age 35 when he drew this cartoon, could therefore be forgiven for thinking that Bryan had been around since the Garden of Eden.

"Our Greatest Actor" by Carey Orr in Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1925

Or if not since Adam and Eve, Orr suggested, how about these other Old Testament figures?

"Any Port in a Storm" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 19, 1925

First elected to Congress in 1890, Bryan was the Democrats' presidential nominee in 1896, 1900, and 1908. He was Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson, resigning in protest of U.S. entry into World War I. An active proponent of Prohibition, he remained at his party's center stage during their years in the political wilderness.

"You May Not Be For Him..." by Billy Ireland in Columbus Dispatch, ca. July 26, 1925

"You may not be for him, but nevertheless, there he is," cartooned Billy Ireland as the Scopes Monkey Trial drew to a close. But suddenly, after thirty years on and off America's front pages, he wasn't.

"The Great Commoner" by Guy R. Spencer in Omaha Evening World Herald, July 28, 1925

Still in the town of Dayton, Bryan died on Saturday, July 26 in the home of Richard Rodgers, his host there during the Scopes trial. Bryan had given a stirring speech to townspeople that day, to great acclaim according to press reports. Telling friends that he had never felt better, he enjoyed a hearty meal and retired to his room for a nap. He succumbed to a cerebral hemorrhage around 4:45 p.m. and was discovered by his chauffeur about 20 minutes later.

"Onward, Christian Soldier..." by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, July 28, 1925

As one would expect, cartoonists who defended Bryan, such as Guy Spencer from his home state and J.P. Alley, responded to his death with heartfelt eulogies. Even some dyed-in-the-wool Republicans heaped praise upon the longtime Democratic leader ....

"The Crusader" by Bill Donahey in Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 28, 1925

"Epitaph for a Crusader" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1925

...even if not necessarily for his politics.

"To the Highest Court of All" by Jesse Cargill for King Features Syndicate, ca. July 28, 1925

I have not included all of the cartoons eulogizing William Jennings Bryan, but I must note that many of the cartoonists who had been lambasting him just days earlier, opted in lieu of drawing something nice to draw nothing at all. Of the cartoonists included above, Nelson Harding appears to have left on vacation as soon as the Scopes trial was over. Edmund Duffy, Ed LeCocq, and Michael Brady devoted their work for rest of July to other topics.

Carey Orr had yielded the editorial cartoonist's space on Chicago Tribune's front page back to John T. McCutcheon, but he still had to produce a cartoon for syndication. So he doffed his hat and took a bite out of it.

"Sorrow in the American Home" by Carey Orr syndicated by Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1925

It has been an extra long Graphical History Tour today, and I thank you for reading this far. Please remain seated until the tour has come to a complete stop, and make sure you have all your personal belongings with you as you disembark.

This Week's Sneak Peek

It's high time to get back to this story line:

In Saturday's Graphical History Tour, I remarked that William Jennings Bryan's and his supporters' opposition to U.S. imperialism was not entirely altruistic.

The Democrats' 1900 campaign platform "condemn[ed] and denounce[ed] McKinley's Philippine policy for having "involved the Republic in an unnecessary war," and bemoaned the loss of U.S. soldiers' lives. All well and good; then the platform explained that Filipinos were unfit to be Americans:

The Filipinos cannot be citizens without endangering our civilization; they cannot be subjects without imperiling our form of government; and as we are not willing to surrender our civilization nor to convert the Republic into an empire, we favor an immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to give the Filipinos, first, a stable form of government; second, independence; and third, protection from outside interference, such as has been given for nearly a century to the republics of Central and South America. ...

We are not opposed to territorial expansion when it takes in desirable territory which can be erected into States in the Union, and whose people are willing and fit to become American citizens. We favor trade expansion by every peaceful and legitimate means. But we are unalterably opposed to seizing or purchasing distant islands to be governed outside the Constitution, and whose people can never become citizens.

True, Filipinos were also unwilling to become U.S. subjects. But there are reasons why Democrats today do not venerate the memory of three-time presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan.

Happy Fifth of Fourth

It's the Fifth of July and most of us still have all ten fingers, so in celebration of this extra long Independence Weekend, the Graphical History Tour sets the dial back five fourths of a century ago to July 4, 1900.

"Independence Day" by C.E. Toles in St. Paul Globe, July 4, 1900

We kick things off with an illustration by a cartoonist Allan Holtz called "the mysterious master." The highly stylized signature is a challenge to read; a researcher at the Library of Congress has concluded that the cartoonist was T.E. Coles, syndicated by the International Syndicate of Baltimore, but I lean toward those who have identified him as Claude Eldridge Toles, 1875-1901.

So, apparently, does Mr. Holtz, and that's plenty good enough for me.

I found this in the St. Paul Globe, where his work was featured regularly. Toles, however, lived his entire, brief life in New York state. (Any relation to the now retired Buffalo News and Washington Post cartoonist?)

"That Recent Trip to Lincoln, Neb." by R.C. Bowman in Minneapolis Tribune, July 4, 1900

My posts featuring historical cartoons began with examples from the Minneapolis Tribune's book of Rowland C. Bowman's editorial cartoons for the year 1900 ― a book left to me by my Aunt Barbara Jensen and since donated to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum because I do not have a climate-controlled room suitable to preserve it. The book included several cartoons mocking Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan, but not this one.

Bryan received the Democratic Party's nomination (for a second time) in Kansas City, Missouri on Independence Day, 1900, having already accepted the presidential nomination of the Populist Party. The Prairie Populist from Nebraska was not a favorite of the Eastern Establishment; but David Hill, a former New York Governor and Senator, had endorsed Bryan in 1896, partly due to his own rivalry with fellow New Yorker President Grover Cleveland. 

"Creating Business for the (Political) Undertaker" by Carter Simons in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 3, 1900

Hill is in the forefront of this Independence Eve Brooklyn Eagle cartoon (the Eagle did not publish on July 4), next to Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker. Hill was in serious contention for the Democrats' vice presidential nomination in 1900, but that went to Adlai Stevenson of Illinois instead.

Bryan had campaigned in 1896 on a platform of free coinage of silver at a ratio of silver to gold of 16 to 1, a position then popular in the rural west but strongly opposed by Cleveland and the "Gold Democrats." The "free silver" issue had lost some of its appeal by 1900, however, thanks in part to the Klondike gold rush.  

"Watching the Pinwheel Spin" by Leon Barritt in New York Tribune, July 4, 1900

In the meantime, the U.S. had taken possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines after winning the Spanish-American War. Bryan's new issue was anti-imperialism. The 19th Century "manifest destiny" of pushing the nation's borders all the way to the Pacific was one thing; becoming a colonial power on the other side of the globe (with new territories moreover populated by dark-skinned Catholics and heathens!) was another thing entirely.

"The Chicago Platform Applied in St. Louis" by John S. Pughe in Puck, New York, July 4, 1900

The major news and satirical magazines of the day, Harper's Weekly, Puck and Judge, were united in their opposition to Mr. Bryan. Pughe depicts Bryan cheering on the strike by St. Louis streetcar workers, begun in May and lasting until September, in which clashes between strikers on one side and scabs and law enforcement on the other resulted in 14 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

"The Hardest Thing He Ever Had to Swallow" by Wm. A. Rogers in Harper's Weekly, New York, July 7, 1900

Democrats accused the McKinley administration of being in the thrall of oil, sugar, copper, steel, and railroad barons — the "trusts" — and Republicans in turn claimed that Tammany Hall, and by extension the Democratic Party, was beholden to the Ice Trust. 

The Ice Trust had nothing to do with Immigrant Capture and Expulsion; rather, this was about American Ice Company's monopoly of the supply of frozen water in New York City. What rival ice suppliers the company, founded in 1899 by Charles W. Morse, couldn't buy out, it drove out of business by smashing their deliveries, or getting Tammany Hall to revoke their dock privileges. 

After one year in business, monopoly achieved, American Ice Company doubled its prices to consumers, who relied on delivered ice for food refrigeration. Public outcry and media pressure forced the company to relent, and also exposed that Croker and other Tammany Hall figures had significant investments in American Ice.

"Trade Follows the Flag" by Eugene "Zim" Zimmerman in Judge, New York, July 7, 1900

Mocking the establishment Democrats falling in line behind Bryan, "Zim" Zimmerman skewers both Bryan's 1896 campaign platform of free silver and his 1900 campaign message against U.S. imperialism. The saying "Trade follows the flag" dates to 1870 or earlier, with the meaning that colonialism expands the colonizer's commercial opportunities.

"The Temptation" by Felix Mahony in Washington Evening Star, July 4, 1900

At last some political cartoons that acknowledge Independence Day! 

"An Old-Fashioned Fourth" by Tubman K. Hedrick in St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 4, 1900

To Bryan's supposed chagrin, Hedrick in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat enthusiastically introduced the Republicans' vice-presidential nominee, New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt, nominated at the Republicans' convention the week before the Democrats'.

Republicans risked ebullient, colorful Roosevelt overshadowing staid, businesslike McKinley at the head of their ticket. (You might draw a more recent comparison with John McCain picking Sarah Palin as his running mate.) For much of U.S. history, the vice presidency was a post from which its occupants were seldom heard from again; it didn't quite work out according to plan this time.

"Kansas City's Favorite Son" by Taylor in Chicago Tribune, July 4, 1900

At this point, you might be asking whether there were any editorial cartoonists not attacking William Jennings Bryan. (Was Taylor caricaturing the Prairie Populist in this cartoon, or complaining about Kansas City's summer weather?)

The great Homer Davenport gained fame lambasting Bryan's Republican opponent, President William McKinley, and his financial backer from Ohio, Mark Hanna, so I went hunting for his work during the Democratic National Convention. I haven't been able to find any of the Hearst or Hearst-supplied newspapers that ran Davenport's cartoons that week, unfortunately.

No caption, by Robert Edgren in San Francisco Herald & Examiner, July 4, 1900

Instead, here's one by another Hearst cartoonist, drawing Mark Hanna in a  dollar-sign suitcoat, copying a Davenport trademark. 

An October 19, 1902 article in the Times-Democrat of New Orleans quoting visiting New York Herald cartoonist J.C. Fireman identified Edgren as a New York Journal cartoonist "in the same class as Davenport. He also adopts the sledgehammer style, and, being the champion hammer thrower of the world, it comes natural to him to 'knock' in his cartoons."

"Willie and His Papa" by Frederick Burr Opper in New York Journal, ca. July 4, 1900

Hearst cartoonist Frederick Opper was more of a jester than hammer thrower, but no less partisan. Instead of the dollar sign suitcoat, Opper here put Hanna in a dress, as wife of McKinley's Papa, "The Trusts." I presume that the water pail President McKinley has to carry in the cartoon is a reference to his campaign slogan of "the full dinner pail."

"A Man After My Own Heart" by May in Times-Democrat, New Orleans, July 4, 1900

I've got one cartoon specifically in support of William Jennings Bryan, and I'm afraid that I haven't been able to positively identify the cartoonist. May (certainly not Ole May, unlikely Thomas May) slapped a photograph into his cartoon of the Man After Uncle Sam's Own Heart rather than attempting to caricature him. But at least he acknowledged the holiday.

"Darned If I Can Have Any Fun on Fourth of July with These Things On" by E.T. Richards in Life, New York, July 5, 1900

Picturing the United States' new identity as a colonial power, E.T. Richards fit Uncle Sam in a crown and ermine robes, accompanied by a distressed Columbia and a mortified American eagle. Given the present regime's goose-stepping into fascist autocracy, I know how they feel.

In the background, I presume that is President McKinley dressed like Napoleon while his companion lights firecrackers tied to the dog Filipino's tail — a cruel and apparently common Independence Day pastime among nasty fin de siècle boys.

"Hurrah for the 4th" by Gustavo Bronstrup in San Francisco Call, July 4, 1900

That's more than enough politics for today, so let's wrap things up with an ode to the holiday by San Francisco's Gustavo Bronstrup. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

America! It was nice while it lasted.

A Breezy Bequest

For this week's Graphical History Tour, let's settle into the gallery at the Scopes "Monkey" Trial in Dayton, Tennessee — starring Clarence Darrow as Spencer Tracy, Fredric March as William Jennings Bryan, and John T. Scopes as OG Darren Stephens.

"Closed Book in Tennessee" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, June 19, 1925

The story thus far: Tennessee State Representative John W. Butler, head of the World Christian Fundamentals Association, pushed eponymous legislation through to Governor Austin Peay signing it into law, banning the teaching of evolutionary science in Tennessee public schools. A Dayton coal  and iron company executive, George Rappleyea, thought it would be good publicity for his town to challenge the Butler Act in court. 

Rappleyea found support from Dayton Superintendent of Schools Walter White (as Bryan Cranston) and attorney Sue K. Hicks (as Johnny Cash), and the three men recruited 24-year-old schoolteacher John Scopes to be the face of the case.

Making a Monkey of Itself" by Billy Ireland in Columbus Dispatch, ca. June 14, 1925

Billy Ireland crammed a lot of text into the bulletins posted in this cartoon; since it may be difficult to read on your device, here is some of it:

During the trial of Professor Scopes of Dayton, accused of teaching the science of evolution in the public schools of Tennessee, electrical loud speakers will be placed in the courthouse windows for the benefit of the vast crowds.

It is proposed that the trial be transferred from the courthouse to a large ampitheater within the race track at the fair grounds.

Dayton resents the efforts of Chattanooga to move the trial to that city — Datyon wants all the ADVERTISING for itself. ...

Bids for hot dog privileges now open. Merry-go-round rights for a reasonable figure. Bids for street fair rights now in order.

"Would They Destroy Each Other" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 6, 1925

The original prosecuting and defense attorneys, District Attorney Tom Stewart and law school professor John Neal respectively, were overshadowed by the celebrities brought in by both sides to argue the case: three-time Democratic presidential nominee and former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan for the State, and criminal defense lawyer Clarence Darrow for Scopes. 

"The Descent of Man" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 5, 1915

Bryan had been outspoken against evolutionary theory as far back as 1909, lecturing, publishing Christian-themed books, and preaching on his nationally syndicated radio program. Intellectuals espousing evolutionary theory, he charged, sought to invalidate "every moral standard that the Bible gives us." Tennessee was one of five states, all in the South, that responded to his call to ban teaching of evolution in public schools.

"Odd Shadows" by Pedro Llanuza in Chicago Herald & Examiner (?) ca. June 26, 1925

Bryan took a lot of ribbing from cartoonists of all stripes.

"All He Can See In It" by Winsor McCay, ca. June 19, 1925

Every Winsor McCay cartoon is a tour de force; here he has drawn in a single cartoon enough monkeys that, given typewriters, they might very well have been able to produce the collected works of Shakespeare.

"I See By the Jungle Press" by Thomas E. Powers for International News Service, before June 19, 1925

The signature is missing from this cartoon, but my money is on it being the work of T.E. Powers. The editors of the newspaper in which I found the cartoon may have omitted a bottom panel of tangentially related material; Powers often provided multiple gags per cartoon.

I've tried looking for the context of "He's not with me," but the phrase is proving too commonplace. It may have been something William Jennings Bryan had said in arguing that he didn't think teachers should be jailed, fined, or fired for teaching evolution; it's not entirely clear what he thought the penalty should be. Or perhaps he was simply forswearing the company of our prehistoric ancestors.

"A Leadership Too Unattractive to Be Dangerous" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 28, 1925

In fairness to Mr. Bryan, I have to include the one June, 1925 cartoon I've come across critical of Clarence Darrow. Tennessean J.P. Alley here depicted a scowling, "agnostic" Darrow disappointed by "youth" not following him and his black banner of "despair" down into the dark abyss of whatever that was the dark abyss of.

Scopes publicly identified himself as agnostic, but I am not aware that Clarence Darrow had publicly done so before the trial.

"Somabodee Geeva Da Monk a Hot Cent" by Homer Stinson in Dayton Daily News, June 28, 1925

Homer Stinson's cartoon must refer to a cruel trick people apparently played on organ grinders' monkeys. While the organ grinder (stereotypically an Italian immigrant, as depicted in the cartoon's caption) played the music, his pet monkey would accept coins from the audience. How giving the monkey a red-hot penny was accomplished I do not know, and I hope for the sake of any organ grinder monkeys employed these days that the process has been lost to history. 

"Getting Reverse English" by Jesse Cargill for King Features Syndicate, ca. June 30, 1925

The grand jury heard arguments in June; the trial date was set for July 10. In the meantime, Americans were free to debate the merits of faith and science among themselves.

"Disbelievers in the Evolution Theory" by Leslie Rogers in Chicago Defender, June 20, 1925

Some cartoonists used the Scopes Trial to comment on other serious issues of the time. Leslie Rogers, cartooning for Chicago's Black newspaper, turned on its head the Biblical literalists' revulsion at the idea of being descended from apes: his monkeys are horrified by the prospect of having American lynch mobs among their relatives.

"No Wonder the Monkeys Are Worried" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. June 27, 1925

White cartoonist Dorman H. Smith overlooked lynch mobs to draw his monkeys worried by a myriad of other human crimes, from animal cruelty to child labor to domestic violence to reckless driving — even, strangely, the length of women's skirts and the volume of balloon pants.

"Has Evolution Succeeded" by Douglas Rodger in San Francisco Bulletin, June 19, 1925

Leaving fashion crimes aside, Douglas Rodger's monkeys were more amused than alarmed by their human descendants. The French tricoleur and cannon must be a reference to France's military coming to Spain's aid in fighting a rebellion in Morocco. (We'll return to that topic on a later date.)

🐵

Sidebar: It has little to do with the Scopes Monkey Trial, but since I brought it up, the connection between lawyer Sue Kerr Hicks and Johnny Cash is no coincidence. 

Hicks was named for his mother, who died in childbirth. Years after the events of today's post, Hicks, by then a Tennessee state circuit court judge, explained how he came by his unusual name at a conference that happened to be attended by song writer Shel Silverstein.

Silverstein took considerable liberties with Sue K. Hicks's life story in writing the song made famous by Johnny Cash. Hicks's father didn't name him as a joke, leave his family, or cut off a chunk of his son's ear in a barroom fight.

Ya gotta admit, though: it was only right and salutary that a boy named Sue should eventually pursue a career in law.