The court case also brought business to the town, which was one reason for the trial. All the hotels were booked by newsmen and people coming into town. In the spirit of the 20's mass media was a big deal in this trial. This was the first trial to be broadcast on radio live. The court house was covered with reporters on their typewriters recording everything for the next day's papers. Also, the nations leading journalist H.L. Mencken was there as well. Mencken came to Dayton as a writer for the Baltimore Sun and the Mercury. .
Upon the start of the trial it was leaning heavily towards the religious side. The twelve man jury included eleven church-goers, mainly middle age farmers and one non-church-goer. The judge of the trial, John T. Raulston, was a very religious man himself and against the wishes of Darrow opened the trial with a prayer. Nothing really happened the first day of the trial. Later Sunday Bryan preformed a sermon at the church and used this to attack the defense and gain more support. Judge Raulston and his family all sat in the front pew. .
Monday was the first business day of the trial. Hundreds of people and reporters crowded in the very hot Rhea county court house to witness the trial along with people listening nationwide by radio. The court room was actually rearranged to make sure the microphone picked up everything. On the first real day of the trial the defenses plan was to acquit Scopes of the charges of teaching evolution but to attempt to obtain a declaration by a higher court, preferably the U.S. Supreme Court, that laws forbidding the teaching of evolution were unconstitutional. Judge Raulston denied the motion of the defense as expected. The opening statement of the trial seemed like a large struggle between good and evil or truth and ignorance. Bryan said if Scopes won the Bible would be useless, Darrow then said if Bryan won the case all the work of Darwin would be all for nothing.
