Page:The World's Most Famous Court Trial - 1925.djvu/299

 SEVENTH DAY'S PROCEEDINGS

Mr. Darrow—All he knows?

The Court—Well, I don't know about that.

The Witness—I won't insist in telling all I know. I will tell more than Mr. Darrow wants told.

Mr. Darrow—Well, all right, tell it, I don't care.

The Witness—Buddism is an agnostic religion.

Q—To what?—what do you mean by agnostic?

A—I don't know.

Q—You don't know what you mean?

A—That is what "agnosticism" is—I don't know. When I was in Ranggoon, Burma, one of the Buddhists told me that they were going to send a delegation to an agnostic congress that was to be held soon at Rome and I read in an official document—

Q—Do you remember his name?

A—No, sir, I don't.

Q—What did he look like, how tall was he?

A—I think he was about as tall as you but not so crooked.

Q—Do you know about how old a man he was—do you know whether he was old enough to know what he was talking about?

A—He seemed to be old enough to know what he was talking about. (Laughter.)

Mr. Darrow—If your honor please, instead of answering plain specific questions we are permitting the witness to regale the crowd with what some black man said to him when he was traveling in Rang—who, India?

The Witness—He was dark-colored, but not black.

The Court—I will let him go ahead and answer.

The Witness—I wanted to say that I then read a paper that he gave me, an official paper of the Buddhist church and it advocated the sending of delegates to that agnostic congress at Rome, arguing that it was an agnostic religion and I will give you another evidence of it. I went to call on a Buddhist teacher.

Mr. Darrow—I object to Mr. Bryan making a speech every time I ask him a question.

Let him finish this answer and then you can go ahead.

The Witness—I went to call on a Buddhist priest and found him at his noon meal, and there was an Englishman there who was also a Buddhist. He went over as ship's carpenter and became a Buddhist and had been for about six years and while I waited for the Buddhist priest I talked to the Englishman and I asked him what was the most important thing in Buddhism and he said the most important thing was you didn't have to believe to be a Buddhist.

Q—You know the name of the Englishman?

A—No, sir, I don't know his name.

Q—What did he look like? What did he look like?

A—He was what I would call an average looking man.

Q—How could you tell he was an Englishman?

A—He told me so.

Q—Do you know whether he was truthful or not?

A—No, sir, but I took his word for it.

The Court—Well, get along, Mr. Darrow, with your examination.

Mr. Darrow—Mr. Bryan ought to get along.

Q—You have heard of the Tower of Babel haven't you?

A—Yes, sir.

Q—That tower was built under the ambition that they could build a tower up to heaven, wasn't it? And God saw what they were at and to prevent their getting into heaven he confused their tongues?

A—Something like that, I wouldn't say to prevent their getting into heaven. I don’t think it is necessary to believe that God was afraid they would get to heaven—