Various apocryphal stories circulate in fundamentalist and creationist circles. One of the most pervasive is the claim that a woman called Lady Hope witnessed a deathbed recantation by Charles Darwin. This is committed to print in a tract called Darwin "The Believer" by Oswald J. Smith, published by the Free Tract Society, 6012 York Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90042. The tale is so clearly fictional that some creationists have taken the time to debunk it themselves in order to spare their movement further embarrassment. For example, see "Darwin's Last Hours" in the December 1975 issue of Creation Research Society Quarterly and "Darwin's Last Hours Revisited" in the June 1984 issue. Both articles are by Wilbert H. Rusch, Sr., and effectively answer this oft told legend and its defenders.
However, another apocryphal story that Dr. Rusch doesn't seem to have addressed is growing in popularity. This is the tale of Clarence Darrow's apparent advocacy of the "two model" approach to teaching "origins." Because of its growing use, we decided it would not be prudent to wait for creationist self-correction. So, Tom McIver traced the legend to its probable roots and presents his conclusions in the lead article. If you have additional information, Creation/Evolution would be delighted to hear from you. Also, if you know of other interesting creationist folklore that warrants investigation, please tell us about that, too.