ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book has taken a good share of my time over twenty years, but without the generous help of many people I could never have completed the work—no matter how much time I had. Among the people whose help I want to acknowledge are Darrow’s granddaughters, Mary Darrow Simonson and Blanche Darrow Chase, and Blanche’s husband, Gordon Chase. When I started this book, they were all alive; in fact, Blanche and Mary were the only people alive who had known Darrow well. They all shared my excitement whenever I found some of Darrow’s letters and they were kind to me from the start—giving me a great deal of their time for questions and giving me permission to publish the letters. Mary and Blanche had many stories and a lot of information about their grandfather—information that I could never have obtained from any other source. I wish very much that I could have completed this book before they passed away. I am also grateful to William Lyon and Judith Besser—the two children of Mary and Blanche’s sister, Jessie Darrow Lyon, who died in 1968—for their permission to publish their great grandfather’s letters.

Many dear friends have given generously of their time to this project and they have encouraged and supported me in various ways over the years. Joe Luttrell has been a continual source of support—sharing with me what he knows about Darrow (which is considerable), testing my ideas, and helping me in so many other ways too numerous to mention. I’m also grateful to Joe and his wife, Sherry Goodman, for providing a place for me to stay during several research trips to San Francisco. Arnold Greenberg has shared my excitement about Darrow’s letters, helped me decipher some of them, and otherwise given generously of his time for this project—and any time spent with Arnold is such a delight. Bryan Garner—the most learned lawyer I know—has given me lots of helpful advice and encouraged my work on this book for nearly twenty years, and I sometimes believe that the book would have been delayed by years without him. Dona Munker has been helpful in many ways, sharing with me her research and ideas about Darrow and some of his friends, including Sara Bard Field. (The book that Dona is writing about Sara Bard Field is much needed and sure to be an exciting account of a neglected figure in women’s history.) Harriet Lansing and Russ Pannier are two friends who encouraged and inspired my work on this book in similar ways, including by providing me with many stimulating conversations and ideas about how literature, history, law, and philosophy might intersect with a study of Darrow’s life.

Whenever I think about all of the varied intellectual subjects that a study of Darrow can entail, I often think about Joel Samaha, the teacher who made me want to become a student—a real student. Joel’s undergraduate classes and graduate seminars on the history of criminal justice and criminal law and procedure at the University of Minnesota were a mind-opening experience for me, as they have been, I’m sure, for countless students before and after me. It was in Joel’s classes that I first learned about fascinating people like Brand Whitlock, Frederick C. Howe, and Sam “Golden Rule” Jones. From nearly the moment I began this project, Joel listened to me talk about Darrow and my discoveries, and he has been a source of encouragement in more ways than he knows. Every student should be so lucky to have a teacher—even just one teacher—like Joel Samaha.

I would also like to acknowledge the kindness of the many librarians, archivists, scholars, friends, and others who have helped me in one significant way or another over the past twenty years, whether it was with my search for letters and or my research on Darrow’s life and the content of his letters. So many people helped in such a wide variety of ways that I could not begin to name all of them. In fact, I never knew the names of most of the librarians and archivists.

But the people I have not forgotten include:

John Ahouse

Paul Avrich

John Q. Barrett

Fred Bauman

Indira Berndtson

Tony Bliss

Peter J. Blodgett

Steve A. Brand

James Bredeson

Martha Briggs

Robert L. Carter

Emmett D. Chisum

Wendy E. Chmielewski

Jan M. Conlin

Timothy Connelly

Helen Corneli

Bernard R. Crystal

Jonathan Dodge

Elizabeth Dubrulle

Gene DeGruson

Alfred H. Edwall Jr.

Kristen A. Earnhardt

John F. Eisberg

Anne Engelhart

James L. Fetterly

Phil Freshman

Dorothy Frye

Mary Gardner

Karolyne Cheng Garner

Janet Goodman

Ann D. Gordon

Kathy Gross Schoen

Marshall Hambro

Michael J. Hannon

Katherine Hedin

George Hendrick

Katie Hensley

Julie Herrada

Martha Hodges

John Hoffman

Joan S. Howland

Kate Hutchens

Karen L. Jania

Drew Kadel

John P. Kaminski

Judith L. Kash

Madeline Kastler

Esther Katz

Thomas C. Kayser

Anne Kintner

Beth E. Luey

Charles Magel

Sylvia Manning

William H. Manning

R. Russell Maylone

Doug McCabe

Laura Micham

Keith Newlin

Grace Palladino

Mary L. Person

Jeannie Pollock

Ben Primer

Paul Pruitt

David M. Rabban

Willis Goth Regier

J. Bridget Reischer

Dorothy Riegel

Damien A. Riehl

Marion Elizabeth Rodgers

Alissa Rosenberg

Herbert K. Russell

Steven J. Ross

Nick Salvatore

Steven A. Schumeister

Dale R. Schwie

Roman M. Silberfeld

Jeffrey L. Sammons

Charles Tamason

Weston T. Thompson

Roberta B. Walburn

Cynthia Wall

Richard Webb

Edward C. Weber

John L. Westphal

Michael Widener

Richard Workman.

I am grateful to Joseph Epstein—whose writing I have long admired—for talking to me early on about this project and for helping me find a publisher. The late J. Anthony Lucas—author of Big Trouble, an excellent book about the trials of “Big Bill” Haywood and other labor people in Idaho in 1907—also encouraged my work in the early years of this project. I wish that I could thank him again for taking an interest and giving me advice. Michael E. Stevens, state historian at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, has been a great help to me over the years, not only in reviewing my manuscript but in giving me advice on the finer points of editing and publishing historical documents.

Three biographers of Darrow—Lila Weinberg (now deceased), Kevin Tierney, and Geoffrey Cowan—and one bibliographer—Willard Hunsberger—were helpful and encouraging in the early stages of my work. My opinions and conclusions about Darrow do not always coincide with theirs (nor with others who have written about Darrow), but I was always aware that the work I was doing was building on the work of other researchers and writers before me. Two biographies of Darrow were published just as I was putting the final touches on the manuscript—one by Andrew E. Kersten (Clarence Darrow: American Iconoclast [Hill & Wang]) and the other by John A. Farrell (Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned [Doubleday]). I benefited from reading both of those books. They are well-written biographies that reflect a great deal of original research and they warrant attention by anyone interested in Darrow’s life. I am especially grateful to John Farrell, who, among other things, brought to my attention a collection of letters and telegrams and other Darrow-related items in the Leo Cherne Papers at Boston University.

I am indebted to three students who helped track down many items relating to Darrow on microfilm and in archives: Madeline Kastler, May Tuyen, and John Zimm. Madeline helped me off and on for several years, and I am especially glad that I had the help of her skillful research. My friend Nathan Kottke helped me in a pinch, when I needed some research at the Library of Congress. I am also indebted to my sister-in-law, Karen Arntzen, who helped me dig through newspaper archives. My niece, Sara Tietjen, also helped me by combing through old newspapers at the Wisconsin Historical Society, and for that I’m grateful.

Barbara Stevens helped me not only in reviewing and proofreading the manuscript but also with organizing all of the materials necessary to bring this book together. I’ve thanked her repeatedly, but I’ve never felt it was enough. Her always cheerful attitude and dedicated, careful manner make the law office a very enjoyable place to work.

Four people who are part of Ruby (Hamerstrom) Darrow’s surviving family gave very generously of their time, and I would like to thank them for their help: Elizabeth Hamerstrom (now deceased); Frances Hamerstrom (now deceased); Carol Johnstone; and Elva Paulson. Elva gave me a great deal of her time and I certainly benefited from her careful transcripts of Darrow’s letters to Ruby, which she and her friend Jeannie Pollock made. Carol kindly sent me copies of all the items in her family collection, including many photographs of Darrow. Both Elva and Carol generously allowed me to use some photographs from their collections in this book.

I would also like to say how glad I am that the Association for Documentary Editing exists. When I started this project, I knew nothing about documentary editing and I wasn’t quite sure where to begin. I don’t recall how I learned about the ADE, but I remember pouring over back issues of the organization’s magazine (Documentary Editing) and reading some of the excellent books and other literature written by leaders of the ADE. I also benefitted from a one-week seminar on documentary editing that the ADE organized for budding documentary editors. Today, I would still not hold myself out as an expert on documentary editing; it has only been an avocation for me, and there are no doubt many flaws or poor choices in this final product. But it was mainly through the ADE that I learned how to go about the task of editing Darrow’s letters.

Lynne Withey, now retired as director of the University of California Press, played a very important role in bringing this book about, beginning many years ago when she was an acquisitions editor at the Press. It was only through her help and counsel and after years of patience (both on Lynne’s part and on the part of the University of California Press in general) that this book has come about. Many other dedicated people at the Press have also been a great help to me in producing this book, including Naomi Schneider, Stacy Eisenstark, Kate Warne, Christopher Lura, and Mari Coates. The sharp eye and sound advice of copy editor Sue Carter made this a much better book than it otherwise would have been. The Press had two people (anonymous to me) review my manuscript. I am very grateful for the time they took to review the manuscript and help me make it better. I hope that they can see their suggestions reflected in this final product.

Many friends and family spent a lot of time reading and commenting on various drafts of my introduction and other parts of this book and talking with me about this project, and I want to acknowledge their help and support:

Catherine Arntzen

Karen Arntzen

David W. Beehler

Patrick J. Bradley

Michael A. Collyard

Martin J. Costello

Brad P. Engdahl

Mark D. Fiddler

Bryan A. Garner

Robert J. Gilbertson

Arnold Greenberg

Thomas B. Hatch

Harriet Lansing

John Leithen

Rebecca Leithen

Seth J. Leventhal

Martin R. Lueck

Joe Luttrell

Christopher W. Madel

Bruce D. Manning

Richard M. Martinez

Munir R. Meghjee

Joel A. Mintzer

Dona Munker

Russell F. Pannier

Denise S. Rahne

Stephen P. Safranski

Joel Samaha

Ronald J. Schutz

Barbara Stevens

Tara D. Sutton

James Tabor

Aileen Tietjen

Eric Tietjen

Glenora Tietjen

Mary Tietjen

Morris Tietjen

Sara Tietjen

Thomas Tietjen

William R. Wilson Jr.

Matthew L. Woods.

But there is no one to whom I owe more of an acknowledgment of help and support than Susan, my wife. She gave the entire manuscript a careful and intelligent reading—more than once; she helped me think about and work through many of the issues that came up in my research and writing; and, she made sure that I found time to work on the book and encouraged me to work on it when I needed encouragement. But this doesn’t begin to describe the many ways in which she has helped and supported me. She and our two children—Ben and Sophie, who make us both smile and laugh every day—make everything possible, and I love them dearly.