A small, collegial group of lawyers, journalists and other aficionados of Clarence Seward Darrow gathered behind Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry on March 13 to pay tribute to the late, legendary “Attorney for the Damned.”

It was the 68th anniversary of Darrow's death on March 13, 1938. His ashes had been scattered from the Jackson Park lagoon bridge that was dedicated by the Chicago Park District in 1957 as the Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge.

The ashes of Darrow's wife Ruby, son Paul and grandniece Joy Darrow also have been strewn from the structure.

Attorney Gary T. Johnson, president of the Chicago History Museum, spoke briefly at the bridge and later lectured to the group on “What Is Truth in History and in Law?” in the museum's Columbian Room.

Johnson's presentation covered the meaning of truth from a historical legal perspective to a modern context in which law and history come together over the truth. His text may be found at www.chicagohistory.org by clicking on From the President and then Archived Articles index.

The preceding ceremony at the bridge was conducted by William J. Campbell Jr. of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary and publicist Herbert M. Kraus, a board member of the Chicago Journalists Association.

An array of speakers told of Darrow's lifelong dedication to civil liberties and the First Amendment, his opposition to the death penalty, and his zealous representation of underdogs in the criminal justice system.

Among them was Anita Weinberg, clin-ical professor at the Loyola University School of Law and daughter of Arthur and Lila Weinberg, authors of three books about Darrow.

Others included Chicago Alderman Leslie A. Hairston, chair of the Illinois Lawyers Political Action Committee; Rob Warden of the Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions, State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, and emeritus pastor Eugene Winkler of United Methodist Church.

The ceremony ended with the traditional tossing of a floral wreath into the chilly waters beneath the Darrow Bridge. The event will be reprised at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 13, 2007.