Four policemen looked on as the Sweets carried furniture into their house on September 8. That night, the Sweets and their friends waited anxiously by the windows, armed and ready to defend the house. The crowd gathering across the street was content to shout threats and taunts. The next morning, however, Ossian received word that the crowd had decided that "they are going to get you out of here tonight." Sweet asked three more friends to spend the night, and by evening the mood of the crowd had turned markedly sour. The small police contingent had doubled in size, but did nothing when the crowd began hurling stones at the house.

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Heavy traffic clogged the street outside Sweet’s house as the men inside watched the growing crowd. Around 8:15 P.M., a taxi carrying Otis Sweet and a friend nudged through the gathering, and when the passengers stepped out they had to rush to the house amidst a torrent of rocks and cries of "Get them! Get them!" The raucous mob closed in on the house. Suddenly, gunfire erupted from inside. Across the street, two men fell with bullet wounds, one of whom–Leon Breiner–later died.

Inspector Norton N. Schuknecht rushed into the house and demanded "What in hell are you fellows shooting about?" Sweet countered that he was just protecting his home, and that there would be no more shooting. Schuknecht departed, not realizing that two white men had been shot. Shortly afterward, however, he returned with several other officers and arrested Sweet and his 10 companions, including his wife, on charges of first-degree murder.

For two days the police kept defense lawyers from conferring with their clients, and the confused defendants told contradictory stories about what had happened. Meanwhile, the police officers claimed that there had been no crowd or violence sufficient to justify the shooting. In light of the inflammatory state of racial feelings in the city, the assistant prosecutor argued against bail for any of the defendants, and all were sent to the Wayne County jail.

The National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP) quickly rallied to Sweet’s defense. Convinced that only a prominent white lawyer could elicit sympathy from white citizens, the group sought the aid of renowned defense attorney Clarence Darrow.

Darrow, 68, had long been a champion of unpopular causes. He had represented radical union leaders, saved a pair of killers from facing the death penalty, and had just recently defended Tennessee school teacher John Scopes, on trial for teaching evolution. Long a protector of individual rights, Darrow came from a family known for its sympathy toward blacks. His ancestors had supported the Underground Railroad, and Darrow often spoke in black churches, contending that "When it comes to human beings, I am color blind; to me people are not simply white or black; they are all freckled."

Darrow, however, was exhausted. The laborious Scopes "Monkey" Trial, in which he had battled head to head with the formidable William Jennings Bryan, had weakened the aging warrior. Jennings, in fact, had died within days of the trial’s end. Darrow was tired of taking on cases "that required hard work and brought me into conflict with the crowd." He was ready to retire.

Darrow knew from the start, however, that his sympathy for the Sweets’ plight would force him to accept the case. After NAACP Assistant Secretary Walter White explained its basic details, Darrow asked if the defendants had actually fired into the crowd. White hesitated, afraid the answer would cause Darrow to decline the case, but finally said yes. Darrow instantly accepted, adding that "If they had not had the courage to shoot back in defense of their own lives, I wouldn’t think they were worth defending."

Darrow arrived in Detroit with his associate, Arthur Garfield Hays, on October 12. His first task was to convince the defendants that their state of mind during the shooting was crucial to their defense. Hays later stated that, because they were heroes to other blacks, "Not all of them cared to admit they had been scared."

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