This is a repost from one we did last year but its one of our very favorite historical hounds stories so we couldn't resist sharing it again.
A Man's Best Friend is His Dog
Every
dog lover knows the saying but not everyone knows about the legal
battle that surrounds it. September 23rd marks the 142 anniversary of
the Old Drum Court Case. Old Drum was a beloved foxhound owned by
Charles Burden who was shot to death by a neighboring sheep farmer,
Leonidas Hornsby, who was also Burden's brother in law. Burden was
furious over his dog's death and immediately sued Burden. The case
dragged through the Missouri courts with the men on both sides appealing
decisions until it finally reached the State Supreme Court.
In the Supreme Court Trial Burden was represented by George Graham Vest,
a lawyer and politician who had served on the Confederate Senate during
the civil war and supported the secession of Missouri from the Union.
Vest was a gifted orator and his closing arguments in the trial, known
as "Eulogy on The Dog" won the case for Burden and have gone down as one
of the most memorable speeches in US courtroom History:
Gentlemen
of the jury: The best friend a man has in this world may turn against
him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with
loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to
us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become
traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It
flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man’s
reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The
people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success
is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure
settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend
that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts
him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.
Gentlemen
of the jury: A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in
health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the
wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near
his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he
will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the
roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if
he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches
take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his
love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.
If
fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and
homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of
accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies,
and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its
embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all
other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble
dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert
watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.
A
statue of Old Drum inscribed with Vest's speech was erected in 1958 and
stands outside the court house in Warrensburg, Missouri
Another monument was built in 1947 in Blue Springs, Missouri in the location that Drum's body was found after being shot.
Both monuments are frequently mentioned in guides to America's road side attractions.
