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Animal Rescue

Man's Best Friend --- The Story of "Old Drum":  
                                

Part of a closing argument from a series of dog-shooting trials, the following speech by George Graham Vest won the case and is considered the origin of the phrase "man's best friend".  Now known as the "eulogy to the dog", the speech has been recognized by William Safire as one of the best of the millennium.  

The subject of the trial, "Old Drum", was immortalized with the above statue. It was  dedicated on the old Johnson County Courthouse lawn in Warrensburg, MO, on September 23, 1958 as a result of a coordinated effort of the Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce and many dog lovers across the country. As you will see if you read the story of the trials, below, this dog was already famous in the area because this statue was not the first that was erected to one man's "best friend".

Grab a tissue before continuing:

     "The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son and daughter that he had reared with loving care may become 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 when he may need it most. Man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees and 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 head. The only absolutely unselfish friend a man may have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog."

     "A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and poverty, in health and sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, when the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he can 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 a pauper as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert...he remains."

     "When riches take wings and reputations fall 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 into the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his 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 grave side will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws and his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death."

The Story of the Trials:

A series of Missouri trials took place in 1869-70 when Charles Burden sued his neighbor & brother-in-law, Leonidas Hornsby, after  Burden's favorite hound, "Old Drum" was found shot to death.  Hornsby had previously sworn to shoot the first sheep-killing dog that came onto his land. Although he had hunted with Drum, and acknowledged him to be one of the best hunting dogs he had ever seen, he also suspected that Drum was the dog that had been killing his sheep. Hornsby's threat was carried out  one night by Samuel "Dick" Ferguson, the nephew and ward of Hornsby, when a dog was found prowling in Hornsby's yard. That dog was "Old Drum".

Burden immediately sued Hornsby for damages, and the subsequent trials quickly became one of the strangest events in the area's history. Each man was determined to win the case and each hired numerous noted attorneys.  Several trials in magistrate court and the district court ensued and each was punctuated by an appeal by the loser in each trial.  

The "eulogy to the dog", quoted above, by attorney (later US Senator) George Graham Vest, was the first part of his summation from the last of the jury trials and won the case for Charles Burden.  It is said that by the time attorney Vest finished the above summation, the entire courtroom (judges, jury, audience and opposing party) was in tears.  It took the jury only 2 minutes for them to uphold a previous award of $50 in damages to Burden for the loss of his favorite hunting dog---a significant amount of money at a time when animals had no rights.  

Eventually, the case was appealed to the Supreme Court of Missouri.  Charles Burden prevailed and the lower courts decision awarding damages was upheld.  Burden used a portion of the damages he received to erect a monument to "Old Drum", long before the one shown at the top of this page was installed...a testament to his own "best friend" and hunting buddy.

In a strange footnote to the story, Dick Ferguson, the shooter of "Old Drum", was, himself, a shooting victim after he later moved to Oklahoma.

Please check out these videos.  But, a few words of caution are in order:  If you are a true animal lover, these will tear at your heart-strings.     

Greyhound Rescue         Pitbull Hero Dogs         I'm Sorry - Stop Dog Racism

We hope you were moved by the above story, and that the following poem also touches you.  Please consider committing yourself, as we have, to the rescue of cast off dogs.  Lots of our beloved Irish Setters need your help, but there are dogs of many breeds, and other animals, that are also in need of rescue.  Won't you join us in this valiant effort?  A number of "rescue" links can be found below for those interested in trying to help "man's best friend".

Other breeds of dogs (& other animals) in need of our attention:

There are many animals in need of help and rescue.  This need extends beyond Setters; beyond dogs and cats.

In terms of common house pets, there are dogs of all breeds, and mixed breeds, plus cats and other animals, that are in public and private animal shelters...that may only have a limited time to live before they are killed. The lack of space and inadequate funds prevents most animal shelters from retaining unadopted animals indefinitely...even when the animals are in perfect health. Did you know that, while a stray must be kept for a period of time, so that it's owner may recover it, this protection does not extend to an animal that is voluntarily surrendered to a shelter? It could die the day it is brought in!  Because funds are scarce, true "No-Kill" shelters are rare.  Won't you consider supporting the se shelters, or maybe even start one?

Several breeds of dogs, in particular, are deserving of the attention of all animal lovers:  These include Greyhounds, the various breeds of "sled dogs" and the breeds that are the targets of BSL, "Breed Specific Legislation". The latter breeds include the large number of breeds called or mistaken for Pitbulls, as well as Dobermans, Rottweilers and other breeds that have gotten an unwarrented reputation of viciousness. 

Those people who own and love these dogs know that violent or aggressive individuals are that way, almost 100% of the time, as a result of how they were raised...only rarely from anything that should be attributed to genetics.  Consider that most "pit fighting" dogs are made to fight by being abused and starved. And, even then, the dogs don't attack the owners which usually stay in the pit during the fight.  Sadly, if they refuse to fight after being subjected to this abuse...they are abused even more...beaten, starved, abandoned, hung, electrocuted or used as bait dogs for other fighters!

Unfortunately, the few incidents of violence that have involved Pitbulls or these other breeds, have resulted in calls for BSL, which is completely misguided.  Law enforcement should be directed against human mistreatment of animals, not vice versa.  Again, inappropriate aggressiveness, in almost every instance, is a case of "Nurture, not Nature".  It won't come as a surprise, to those people who own and love Pitbulls, that tests have shown that the breed is not the most aggressive breed.  In fact, the breed tested less as aggressive than Cocker Spaniels!

Olen Soifer, DancinSetters' Webmaster        

Rescue Links

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The Legend of Rainbow Bridge