A Dog Named Drum

    

    By Florida Bill

                
                  Out of the plowed fields and forests of middle America comes the legend of a black and tan hound dog named "Old Drum," and the eulogy and legacy which establishes dogs everywhere as"Man's Best Friend."  
                   So endearing is the story of Drum that a bronze statue in his memory has been erected on the manicured lawn of the Johnson County Courthouse in Warrensburg, Missouri, down the way a bit from Kansas City. 
                   It was way back in 1869 that Drum was shot and killed by an angry farmer who believed that the dog had ambled onto his property and laid claim to one or two of his sheep.  The incident led to controversy and confrontations between farmers and land owners, hunters all, and owners of beloved pets.  But out of it all came the world's most famous eulogy to a dog from which much of the world now subscribes to the belief that the trusting dog is "man's best friend."  It is a colloquialism which shall always signify loyalty and  closeness to humans. 
                             Some historians may tell us that it was King Frederick II of Prussia who first spoke of his best friend the dog, or the canine-loving poet Ogden Nash who first coined the expression. But no, their respect for these four-footed critters truly pales in  comparison to the words of that famous Missouri attorney, George Graham Vest, who put it together in words that have no parallel, before or since, in describing the ineffable beauty and love of these incredible creatures of a great God. 
                    Here's the history. It was just a few years after the end of the civil war that farmer Charles Burden became the envy of his farming friends with a dog named Drum which had no peers when it came to tracking of birds, rabbits, deer and other critters which were game to the local inhabitants. The dog was fearless, strong, and persistent, and seldom failed to get his quarry. Burden had the dog since his puppy days and had named him Drum because his powerful and distinctive bark reminded him of the booming of a drum.  And there were events in which farmers hunted together, and more often than not it was Drum who got the kudos and praise for his great nose and incredible tracking ability.  
                     Burden's brother-in-law Leonidas Hornsby had a farm with sheep a few miles away.  In the quiet of one night,  Hornsby's sheep were killed and blame was laid upon old Drum, and Burden's dog was shot and killed.  Burden promptly sued Hornsby for damages of $50 in compensation for the shooting of Drum, but his brother-in-law denied that he was responsible. Hornsby may well have been absolved of guilt, but Burden won and was awarded damages, and it was believed by all that it was the words of Attorney Vest who told a jury of the uniqueness of the dog.  He said: 
                   "The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his worst 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 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 head.                "
                               '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. 

            "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 the 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 the 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." 
               The statue of Old Drum was erected by the coordinated efforts of the Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce with help from dog lovers far and wide.  The sculptor was Reno Gastadi.  The statue is an endearing tribute to a dog, truly man's best friend. 

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