"A Man's Best Friend - The Story of Old Drum" Virtual Cache
"A Man's Best Friend - The Story of Old Drum"
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Ever wonder where the old saying, "A man's best friend is his dog," came from? Well, if you guessed Warrensburg, Missouri, you were right!
Senator George Graham Vest won a court battle and the ears of dog lovers everywhere when he paid his famous tribute to the dog during the 1870 Burden vs. Hornsby court case in Warrensburg. The speech included the line, "The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog."
The "eulogy to the dog" won the case for Charles Burden whose favorite hound, Old Drum, was shot by a neighbor, Leonidas Hornsby, who had sworn to kill the first dog that came onto his land. Although Hornsby had hunted with Drum and acknowledged him to be one of the best hunting dogs he had ever seen, he carried out his threat when one night a dog was found prowling in his yard. That dog was Old Drum.
Burden immediately sued Hornsby for damages and the trial quickly became one of the strangest in the history of this area of the country. Each man was determined to win the case. After several appeals, the case finally reached the Supreme Court of Missouri. Burden was awarded $50 in damages for the loss of his favorite hunting dog. Vest's eulogy to the dog, which he made in his final appeal to the jury, won the case and became a classic speech.
Through the direction of the Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce and coordinated efforts by many dog lovers across the country, Old Drum was immortalized in a stature on the Johnson County Courthouse lawn in Warrensburg on September 23, 1958.
While no record was kept of the last half of Vest's tribute to a dog, the first portion has fortunately been preserved. It was this speech that originated the saying, "A man's best friend is his dog."
On the grounds at the posted coordinates is the statue of Old Drum. Go to the statue and answer the question, "Who is the 1999 President of Main St. Inc?". E-mail me your answer via the link at the top of the listing to complete a "find" on this cache and you'll receive a confirmation note.
Click here for the text of Senator George Graham Vest's testimony.
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(Decrypt)
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