Question: If a dog is a man’s best friend and diamonds are a girl’s best friend, which is the dumbest sex?
Being of the male persuasion, I lean towards canines and thus appreciate the origin of the exalted title bestowed upon them.
It all started in Warrensburg, Missouri, in 1869, when a dog named Old Drum was shot and killed by a certain Dick Ferguson, a ward of Leonidas Hornsby, a sheep farmer.
Hornsby had lost several sheep to the dogs and let it be known that he would shoot the next dog that came onto his property. That dog was Old Drum, a prized bloodhound well known throughout Johnson County for his keen sense of smell and hunting ability.
Old Drum was owned by Charles Burden, Hornsby’s brother-in-law and neighbor. Burden demanded a reward for the loss of the skillful animal from him. Hornsby refused, claiming that he was justified in protecting the valuable sheep from him.
Burden went to the local Justice of the Peace for redress. He was told that the maximum damages allowed for a dog was $50, about $200 in today’s money. Burden brought suit against Hornsby for that amount in Common Pleas Court.
There was no animosity between the two men, neither before nor after a series of subsequent legal trials. However, the two men persisted in a costly battle to defend their rights.
At trial, the judge ruled in favor of Hornsby. Burden appealed, lost, and appealed again.
Ultimately, the case reached the State Circuit Court in Warrensburg for jury trial on September 23, 1870. Hornsby was represented by two prominent attorneys, well known for their persuasive skills.
Neck. Wells Blodgett and his partner, local lawyers, represented Burden but were pessimistic about his chances against the powerful defense team that had prevailed in the other trials. .
Coincidentally that day, Vest was in court on another legal matter. He had been elected to the Missouri House of Representatives, but moved south to join the Confederacy during the Civil War, also known as the War Between the States. After the war, Vest returned to the law and was recognized as an accomplished orator.
Burden implored Vest to come aboard as special counsel with his other two attorneys.
Vest, a dog owner, agreed. It is said that he promised to “apologize to all the dogs of Missouri” if he did not vindicate Old Drum.
Lodgett spoke first. Later, the two defense attorneys claimed that it was “ridiculous to make such a fuss about a dog of little value.” The jury did not seem impressed with all the arguments, for or against.
Ignoring the plaintiff’s charges and the defense testimony, Vest opened his summation with impromptu comments to the jury. He understood the men who had probably also loved hunting dogs.
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“Gentlemen of the jury, the best friend a man has in the world can turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has raised with loving care may turn out to be ungrateful.
“Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those to whom we entrust our happiness and good name, may become traitors to their faith.
“The money a man has, he can lose it. He flies away from her, perhaps when he needs it most. A man’s reputation can be sacrificed in a moment of reckless action.
“People who are prone to fall to their knees to honor us when success is with us, may be the first to cast the stone of malice when failure casts its cloud over our heads.
“The only friend, absolutely selfless, that man can have in this selfish world, the one who never leaves him, who is never ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.
“A man’s dog is by his side in prosperity and in poverty, in sickness and in health. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the winter winds blow and the snow falls fiercely, provided he can be close to his master.
It will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, it will lick the wounds and sores that come in an encounter with the harshness of the world. Keep the poor master’s dream from him as if he were a prince.
“When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputations crumble, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.
“If fortune throws the master an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks for no greater privilege than to accompany him, protect him from danger, fight his enemies.
“And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in his arms, and his body is laid on the cold ground, no matter if all other friends follow his path, there, by the grave, will be the noble dog”. found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but wide open in alert alertness, faithful and faithful until death.”
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Thomas Crittenden, Hornsby’s lead attorney and later governor of Missouri, recalled the courtroom scene.
“Vest seemed to recall from history all the instances in which dogs had shown intelligence and fidelity to man. She quoted more lines of poetry about dogs than I supposed had ever been written.
“He crowned the monument he had created by quoting from the Bible about the dog that cured the wounds of the beggar Lazarus as he sat at the rich man’s door.
“It was the most perfect piece of oratory that was ever heard from a pulpit or a bar. The court, the jury, the lawyers, and the public were all spellbound. I looked at the jury and saw that they were all crying. The foreman wept as if he had lost his dearest friend.
“I told Hornsby and my partner that we’d better get out of court or they’d hang us.”
The jury returned a unanimous verdict, recommending $550 in damages. When the judge recovered, he reduced the sentence to the legal limit of $50. Hornsby appealed the verdict to the Missouri Supreme Court, but was denied.
It was Vest’s “In Praise of Old Drum” that gave rise to the saying, “A man’s best friend is his dog.” He propelled Vest to United States Senator, the four-legged plaintiff to immortality, and the city of Warrensburg to national sanctuary.