I once told a friend of mine

that some Missourians

love fighting, feuding

and their dogs...

 

 

 

On the 28th of October, 1869

when the Irishman Charlie Burden stepped out side his home to listen to his dogs

running hot trail in the distance

he knew that the whole pack

was out having fun. 

 

 

He knew each dog by his excited bark

and he could hear his favorite coon dog

a black and tan hound named old Drum.

 

Then he heard a gunshot. 

The shot came from the direction

of his neighbor's property,

Leonidas Hornsby.

 

  

Burden supposed that his neighbor

was hunting with his dogs

or that they had ran tree

and that Hornsby had killed the coon.

 

 

After the gunshot Burden could hear his hounds continue running trail... 

all except old Drum. 

He didn't hear old Drum after that.

 

 

Then Burden remembered

that Hornsby had, had troubles

with wild dogs getting in his sheep

and he had lost over a hundred this way. 

 

 

Burden also remembered how in anger

Hornsby had said he would kill any stray dog that came onto his place...

   

 

Burden was a little concerned

since he had not heard Drum's bark

after the shot but there could be

a number of reasons for this...

 

 

 

 

The next morning when old Drum didn't show up Burden went over to see Hornsby.

 

 

 

"Lon, have you seen anything of my dog Drum around here?"

 

"No."

 

"What dog was it that you shot last night?"

 

"That was Dick Ferguson, my ward. 

He shot a load of shelled corn

at a black looking dog under a cedar tree."

 

 

 

The next day, Burden was out

looking for old Drum

and was being helped by another neighbor...

 

 

It was down in the Big Creek bottoms

that they found old Drum laying dead.

 

 

Burden was angry as hell

and he thought of going over

and shooting Hornsby for being so low

as to shoot and kill his dog. 

 

But he didn't think he could get away with doing this...

 

 

So, unable to let it drop

Burden brought a lawsuit for damages against Hornsby.

 

 

In this first trial

the jury was unable

to come to an agreement

about Hornsby being responsible

for having the dog killed.

 

Now, still angry as hell

Burden pressed for another trial.

 

 

In this second trial, Burden won a verdict...

 

But Hornsby appealed to a higher court

and got the verdict overturned.

 

These three trials over a killed dog begin to gain in notoriety and soon the whole community was taking sides

with some men walking stiff legged

saying what they would do if it was their dog.

 

There was rumor that there was a witness to the shooting of old Drum but the man that was so named had disappeared. 

 

After that an additional rumor spread

that he had been threatened with a horse whipping if he tried to testify.

 

Burden, being stubborn Irish

was determined to have justice

and so he hired the best attorneys

out of Sedalia, Missouri... 

 

A man named George Graham Vest

of Philips and Vest, Attorneys at Law...

 

Hornsby responded by also getting a top notch set of attorneys

Thomas Crittenden of Crittenden and Cockrell, Attorneys at Law. 

 

Tom Crittenden was a well known and respected attorney that later became Governor of the state of Missouri.

 

Upon his desk the famous outlaw

Frank James would lay his guns and surrendered, saying

that he had never surrendered his guns to any man and he had never removed them

for over twenty years.

 

 

By now "the dog trial" as it was called

was in all the newspapers,

was becoming the focus of much concern

in many states around Missouri.

 

Sides in the conflict were being taken

and emotions were getting high. 

 

 

In Missouri you can kill a drunk

or a no-count routy

or even a nuisance

but folks here in Missouri don't like it one damn bit when you go killing a dog.

 

There is a principal involved. 

Dogs are little innocent things, like children.

They don't know when they've done wrong...

 

You don't go killing children

and you don't go killing dogs for being dogs.

 

 

The now famous trial

known as "Burden v. Hornsby"

was set for the 23rd of September, 1870 

in Johnson County, Missouri. 

 

The old courthouse still stands

at 306 North Main

in Warrensburg, Missouri.

 

Back and forth the oratory and arguments flew from first one attorney then the other.

 

Finally, all arguments having been presented to the court it was time for closing statements.

 

 

George Vest in his closing argument to the jury waxed poetic and gave a closing that has gone down in history as one of

the finest eulogies ever given by man

for the loyal and faithful dog...

 

In his closing argument, George Vest

approached the jury and in great eloquence said:

 

 

"Gentlemen of the Jury,

The best friend a man has in this 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 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..."

 

 

 

 

There was not a dry eye in the courtroom...

Grown men hung their head

their shoulders shaking as

they wept bitterly...

 

 

The courtroom was now so angry at Hornsby that Crittenden was reported to have leaned over to his partner Cockrell and said:

"The dead dog has won... 

And further more

we had better get our client out of here

before we are all hung."

 

 

 

It took the jury just two minutes

to reach a verdict in favor of Burden

and awarded him the maximum of $50

for damages done to him and old Drum...

 

After three years of continuing litigation

The Missouri State Supreme Court

would uphold the decision

of the Court at Warrensburg

 

 

"Burden v. Hornsby" has been said to be

one of the most famous and perhaps

the most significant "murder" trials

ever held in the State of Missouri

 

 

George Vest's closing argument

has become a world-wide eulogy

for dog and master alike. 

 

It closed the door on what had been needed

to have been said about man's best friend

for thousands of years. 

 

 

Missourians everywhere listened and rose up in unanimous defense of their dog. 

 

It is said that this was the origin 

of the popularized use of

"Man's best friend"...

 

 

Today, there is a plaque on the wall

of that courthouse in Warrensburg

in honor of old Drum.

 

And on the southeast corner of the courtyard stands a statue of old Drum

a much loved black and tan...