The following is an excerpt from Missouri: A Guide to the 'Show Me' State,
1941 in the Tour 4 section:
Probably the oldest building in Warrensburg is the Old Courthouse, Main
St. south of W. Gay St., a square, two-story brick structure, built 1838-1842.
The exterior has been been painted yellow, and the interior remodeled, but the
general lines of the building remain unaltered. A bronze plaque at the
entrance states that here, on September 23, 1870, George Graham Vest delivered
his so called "Eulogy to the Dog." The speech, a classic of American
oratory, came as the climax of one of the most interesting trials in Missouri
history.
The case began in 1869. Charles Burden, a hunter, had a black and
tan hound named Old Drum, which was so well trained to trail man or beast that
Burden felt "money could not buy him." "He never lies," Burden would say.
"I can always tell the kind of game he is casing by his bark." Leonidas
Hornsby, brother-in-law and neighbor, having had several sheep killed, notified
his neighbors that he would kill the next dog caught on his property. On
the night of October 28, Old Drum was shot and killed on the Hornsby farm.
Burden filed suite for $100 damage. After two trials he was awarded
judgment for $25, whereupon Hornsby appealed the case and the decision was
reversed. Burden, however, secured another trial, and employed attorneys
Wells H. Blodgett, George G. Vest, and John F. Philips; Hornsby engaged Frances
M. Cockrell and Thomas T. Crittenden.
Vest delivered the closing argument to the jury. Making no reference
to the testimony, he quoted the Biblical story of Lazarus, recited a poem by
Byron, and reviewed historical instances of fidelity of dogs to man. He
next argued that a man's friend, son, daughter, reputation, money--all he holds
dear--can, and often will, forsake him, but that his dog is faithful throughout
life. Even in death, he ended, it is a man's dog that lingers beside the
grave, "watch, faithful, and true." Burden won the case.
In later years the lawyers engaged by Burden and Hornsby achieved
considerable success. Crittenden became governor of Missouri and Blodgett
president of the Wabash Railroad. Vest served 24 years in the United
States Senate, and Philips, who had been made a brigadier general during the
Civil War, became a member of Congress and later United States District Judge
for western Missouri. Cockrell, who had been promoted through the ranks to
brigadier general in the Confederate Army, was elected in 1875 to the United
States Senate, where he served continuously for 30 year.
The building has been restored to the 1870 appearance and is part of the
Johnson County Historical Society museum complex and is available for tours.
The plaque commemorating Senator Vest remains at the entrance to the courthouse.
For more information on the Old Drum trial see the
Old Drum waymark.