Kansas City Region
Old Drum: the Warrensburg case behind "a man's best friend"
Warrensburg is where the 1870 Old Drum trial took place. Lawyer George Graham Vest's eulogy for the dog is widely cited as the source of the phrase "a man's best friend," and a statue stands at the Johnson County Courthouse.
Warrensburg is the home of a famous old dog story. In 1869, a hunting hound named Old Drum was shot near here. The dog belonged to Charles Burden, and he sued his neighbor, Leonidas Hornsby. The case went all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court, which sided with Burden in 1872.
The trial is remembered for what one lawyer said. During the final trial in Warrensburg in 1870, George Graham Vest gave a speech praising the bond between dogs and their owners. People often point to it as the source of the saying that a dog is “a man’s best friend.”
You can see a bronze statue of Old Drum on the lawn of the Johnson County Courthouse. It was placed there in 1958, and a plaque carries Vest’s words. For the full, documented story, see the Missouri State Archives Old Drum pages.
References
Where this fits: this note belongs to Johnson County. See every local note for the county on its page.