It is strange how tenaciously popular memory
clings to the bits of eloquence men have uttered, long after their deeds and most of their
recorded thoughts are forgotten, or but indifferently
remembered. However, whenever and as long as the name
of the late Senator George Graham Vest of Missouri is
mentioned it will always be associated with his love
for a dog.
X
Many years ago, in 1869, Senator Vest represented in a lawsuit, a
plaintiff whose dog "Old Drum" had been willfully and wantonly shot
by a neighbor. The defendant virtually admitted the shooting, but
questioned to the jury the $150 value plaintiff attributed to this
mere animal. To give his closing argument, George Vest rose from his
chair, scowling, mute, his eyes burning from under the slash of brow
tangled as a grape vine. Then he stepped sideways, hooked his thumbs
in his vest pockets, his gold watch fob hanging motionless, it was
that heavy. He looked, someone remembered afterwards, taller than
his actual 5 feet 6 inches, and began in a quiet voice to deliver an
extemporaneous oration. It was quite brief, less than 400 words:
"Gentlemen of the jury: the best friend a man has in the 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 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."
The jury deliberated less than two minutes then erupted in joint
pathos and triumph. The record becomes quite sketchy here, but some
in attendance say the plaintiff who had been asking $150, was
awarded $500 by the jury. Little does that matter. The case was
eventually appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, which refused to
hear it.
A statue of "Old Drum" was erected on the Johnson County Courthouse
Square in Warrensbug, Missouri, where the trial occurred. The statue
still stands there today.
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