A Friend Named Old Drum.

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If you ever travel through the Midwest, you may go through the town of Warrensburg, Missouri. It is 1,400 miles East of San Francisco and 1,250 miles West of Washington D.C. In front of the court house in Warrensburg, there’s a magnificent 12-foot high bronze sculpture. I am going to tell you the story behind the bronze sculpture. It is true.

As the story goes, more than 100 years ago, there were two farmers who lived in an area just south of Warrensburg, Missouri. One farmer, we’ll call him Tom, had a large farm with some sheep that he raised. The other farmer, we’ll call him Jack, had a wonderful, old no pedigree hound dog named Old Drum. Well Farmer Tom kept checking his sheep and noticed that the sheep were being killed and decided that the killer of his sheep was Farmer Jack’s dog, Old Drum. So Farmer Tom took his rifle down from above the fireplace, went and found Old Drum, and shot Old Drum dead. He didn’t bury him there, just left him for the birds.

Farmer Jack, meanwhile, began looking for Old Drum. After scouring the farms, he found Old Drum dead, with a bullet hole in his head. He had a feeling of what might have happened, so he went and visited Farmer Tom. Farmer Tom admitted it, “Yes, I killed your dog. He was killing my sheep.” Farmer Jack replied, “Old Drum never killed your sheep. I inspected Old Drum’s teeth, and if he would have killed your sheep, there would have been hair and fiber inside Old Drum’s teeth. There wasn’t any.” Both farmers knew that animals, dogs, coyotes, and foxes that killed sheep would have hair lodged in their teeth from the killings. But Old Drum had no such hair in his teeth.

Well Farmer Jack was upset, so he hired an attorney, and not just any ordinary attorney, but one of the best attorneys in the state of Missouri. This attorney was a former U.S. State Senator, and Farmer Jack wanted the best to sue Farmer Tom for damages. Now Farmer Tom was no stranger to litigation either, so he hired the former Attorney General of Missouri to defend the lawsuit. Farmer Jack wanted damages, and sued Farmer Tom for $250, a tidy sum of money more than 100 years ago.

Well they had discovery, there were subpoenas, there were appeals, but eventually, the suit came to trial. It was a jury trial, and Farmer Jack’s attorney was making his summation. Here’s what he said:

“Gentlemen of the Jury: The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his 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, friendliness 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.”

At the end of this stirring summation, the jury went out and came back two minutes later. They awarded $500 of damages to Farmer Jack for the loss of Old Drum. The lawsuit, and the attorney’s summation, became famous in the annals of the courts of the Midwest. The dog, Old Drum, became something of a symbol of hope, friendship, love, and life. The bronze sculpture was a tribute to Old Drum. Old Drum later had a road named after him that now meanders from city to city, east of Warrensburg. If you’re ever traveling in the Midwest, you may eventually come across Old Drum Road. And if you ever visit the court house near Warrensburg, Missouri, you’ll see in all its glory a beautiful 12' high bronze sculpture of Old Drum. And now you know the story behind the statute of Old Drum.

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