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Man's Best Friend is their Dog
In 1870, Senator George Vest represented a client whose hunting dog, named Old Drum, had been killed by a sheep farmer. With this homage to the dog, Vest won the hearts of the jury and a $50 verdict for his client, the maximum allowed by law.
"Gentlemen of the jury: ... 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. ... 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. ... [A]nd 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, ... 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."
Senator George Graham Vest, 1870.
A statute of Old Drum stands in front of the Warrensburg, Missouri Courthouse to this day. |
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