The Story of Old Drum
The name Old Drum comes from a historic trial that took place in 1870 in the city we are based in, Warrensburg, Missouri. The saying that dogs are “Man’s best friend” was coined during the legendary trial. The trial stemmed from an incident that occurred on October 18, 1869. On that evening, Leonidas Hornsby shot his neighbor and brother-in-law’s dog, Old Drum. See, Leonidas’s sheep had been turning up killed, and Leonidas believed it was dogs that were responsible. He pledged to kill the next dog he found on his property. Well, that unfortunate hound turned out to belong to Charles Burden, and he vowed to get justice for his beloved pet.
After three trials, the case was to finally be resolved at the Court of Common Pleas in Warrensburg on September 23, 1870. Burden’s attorney, George Graham Vest, used the phrase “Man’s Best Friend” in his now-famous speech before the court, which was essentially a eulogy of Old Drum. Vest’s impassioned argument connected with the jury’s love for dogs and Burden was awarded $50 as compensation for the killing of Old Drum.
We choose Old Drum as the name of our firm because it represents the community we service and, perhaps just as importantly, highlights the power of honest marketing (plus we are dog lovers). When George Graham Vest described Old Drum as “Man’s Best Friend,” he connected a truth that people still relate to. Forbes recently reported that 65.1 million American households have a dog as a pet, making it by far the most popular choice in the USA. That phrase embodied our love of dogs and is still the most widely used to describe our nation’s love for dogs more than 150 years after Vest’s first use.
