Old Drum, (sculpture).

Old Drum, (sculpture).

Gastaldi, Reno, sculptor.

Old Drum, (sculpture).

Dedicated Sept. 27, 1958.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: concrete and stone.

Sculpture: approx. 3 ft. 3 in. x 3 ft. 8 in. x 10 in.; Base: approx. 3 ft. 5 in. x 3 ft. x 4 ft. 8 in.

(On dog's proper left hind leg:) Reno Gastaldi (On plaque on front of base, raised letters:) A TRIBUTE TO THE DOG/(BY SENATOR GEORGE GRAHAM VEST)/"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... (text continues) A MAN'S DOG STANDS BY HIM IN PROSPERITY AND IN POVERTY, IN HEALTH AND IN SICKNESS... (text continues) (On side of base, incised letters:) OLD/DRUM/1870 signed

Old Drum, a hunting dog, stands on all fours, with tail lowered and head up. The sculpture is mounted on a trapezoid concrete base with inlaid decorative stone.

Animal -- Portrait -- Old Drum

Outdoor Sculpture -- Missouri -- Warrensburg

Administered by Johnson County Courthouse/Chamber of Commerce, North Holden Street, Warrensburg, Missouri 64093

Located Johnson County Courthouse, North Holden Street, Corner of the courthouse lawn, Warrensburg, Missouri

The subject of the sculpture was one of Missouri's most famous law trials. Old Drum, the favorite hunting dog of Charles Burden, was shot by Burden's neighbor Mr. Hornsby in 1869. Burden took Hornsby to trial. In his closing arguments, Burden's lawyer George Graham Vest gave an oration on the dog as man's best friend, which moved the jury to find in favor of Charles Burden. The text of the oration is engraved on the plaque on the sculpture's base. The Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce decided to honor the memory of Old Drum by creating the sculpture. Funds were raised through voluntary donations.

IAS files contain a copy of Icie Johnson's "The Old Drum Story"; excerpts from Margo McMillan's "Our Missouri," 1993; and an article from Columbia Missouri Weekend Magazine, April 29, 1994.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Missouri survey, 1995.

McMillan, Margo, "Our Missouri," 1993, pg. 7.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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