Bill Text: MO HB306 | 2013 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Designates "Old Drum" as the official state historical dog
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-05-15 - Placed on Informal Calendar [HB306 Detail]
Download: Missouri-2013-HB306-Engrossed.html
FIRST REGULAR SESSION
[PERFECTED]
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
0992H.02P D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 10, RSMo, by adding thereto two new sections relating to the designation of the state dogs.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 10, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto two new sections, to be known as sections 10.112 and 10.113, to read as follows:
10.112. 1. The dog known as "Old Drum", whose death became the subject of a 1870 Missouri Supreme Court case and the delivery of a famous speech as the closing argument to the case known as the "Eulogy to Old Drum", is designated as the historical dog of the state of Missouri.
2. The eulogy to Old Drum:
"Gentlemen of the Jury, the best friend a man has in the 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 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.
Gentleman 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 the 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 fall 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.".
10.113. 1. The dog known as “Jim the Wonder Dog” is designated as Missouri’s Wonder Dog.
2. Jim the Wonder Dog, a Llewellyn setter and champion hunting dog, amazingly carried out commands based on identifying words such as tree variety, make, color, and license number of cars, and occupation or description of persons, whether such commands were given in a foreign language, shorthand, or Morse Code. In addition, Jim the Wonder Dog accurately predicted the winner of seven Kentucky Derbies, the World Series, and the gender of unborn babies. Featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Jim the Wonder Dog’s fame spread across the United States. As the only animal buried in the Ridge Park Cemetery in the City of Marhsall, the grave of Jim the Wonder Dog is the most visited grave in the cemetery and is seldom without flowers and coins left on it.
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