Old Drum was just a darn good hunting dog. Like many of us who love dogs, the owner of Old Drum placed a value on him far above any monetary figure. Old Drum has become one of the most famous dogs in the world, not because of anything he did, but because of what someone did to him and what someone else said about him – and about all dogs. Old Drum was a black-and-tan hound owned by Charles Burden, a Johnson County resident. Burden’s brother-in-law raised sheep and was losing sheep to dogs or wolves. Leonidas Hornsby told his neighbors he would kill the next dog he caught on his property. One of his neighbors was Burden.

AOWM – September 23