The December meeting of Historic Madison County was called to order at the Cowboy Coffee Company on December 18 at 6:20 p.m., Gary Lee presiding.  There were 14 members and 1 guest present.

In celebration of the Christmas Season, members brought many delicious snacks and sweets for all to enjoy.  Coffee and Granny Skaggs' Hot Spiced Tea were also served.

It was decided to dispense with the regular business meeting and enjoy our refreshments while Murray Dunn delivered his program.  Murray is a long time member of HMC who lives in Bollinger County and is active in their Historical Society as well.

Murray has done some extensive research on a Missouri Supreme Court case from the 1800's involving "Old Drum" a famous Missouri dog.  

Old Drum strayed into controversy, which led to a court case, Burden v. Hornsby.  Hornsby shot the dog for trespassing.  When Burden and his attorney entered the courtroom to sue Hornsby for the loss of his dog, most everybody thought the shooter should pay.  The lawsuit asked fifty dollars in damages.  Burden received an award ten times that amount.

The attorney's speech produced the most famous line in the history of pet friendships.  The second half of attorney George Graham Vest's argument contains this phrase: "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."

On the grounds of the Johnson County Courthouse, on the Warrensburg town square since 1958 a statue of "Old Drum" stands guard.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned for fellowship and more refreshments.  Please join us January 15 at 6:00 p.m. in the Historic Jail Museum for our next meeting.

M M M

January 1896

What the Old Soldiers Say

The following is what

Hon. B.B. Cahoon's old soldier  friends at home think and say of him.  

The letter is now in the hands of nearly every ex Union soldier in Missouri

Head Quarters of

Major Hiram Gavitt Post No. 174, Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Missouri, Fredericktown, Missouri

Dear Sir and Comrade - We, the officers of Major Hiram Gavitt Post No. 174, G.A.R. Department of Missouri, have, by the members of our post, been unanimously instructed to lay before you these facts:

The Republican county committee of this (Madison) county has unanimously recommended and asked our first commander and our beloved comrade, Benjamin Benson Cahoon, to become the Republican candidate for governor of Missouri, in the political Canvass of 1896 and he has consented to submit his name for nomination.

Comrade Cahoon is 50 years old.  He came to us in 1868, a poor, unknown and inexperienced young lawyer.  He has lived amongst us for the past 28 years.  By remarkable industry, unblemished integrity, and fine judgment and by the exercise of great courage and ability, Comrade Cahoon is now one of the first and foremost men in the twenty-one counties of Southeast Missouri.

As a lawyer, no man ranks higher.  As a worker he exhausts every subject he studies; as a man his word is, if possible, better than his bond.  His life has been a triumph, financially, legally, morally and as a citizen.  No man is more respected in this community than Comrade Cahoon; his heart is meritorious and he is clear headed.  By argument, eloquence and reason on the stump and by the good example of his life for 28 years in Southeast Missouri, no one has in this section (covering as it does one-fourth of the state) done more than Comrade Cahoon to build up the creed of Republicanism.

In all that time he has aided others rather than himself to seek office or promotion; he is favorably known all over the state as one of the best and most successful men; he is not only an orator, but is a worker and has succeeded in all he undertook.  Nevertheless he is very plain, simple and direct.  He is a man of the people.

At the age of 15, he became a private in the Union army and as a member of Company 'D' First Delaware Infantry, Inc., under Hancock, Meade and Grant participated with his regiment in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and other battles of the army of the Potomac and at Gettysburg was wounded in the left hand.  Save his partial deafness which came upon the comrade when discharging his duty as a soldier for his country, he is one of the healthiest men we know, and that partial deafness seems to have aided to his success in life because it has made him study deeper and work harder than any lawyer we have ever known.  It does not incapacitate him for work.  Comrade Cahoon is the best type of a self-made American citizen.  He is also a great friend of the public school system, for in its common schools he acquired all the limited education he began life with; his fine scholarship now is evidence of what an earnest man may achieve by close and continuous study.

He is a man whose life among us proves that he does nothing in a slouchy way.  If there is a gentleman in the state who will discharge the high public trust to which he has been invited to submit his name, just as he would a private obligation or trust, it is comrade Cahoon.  We trust you can and with your friends will indorse and support the candidacy of Comrade Cahoon for governor.

Will you please submit this letter to the members of your post and let them read it?  In F. L. and C., respectfully yours,

R. Albert, Post Commander.

E.H. Day, Adjutant.

M M M

Democrat News 1923

B.B. Cahoon Is Dead; Funeral Yesterday

One of County's Oldest And Most Prominent Citizens, Died Monday At the Advanced Age of 77 Years

B.B. Cahoon, Sr. is dead.  The end came peacefully and suddenly as he lay on his bed early Monday morning.  The body, yet warm, was found shortly after six o'clock.

He had been in failing health for several months, particularly since the tragic death of his granddaughter, Virginia Cahoon, in an automobile wreck in July.  Most of that period he has been confined to his room and bed, though occasionally able to come down town, meet friends and look after business matters.  His facilities remained keenly alert until the end, and the end was as certainly expected by Mr. Cahoon as by anyone else.

The funeral services were conducted yesterday afternoon at 3 o'clock at St. Michael's Church in the presence of three children, the other relatives and a large gathering of friends from this and other countes.  Father Mispagel read a letter from him, written not long before his death in which he asked for burial from the church and expressed the deepest religious convictions.  Rev. Mispagel spoke at length of the noble qualities of the man who had so long lived in this community and who had such a large part in its development.  Following the funeral services the body was buried in Calvary Cemetery.

Benson B. Cahoon was born July 7, 1846 at Smyrna, Kent County, Delaware.  His father was a Methodist minister of deep piety and much ability.  Friends have heard Mr. Cahoon say that he would rather posess the character of his father than to be president of the United States.

His early education was somewhat limited, advantages then being few.  However by July 1865 he had improved himself to the point where he could begin the study of law, for that purpose going into the office of Hon. N.B. Smithers, an eminent attorney of Dover, Delaware.  He remained at study until May 27, 1868 when he was admitted to the bar at Washington D.C. passing a most creditable examination.

His education was interrupted, however, by the outbreak of the Civil War.  As a lad in his teens he identified himself with the First Regiment of Delaware Volunteer Infantry.  He was in the famous Army of the Potomac, following Generals McClellan, Meade, Hooker, Burnside and Grant.  He was wounded twice, once at Antietam and again at Gettysburg.

After the completion of his education in law, he decided to come to the great west where the opportunities looked much more promising than in the east.  Accordingly within a few weeks he found himself at Jefferson City and looking for an opening for the practice of his profession.  Somebody then told him that at Fredericktown was a good opening.  He reached this town in an ox wagon on the 5th day of August, 1868.  He has frequently told friends that his money was barely sufficient to pay his board for a week, but he managed to get along, his practice grew and his influence spread until within a very few months he was ranked as among the outstanding lawyers of the section.

In February, 1869 he was married to Miss Belle Le Compte, a member of one of the oldest French families of Ste. Genevieve.  She has been dead a great many years but Mr. Cahoon has always made a shrine of her memory and attributes to her life and influence all the success he attained and whatever of good there was in his character.

The first year after his arrival here he was named county attorney.  The next year he became circuit attorney, traveling the judicial circuit as the judge does now.  His work was with the late Judge Carter, who Mr. Cahoon always regarded as one of the country's greatest lawyers.  The circuit attorneyship was held two years and the prestige it gave him contributed to a wonderfully profitable practice throughout southeast Missouri.

As a Republican, Mr. Cahoon early began to wield a powerful influence in his party.  In 1870 he was one of the leaders of the liberal movement to enfranchise the Confederates who had been deprived of citizenship immediately following the war.  He was often mentioned for high political office, but did not become a candidate until 1896 when he asked for the nomination for Governor.

The campaign was a warm one and Mr. Cahoon was recognized as a formidable candidate.  In the convention, however, he was defeated by a man named Lewis, who was defeated in the general election by the Democratic candidate, Lon V. Stephens.

Under Governor Hadley, Mr. Cahoon was named as one of the managers of the Farmington Hospital, a work he took much interest in.

As the years passed Mr. Cahoon grew gradually deaf from effects of wartime injuries and gradually relinquished the practice of general law.  He has always maintained his office, however, and done a great deal of collecting and such other work as was not rendered too difficult by his deafness.

Mr. Cahoon, during his long life, collected a large amount of property.  He probably owns twenty pieces of town real estate.  It is estimated that he owns an interest in 20,000 acres of land in the county, much of it, of course, having a small value.  His most valuable property, the home place of forty acres which was laid off and sold as town lots three years ago, reserving only the residence and the grounds immediately adjacent.  

It was at the time of the sale of these lots that Mr. Cahoon presented to the city the Cahoon Memorial Park which is gradually being improved and in time will be one of the city's most cherished spots.

The three children, all living, were here, the two daughters from New York and B.B., Jr. from Cape Girardeau.  A large number of friends from nearby towns were present also.

Doubtless at some near future time a more detailed account of the life and a fuller estimate of the character of this remarkable man will be written.