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It
never ceases to amaze me just how similar, surfing
the Internet is to cruising along Ozark mountain
back roads, you never know where the trail will
lead or what interesting place or story you will
find around the next bend. A few evenings ago, I
turned off the computer and decided to check out
what the cable TV had to offer. Clicking through
the channels, I happened to come across one of
those television magazines that featured a
presentation on incredible amazing unexplained
paranormal mysteries, if you watch cable or
satellite TV you are no doubt familiar with this
type of program. Anyway this particular
presentation featured short snippets of the usual
paranormal fare, ghosts, UFOs, and such but it also
had a short feature on the amazing legend of Jim
The Wonder Dog.
It
seems that in the Mid Missouri city of Marshall,
during the thirties there was a dog with incredible
abilities. The television program I mentioned above
told of some of the canine's "talents," but I
decided to check out the Internet to see if there
were any web sites that could confirm what was
presented in the TV program. Sure enough Google
turned up dozens of web sites that told of the
amazing Jim The Wonder Dog and as usual there were
links to other related sites some of which I will
tell you about after we discuss old Jim.
On
one web site (click
here) I found what
appears to be an article from the Rural Missouri
magazine by Henry N. Ferguson titled "Jim-The
Wonder Dog." In this article Mr. Ferguson tells of
how Jim was born in Louisiana, and sold as a puppy
to Sam Van Arsdale who intended to have Jim trained
as a hunting dog. In his article Mr. Ferguson
relates;
"Jim required
little training. He seemed to know instinctively
where the quail were and how to make a perfect
point. When Jim was three, Van Arsdale moved to
Sedalia where he bought a hotel. One warm fall
day when the two were out in the fields hunting,
Van Arsdale said, "Let's sit in the shade of
that hickory tree and rest." Jim trotted over to
a hickory tree and sat down. Bemused, Van
Arsdale told Jim to show him an oak tree. Jim
did. In quick succession then, at his master's
suggestion, he found a walnut tree, a cedar, an
ordinary stump and even a hazel bush. It was the
first real inkling that Jim was something
special."
Other
web sites tell stories of how Jim could be asked by
Van Arsdale to, for example, find a car with a
certain out of state license plate and Jim would
not only point out the correct car but if he was
asked to pick out a certain number he would pick
out the correct. Plate. Ferguson goes on in his
article to tell of his own first encounter with
Jim;
My introduction to Jim came one
warm summer afternoon in the little west-central
Missouri town of Warsaw, when I was just a lad.
Noticing a crowd gathering around some sort of
commotion on Main Street, I drifted over. The
attention was focused on Sam and Jim. They had
just driven up in Sam's car and an audience had
immediately begun to collect. During the next
hour we were treated to a remarkable and
completely puzzling exhibition of the dog's
extraordinary cleverness. "What would I do," Sam
asked, "if I had the stomach ache?" Jim wagged
his tail, apparently in sympathy, then trotted
over to where Dr. Savage, the town physician,
was standing. He nudged the doctor gently. The
crowd gasped its astonishment, for this was
Jim's first visit to our town, and he had no way
of knowing one person from another - no visible
way, that is.
Another
website (click
here) gives these
reported facts about the amazing Jim The Wonder
Dog;
- Jim was taken before a Greek class and
given several requests in Greek which he
successfully answered.
- Jim picked the winner in the 1936
World Series
- He correctly predicted that Roosevelt
would be re-elected in 1936
- He also correctly picked the winner in
the Kentucky Derby for seven years.
- And most amazingly, he could predict
accurately the sex of an unborn
infant.
On the
website created by AAA
Traveler Magazine in
an article titled It's
doggone unbelievable~~ Memory of Missouri's famous
Jim is preserved in Marshall
park, we find
stories of how skeptics tried to test Jim's
abilities to prove or disprove the stories
surrounding the dog that was quickly gaining fame
during that Great Depression era;
Jim's most systematic testing
came at the University of Missouri-Columbia in
1933 before a large gathering of veterinary
students and doctors and, we're told, for the
newsreel cameras of Paramont Studio. The late
Dr. A.J. Durant, one of UMC's most highly and
widely respected professors, said that after
telling Jim to honor requests, VanArsdale stood,
cigar in mouth, hands in pockets, to show that
he was not directing the dog. Jim correctly
interpreted questions given in several
languages, none of which VanArsdale
knew.
So
check it out for yourself, turn on your computer
and pull up your favorite search engine, type in
the search window the phrase, "Jim The Wonder Dog"
and see what you get in the way of returns on your
search. Perhaps you will find the web site
(click
here) that tells of
how the folks at Marshall created a memorial park
dedicated to Jim or perhaps you will find links to
other websites, like we did, that sparked our
curiosity when we found references to a Senator
from Missouri that is credited with coining the
phrase that implies that dogs are "Mans Best
Friend(s)"
In
a court case that ended up in State Circuit Court
at Warrensburg Missouri George Graham Vest
delivered the following closing argument to a jury
hearing the case of a man who had sued a neighbor
for shooting his Fox Hound;
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 whom 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 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 absolute, unselfish friend that man can have
in this selfish world-the one that never deserts
him, the one that never proves ungrateful or
treacherous-is his dog.
Gentlemen 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 can be near his master's side. He will kiss
the hand that had no food to offer, he will lick
the wounds and sores that come in encounter 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 falls 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.
Due
to Vest's oratory, which reportedly ignored the
evidence at hand and mentioned almost every known
reference to the bond between mankind and dogs, the
jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for $500,
far more than the sum of $150.00 sued for. The
excess was remitted.
VEST,
was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, 6 December 1830.
He began his law practice in central Missouri, and
was elected to the Missouri House of
Representatives 1860. He was elected to the United
States senate, taking his seat on 18 March 1879,
and became prominent by his powers as a debater and
orator.
Now
when you do your search on the Internet for "Mans
Best Friend" not only will you find references to
the Gentleman from Missouri that coined the phrase,
but you will find hundreds of websites that are
dedicated to the memory of dogs that have been the
companions of the authors of these websites. Many
of us have sought to immortalize the canines that
have brought us so much love and friendship, just
as Sam Van Arsdale sought to have Jim the Wonder
Dog who was as much a part of the Arsdale family as
a human, interred in the local cemetery. The
authorities found that the cemetery in Marshall was
for humans only, no dogs allowed, so Arsdale had
Jim buried just outside of the cemetery with a
suitable marble marker. As fate would have it, the
cemetery was forced to expand its boundaries over
the years and Jim The Wonder dog's final resting
place, is now as Arsdale requested, inside the
cemetery at Marshall. A fitting ending to the story
of one of the most phenomenal, of man's best
friend.
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