Whisky on the Run

Whisky on the Run is a companion play to Traders on the Border and is significantly shorter. It is essentially the story of Jock MacKenzie and Tobias Epp, during the years that the war raged on the Niagara Frontier – (the period that was leaped over in Traders). Jock is running the Queens Tavern and providing whisky to both British and American troops, depending on whichever is the dominating force at any particular time. Tobias is a trader from Pennsylvania who continues to supply goods to the communities in the frontier. He is a pacifist who has never held a gun and is concerned mainly with turning a profit. With this in mind he and Jock enter into an understanding for mutual benefit. The British commanders believe him to be a traitor and perhaps Jock as well. Compounding their dilemma is Little Hawk, a young brave who leads a band of renegade warriors and who demands both whisky and rifles, badgering both Jock and Tobias respectively for each.
In this play, Jock and Tobias and Little Hawk are fictional characters. Others are characters of history and called by their real names, whether portrayed or merely referenced. Of notable interest is the character Lorna Seeward who is a fictional characterization of a real local heroine of the time, but with a much-altered demeanor. The dramatic ending answers an unknown that was presented in the first scene of Traders on the Border; and though revisited in the last scene as well, was never resolved.