The Carolina mountain drama by Hatcher Hughes opened on 4 January 1924 at the Klaw Theater, ran for 128 performances, and won the Pulitzer Prize in a controversial decision, as members of the selection committee who had chosen George Kelly's The Show-Off for the award were overruled by Columbia University officials who preferred Hughes's play. Sid Hunt comes home after fighting in the war in France, eager to marry Jude Lowry, which will certainly end the long-ago feud between the Hunts and the Lowrys. However, while Sid was away, the shiftless Rufe Pryor "got that camp-meetin' brand o' religion," which he has tried to foist on everyone and has been having some success with Jude. Rufe plots to have Sid killed, justifying it on religious grounds. A deluge, a dynamited dam, and a flood bring matters to an exciting climax.
See also Folk drama.
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.