Sweatnam was an old minstrel performer who Ade worked into the play after finding he had fallen on hard times.

The play closed for the season at Wallack's on June 4, 1904, but returned for 44 more performances in the fall before going on the road.

[12] It was also revived in 1936 for eight performances at the National Theatre, with Charles Coburn playing Hackler, but did not draw large audiences.

Ade later recounted that he took the names of many of play's characters from a list of tax delinquents posted in the courthouse of Vicksburg, Mississippi, a "grand roster of good old Anglo-Saxon names" which fit the "undiluted American 'types' to be found in Antioch", the location of the play.

"[12] The play first adapted to a film of the same name in 1914, with Arbuckle and Sweatnam returning to their original roles.