'I am Stockton, Reverend Leonard Stockton. Fifty-one years a minister of this gospel. Always looking ahead ... and always behind. That is why I am here tonight. It's in my character to have the last word ... first.' ... and so we are introduced to The Fighting Parson, a character based on the life of Methodist minister J.O.L. Spracklin who epitomized, more than any other figure during Prohibition, the dramatic confrontation between the forces of temperance and the rumrunners. With guns strapped to his belt, Spracklin wailed from the pulpit and roamed the streets, taking on the task of eradicating demon rum with unrestrained enthusiasm.