Story of lost N.B. hunter, who prompted massive search in 1927, told on Miramichi stage

A Miramichi playwright is bringing to the stage the tragic story of Leslie Allan, a hunter who went missing in the woods near Blackville in 1927, sparking a search party of hundreds of people. 

Within the Dreary Round is the name of the play, with performances set for this weekend.

Wade Hallihan said he has a personal connection to the search for Allan — his great-grandfather and his great-great-uncle were among those who went looking for the missing man. 

"My dad always spoke of it, just because of his grandfather … and his great-uncle being part of the search party. And the headquarters that was set up locally was actually on my ancestors' estate," said Hallihan.

"So when he was a young boy, every time he went into the woods … his grandfather was always lamenting, like, 'you know, be careful, don't let this become another Leslie Allan story.'"

Leslie Allan had moved to Moncton from Ontario, hired by the Eaton Company to manage its local store, said Hallihan. 

In the fall of 1927, while on a hunting trip in the Blackville area with three of his co-workers, Allan got lost. 

The locals spent a day looking for him, said Hallihan, and the RCMP got involved — with some 300 people joining the search — but after two weeks, the search was shut down. 

Allan's body was discovered in the spring of 1928, Hallihan said.

Within the Dreary Round, from Character Matters Miramichi, is based on a poem about Allan written by Michael Whelan, also known as the Renous River poet. 

Hallihan also found information about the search for Allan in the archives, which helped to round out the story. 

The idea for the play came about six or seven years ago, during a drive to Boston with Shawn McCarthy, a member of the Character Matters troupe. Hallihan took a stab at writing the script, but it never got finished.

More recently, Thomas Daley, also of Character Matters, went to Hallihan's barber shop to get his hair cut and started asking about the script he'd heard about from McCarthy. 

From there, Hallihan said McCarthy suggested revisiting the idea for the play — and the rest is history. 

Daley was given the role of portraying Allan, which hasn't been easy.

"It's a heavy story. It's a tragedy," said Daley.

"There's three monologues where it's just me alone on stage, and it's Leslie very much with his thoughts as he's lost in the woods.

"And of course, he was a real man too. He's not a character that, you know, Wade or myself or whoever just created from thin air. So you want to do justice to this man who was a real person."

Within the Dreary Round is set for Saturday, at 7:00 p.m., at the St. James and St. John United Church Hall in Miramichi, and on Sunday, at 2:00 p.m., at the Miramichi Folklore Park.