Name: The District Attorney
Released: 1915
Cast: Dorothy Bernard, George Soule Spencer, Charles Brandt, A. H. Van Buren, Walter Law

Cast & Crew

Film Details

Release Date

Jul 5, 1915

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Lubin Mfg Co.

Distribution Company

V-L-S-E, Inc.

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the play The District Attorney by Charles Klein, Harrison Grey Fiske (New York, 21 Jan 1895).

Synopsis

Wealthy contractor Matthew Brainerd's plan to forge city treasury vouchers is put into effect when his minions, McGrath and Williams, convince warrant office clerk Frank Pierson, who has not been able to marry Helen Knight because of his low salary, to stand trial for the forgery, in return for $50,000 in signed notes and an agreement that Brainerd will arrange for his release from prison in a few months. After three years in prison, Pierson notifies General Ruggles, the editor of a reform newspaper, of the scheme, and tells Helen the location of the signed notes. Although Brainerd has had his son-in-law John Stratton elected district attorney, he cannot persuade Stratton to call off a grand jury investigation. Brainerd succeeds in destroying the signed notes, but after McGrath is arrested for tampering with court records, Pierson's testimony brings on Brainerd's nervous breakdown and confession. Pierson is released, and after Brainerd's own daughter denies his request for mercy, Brainerd, faced with impending prosecution, nears death from his weakened state.