Prisoners of Conscience (1916)
Walter Stanley, a young minister, is a worker among the slums. Maude Preston is his assistant and Stanley falls in love with her. She meets Dean Carroll, a struggling young physician, who, with his partner Earl Bond, has an office on the outskirts of the slums. A mutual love springs up between them which is followed by a wedding which is performed by Stanley. Bond has met Theda Henderson through an accident to her father, an old millionaire and has married her. Bond lets his profession slide and when his father-in-law is taken seriously ill, he realizes that he is unable to handle the case. Bond calls in his old partner to take care of Mr. Henderson. After days and nights of fighting, Carroll, worn out with fatigue, takes a chance of leaving his patient in the care of Bond and the nurse while he snatches some rest. He mixes two bottles of medicine, one a deadly poison and gives explicit instructions to the nurse. Bond and the nurse carry on a flirtation in the sickroom and when the half-hour arrives to administer one medicine, Bond pours from the wrong bottle. The nurse gives Mr. Henderson the dose, and he dies immediately. Terrified, Bond throws the blame on the nurse, who, seeing Carroll's medicine case, conceives the idea of refilling the poison bottle and throwing the blame on Carroll. Bond does this, while the nurse awakens Carroll. Bond tells him that the dose of poison was too strong, and that when he went to administer the other medicine, he found Henderson dead. On examining the bottle, Carroll finds it apparently untouched, and on finding the bottle in his case half-empty he believes he must have been guilty of giving an overdose. In his weakened condition, Carroll goes to pieces. Bond advises him to go away immediately. Hastily Carroll writes a note to his wife to be delivered by Bond. He puts on Bond's coat and boards a train going west. Bond takes his friend's coat, vest, etc. and leaves them on the bank of a river to start the belief that the physician has committed suicide. The nurse gives the alarm at the right time, and Carroll is accused of the death of the millionaire. Stanley reads the news and hurries to the side of Maude, who is overcome with the shock. A year passes. On the desert, Carroll lives in solitude, tortured by remorse, afraid to return as Bond writes him it will not be safe. Maude has taken up the work of helping the poor and she and Stanley are fast becoming sweethearts. Bond, stung with remorse, has taken to drink and Theda disgusted with him treats him with contempt. A quarrel occurs, during which Bond is shaken into a semblance of manhood and leaves the house, determined to atone somehow for his crime. He goes to Maude and Stanley, pleading to be allowed to help with the sick poor, and they gladly install him in their little hospital office. There he sees the growing love between the two but is unable to help matters without incriminating himself. Bond contracts diphtheria from a sick child and dying writes a confession, giving it to Stanley together with Carroll's address. Stanley has professed his love to Maude, and she has returned it, when the story of the dying man comes. That night, Stanley passes through his Garden of Gethsemane, but his better self triumphs and he resolves to get Carroll and bring him back. He sees Maude, who by her open love for him, makes his sacrifice so hard he leaves her abruptly. Stanley finds Carroll and gives him the confession; the former physician, broken and gray, is overcome by the news that he at last is free. Stanley tells him his wife is waiting for him and Carroll makes eager preparations to go to her at once. Maude, lonely and sad, is suddenly startled by the appearance in the garden of Stanley. With a glad cry, before he can stop her, she flings herself against him, protesting her love. Carroll waiting eagerly to go to her, is a witness of the meeting and realizes that believing him dead, his wife has grown to love the minister. When he makes himself known Maude, startled at his reappearance, runs away. Alone, Maude makes her decision. She returns to the two men, and Carroll leading her to Stanley, joins their hands. The minister and the wife lock fingers and looking into each other's eyes read there the visions of happiness, that might be theirs; then Maude looks at her wedding ring. Stanley has read her decision and stands with bowed head as she goes to Carroll, laying her hands on his shoulders. She has made her sacrifice.
All Releases
Domestic
–
–
International
–
–
Worldwide
–
–
GenresDrama
Short
IMDbPro
See more details at IMDbPro
| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| Melvin Mayo | Director |
| L.V. Jefferson | Writer |
| Siegmund Lubin | Producer |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| Allan Forrest | |
| Cecil Van Auker | |
| Adda Gleason | |
| Lucy Payton |
