A Fugitive from Justice (1914)

There was a mystery about Jim Crogan. Nobody knew who he was or where he had come from. As a matter of fact, nobody cared. In the broad, free land of Alaska, men are taken for what they are or what they will be, rather than for what they have been. Useless questioning of antecedents is severely frowned upon, and a few ounces of lead occasionally had to be the reward of the overcurious. When the new schoolteacher arrived at the little mining settlement, she seemed to take an unusual amount of interest in Crogan. They went snowshoeing and hunting together. She seemed to admire Crogan immensely and there was no contradicting the fact that he was madly in love with her. On Christmas Eve, the school teacher gave a party in her cabin. Jim Crogan was the last to leave. A card case dropped from his coat at the door. The schoolteacher picked it up, and examined a photograph it contained. Then she gave a sigh of satisfaction, and hid the case. When Crogan returned in some agitation and asked if she had seen it, she replied with a flat negative. The next morning the school teacher called on the deputy marshal, and introduced herself as Mary Burke, of the U.S. Secret Service. She informed the marshal that Crogan was actually James Thurston, a defaulter, and asked him to send men to capture Crogan, to her home at eight that night. That evening Crogan called and told the girl he loved her. Then he confessed what she already knew, that his name was actually Thurston, and that he was wanted for the theft of government funds. He had not stolen the money at all, but had assumed the blame to shield his brother, who had married the woman Jim had loved. She listened to the story, and believed it. In a spasm of remorse, she told the man what she had done, and urged him to escape. When Crogan threw open the door, the deputy marshal and his men were waiting outside. Crogan, without a word, held out his hands for the handcuffs, but the deputy marshal laughed and handed him a newspaper. In it the dazed man read that his brother was dead, and that he had made a full confession on his deathbed.

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Summary Details
Running Time11 min
GenresDrama Short
FilmmakersRole
Preston Kendall Director
Bliss Milford Writer
CastRole
Richard Neill
Bliss Milford
Harry Linson
Nellie Grant