The Master Man (1919)

Attorney General Emanuel Blake, who controls the state's political machine, sends McCullough Davenport to steal a document from Governor Wheeler that can ruin Blake and iron magnate George R. Vanter. After Davenport kills the governor, Blake arranges evidence to pin the murder on State Senator Mitchell Murray. When Vanter marries his ward, Janice Ritter, whom both Blake and Murray love, Janice's father, in a crazed state, poisons Vanter. To defeat Murray's labor bill, Blake leaks his "evidence" concerning Murray, but during questioning, Davenport implicates Blake. Blake has himself committed to a sanitarium run by his cohorts, and he leaves when they report his death. While working at the iron mill, Blake learns about the worker's life. When Janice is tried for murdering Vanter, Blake pulls strings to become a juror, and after seeing a vision, he acknowledges his responsibility for Wheeler's murder and proves Janice's innocence. Although Janice wants him to escape with her, Blake says he has to pay his debt to society, and urges her to help working people.