Frisco Jenny (1932)

Frisco Jenny was orphaned by the 1906 earthquake and fire and has become the madame of a prosperous bawdy house. When she puts herself on the line to save a friend's life, she is forced by a Child Welfare court order to arrange a private adoption where he rises to prominence as a district attorney dedicated to closing down such houses. When her underling Dutton proposes telling the DA that Frisco Jenny is his birth mother, she kills him so as not to cause trouble for her son, now the successful DA. But now, she faces execution for the murder.