Exclusive Rights (1926)

Candidate for governor, Stanley Wharton is the avowed enemy of Al Morris, boss of crooks and politicians constituting an invisible government, and when elected to office he allows the death sentence of Bickel, a gang member, for murder, to stand. In cooperation with Catherine Courtwright, Wharton's fiancee, Morris wants a new bill to terminate capital punishment, then frames Mack Miller, Wharton's war buddy, with the murder of Bat Hoover at the Elite Club, a gang rendezvous. Torn between friendship and duty, Governor Wharton refuses to sign the bill though Catherine breaks the engagement. Sadie, secretly Mack's wife, obtains a confession from Flash Fleming, but Fleming is killed before he signs it. Wharton tricks Morris into believing that Mack has been executed, thereby forcing the hand of the corrupt ringleader and obtaining a statement from Bickel.