Capital Punishment (1925)

After a vain attempt to save an innocent man from execution, welfare worker Gordon Harrington arranges with Dan O'Connor for Dan to be framed for a murder that will never occur, telling Dan that, at the appropriate moment, the hoax will be disclosed and capital punishment will thereby be discredited. Harrington arranges for his friend, Harry Phillips, to go on an extended sea voyage on his yacht and then makes it appear that O'Connor has murdered Phillips. O'Connor is convicted and sentenced to death. Phillips returns home unexpectedly from his cruise, and, in an argument, Harrington inadvertently kills him. Mona Caldwell, Harrington's fiancée, persuades him not to report the murder to the police, allowing O'Connor to go to his doom. O'Connor protests his innocence but Harrington disavows all knowledge of a frame-up. O'Connor is about to be executed when Mona has a change of heart and tells the police that Harrington is the man who murdered Phillips.