Shackles of truth (1917)

Law partners, Gerard Hale and Luther Snaith, vie for a vacant Senate seat as well as the governor's daughter Marion. When Tom Shores and his sister Mary appear at the firm with the news that her two-year-old is the illegitimate child of Gerard's late father, Gerard Hale, Sr., Snaith sees the opportunity to win both the Senate seat and Marion. Gerard, feeling an obligation, gives Mary a check for $50,000. Luther has Mary and Tom seized by detectives to force an open admission from Gerard of culpability. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hale and Marion have stopped in to visit and Gerard, fearing the truth will prove fatal to his mother's ailing heart, claims that the baby is his. Mrs. Hale is confined to bed and Snaith blackmails Gerard to withdraw from the race. Mrs. Hale asks Gerard to do his duty and wed Mary. Mary wants to be truthful, but Gerard fears that may prove fatal to his mother. However, when Mrs. Hale dies, Gerard is freed from the shackles of truth.