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A wife has a drunken husband who was found dead with a revolver in his hand. The detective believes the apparent suicide theory is wrong. All of this happens before the curtain rises. The detective visits the widow, questioning her until she confesses to the murder. She reveals that her husband had returned home intoxicated. He playfully threw their child in the air, and did not catch him. This resulted in the child being mortally wounded, dying two days later. In her grief, she shot her husband. The detective puts on his hat and coat, departing without arresting her, saying "I'll be a man first and a detective afterward." There is a third character, an Irish servant girl who is loyally devoted to her mistress.
Evelyn Hope and Co. have a very good sketch with a highly improbable —thoroughly inconsistent — but nevertheless necessary — ending. The act is a sort of double-edged sword that spoils all acts before it. There is no finish that could be more satisfactory. The servant girl was the best of the three performances; the detective and childless widow could readily be improved upon. The woman lacks sympathy and the man weight.
Source:
Variety 24:7 (10/21/1911)