The Phantom Witness

• 1916
• Other, Drama

A miserly man, guardian of a girl, soon to be married has had charge of his ward's property so long that he regarded it as his own. The girl's fiancée was the district attorney. She often came to the courtroom. Suddenly she died. Her guardian had been very solicitous regarding her health. But there was the very significant fact that she bought the poison herself. No one had any reason to suspect the apparently heartbroken uncle, and a verdict of suicide was brought in. As the district attorney sat alone in the courtroom the spirit of his sweetheart appeared to him, and told him the true story of her death. Her guardian had played upon her fears by placing rats under the flooring of the house. Nervous and terrified she had readily accepted the old man's suggestion that she go to the drug store and buy a drug to dispose of them, and then he contrived to slip part of the drug into the glass of water. An inquiry was instituted, but all witnesses were positive that the girl had committed suicide until the old guardian was called to the stand. The merciless cross-examination of the district attorney surprised and terrified the guilty man. Facts concerning the girl's death which he thought no one else knew were in the possession of the relentless prosecutor. It seemed to the murderer that the dead girl stood beside him as her sweetheart hurled question after question at him. Finally, terrified and cowering, the guilty wretch was imprisoned.