The Caleb Powers Trial

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A man is shot; an innocent man is accused of murder; he is tried three times and finally acquitted. Three distinct times the courtroom scene is shown. The lawyers argue, the jury goes out and returns with a sealed verdict, there being no variation in the dull routine. Twice during the argument the opposing lawyers are shown ostentatiously reaching into their hip pockets for their revolvers during a wrangle. Imagine this in an American court where a man is on trial for his life. The court room looks like a stage setting made of wedding cake decorations, and in the opening scene, so poorly has the scene painter laid out his perspective that an actor stands almost touching a three story painted building that reaches barely to his chin. In addition to these grounds for complaint a death bed scene is shown, in which the patient dies with sickening details of realism.