The Criminal Path

Summary

A paroled bank-robber named Jim Jepson steps back into sunlight after five subterranean years, determined to solder the rusted hinges of domestic life; within months death razes that fragile renaissance, snatching his wife and thrusting his dutiful daughter Mary into all-night diner drudgery. Despair ferments into seduction when Doc Burns—an old cellmate with a price on his head—slips through the shadows and proposes one last excavation toward fortune. They lease a derelict house whose cellar kisses the vault wall of a provincial bank, carving a clandestine artery of shovel-scrapes and whispered oaths while Mary, ignorant of the burrowing beneath her feet, counts nickels behind a lunch counter. Fate, however, has dispatched detective Bob Darrell, the very man who once caged Jepson and Burns; a chance rescue of Mary from a prowler nicknamed “The Worm” rekindles Darrell’s hunter’s instinct. Surveillance tightens, a tunnel collapses into blazing gunfire, and Mary—framed by proximity—receives a mercifully brief prison sentence while the men are buried under decades of steel bars. Years later, emaciated and branded, Mary teeters on the lip of recidivism until the tremolo of a mission hymn jerks her back from pick-pocketing perdition. Reverend John Horton’s charity clothes her in fresh purpose, yet fresh peril stalks: Horton’s lecherous brother-in-law Richard Blair circles her like a carrion kite, while an escaped Jepson crawls toward his daughter for salvation. A reception-room assault, a candelabrum swung in self-defense, and a corpse later, Mary stands accused of Blair’s murder. Darrell, still hunting, pursues Jepson across a crystalline wilderness, wrestles him from an ice-hole, and extracts a death-bed confession that shatters the frame of false guilt. The gavel of truth finally dismisses the shadow from Mary’s name, allowing a tentative dawn to glimmer beyond the penitentiary gates.

Synopsis

Jim Jepson returns home after serving five years in prison for bank robbery. He manages to live a straight life with his wife and little daughter until misfortune overtakes him. His wife dies, his daughter is forced to work for her living, and at this crisis in his affairs, he meets one of his former pals, Doc Burns, a jailbird, who is wanted in the west for another robbery. Jepson, who has become discouraged, is persuaded by Burns to resume his former life. They rent an old house next to a bank, tunnel through the cellar to the bank, working at night, while Mary, innocent of the life her father leads, continues her work as cashier in an all-night restaurant. Mary, returning home late, is saved from insult by Bob Darrell, a detective, who escorts her home. A man seen loitering in the vicinity, is recognized by Darrell, as "The Worm," a notorious crook. Darrel, who arrested Jepson and Burns twenty years before, follows "The Worm," and seeing him meet Burns, is convinced that there is another plot on foot to rob a bank. Believing Mary to be an accomplice, he causes her discharge so that she will be at home at the time of his raid. Easy access to the house is gained by arresting Mary as she enters the door and Darrell and the detectives descend to the cellar, follow the cracksmen through the tunnel and capture the gang as they are blowing up the bank vaults. Jepson endeavors to exonerate Mary at the trial, but she is given a short sentence while the others receive a long term. Four years elapse. Mary, released from prison, experiences the utmost difficulty in obtaining the bare necessities of life. Sick and starving, she is tempted to snatch a purse, but is saved from the first step in The Criminal Path as the sound of singing in a nearby Mission reaches her ears. She seeks refuge in the Mission, only to faint away. The young minister, Rev. John Horton, sends her to a hospital where he visits her frequently and on her recovery gets her a position with his sister, Mrs. Blair. Morton's interest in Mary ripens into love, while Richard Blair, the husband, attracted by Mary, annoys her with attentions, but she keeps silent to prevent a family scandal and hold her position. Unknown to Mary, Jepson escapes from prison and Darrell believes he can recapture him by watching his daughter. Jepson seeks Mary for help in leaving the country. Darrell obtains an invitation to a reception in the Horton home to watch Mary. Blair, finding Mary alone, insults her. To protect herself she seizes a bronze candelabra from the mantel, but is discovered. Mary, for Horton's sake, makes no accusation. Later a noise is heard in the library and Mary is discovered standing over Blair's dead body, but being unable to give satisfactory explanations, she is arrested for the crime. Meanwhile, Darrell, gathering clues, finds Jepson's trail, and convinced that he killed Blair, pursues him across country through ice and snow. Overtaking him, a terrific struggle ensues. Jepson is the victim of his own wicked design to throw Darrell into the ice hole. Notwithstanding, Darrell rescues him. Dying from exhaustion and learning that his daughter is accused of the crime, Jepson gives the true facts of Blair's death, which convinces Darrell that his conclusions were right and that Mary is innocent. At last, the road to happiness opens to Mary.