The Man Trap

Summary

A venal city editor and a crooked police inspector forge a labyrinth of deceit, pinning their own sins on ink-stained truth-seeker John Mull; steel-barred purgatory cannot cage the journalist’s fury. Mull slips manacles, stalks neon-slick alleys, and collides with Burton Grange—Bess Miller’s new beau—whose scuffle with the same editor leaves the mogul supine and presumed dead. Grange bolts, is hunted for murder, and in the fog of flight stumbles into the very ghost the city wants doubly buried. Mull, half avenger, half confessor, trades Grange’s surrender for a recorded confession that shatters the frame-up, exonerates both men, and reclaims the woman who once wore his ring.

Synopsis

Framed by police inspector Finch and his managing editor, R. H. Steadman, to cover up their own crooked work, reporter John Mull languishes in prison until he escapes, determined to wreak vengeance. In Mull's absence, his sweetheart, Bess Miller, has been dating Burton Grange with whom she plans to elope. When Grange has an altercation with Steadman, in the scuffle, Steadman is knocked unconscious. Grange flees and is arrested for Steadman's murder but escapes and encounters Mull, now a fugitive from justice. After persuading Grange to give himself up, Mull pays a visit to Finch and forces him to confess to Steadman's murder. With Finch's testimony, Mull is also vindicated of charges and is free to marry Bess.