The Flaw in the Alibi (1914)

• 84%
• 1914
• Drama
• J.P. McGowan
• George A. Williams
• Helen Holmes
• William Brunton

Blair, bank cashier, conceives a hatred towards Walter, his assistant. The cashier is heavily in debt. Later, he discovers that Walter and Ruth, his employer's daughter, are in love. Blair, who also loves Ruth, plans to get his rival out of the way. Knowing there will be a large sum of money in Mr. Fielding's private safe the next night, Blair decides to burglarize it and throw suspicion upon Walter. He writes an anonymous letter to the boy, requesting him to be at a certain spot at ten o'clock the following night. Walter gets the letter the next day and carelessly places it in his desk. Blair abstracts it. That night his victim leaves Ruth shortly before ten o'clock, pleading an important engagement. Blair meanwhile burglarizes the safe. After setting the hands of a large clock in the room at 10, he throws it to the floor. The man makes his escape and arrives at the home of a friend as ten o'clock strikes, thus establishing an alibi. Walter waits at the spot designated in the letter and finally goes home believing himself the victim of a joke. Because they are the only men who know the combination of the safe, suspicion is directed toward the cashier and his assistant when the burglary is discovered the following morning. The clock indicates the hour of the robbery to Pierce, a detective. Blair readily establishes his whereabouts at ten o'clock, while Walter, unable to prove an alibi, is arrested. Later, Pierce discovers the clock had been tampered with and his suspicion falls upon Blair. The cashier becomes intoxicated and loses the decoy letter. Pierce finds it and becomes convinced of Blair's guilt. Confronting the man in the office, the detective places before him the evidence he has discovered. Terror-stricken, Blair breaks down and confesses.