The Empty Shell - Production & Contact Info (original) (raw)

In the Canadian woods live Jean Caumont, his wife, Marie, and their baby. One day Jean shoots a rabbit and picking it up, forgets to extract the empty shell and reload his revolver. In the evening of that day, he plays cards in a saloon ...See moreIn the Canadian woods live Jean Caumont, his wife, Marie, and their baby. One day Jean shoots a rabbit and picking it up, forgets to extract the empty shell and reload his revolver. In the evening of that day, he plays cards in a saloon with a member of the mounted police named Burke and accusing him of cheating, he springs to his feet and overturns the table. One of the bystanders, Louis Fabert, who hates Burke, immediately extinguishes the one light in the place and in the darkness a shot is fired and when another light is brought, Burke is found dead on the floor from a bullet wound. Jean is seized as the murderer by the bystanders. Two other mounted officers are summoned, who take charge of the case. They examine every revolver in the place and find all fully loaded with the exception of Jean's, which contains an empty shell. Before the arrival of the police, however, Louis Fabert had disappeared from the room. Then the trial takes place and Jean is awaiting the verdict. The verdict is "Guilty," and Jean is condemned to be hanged. After he goes out, Louis Fabert, who has attended the trial and has been tortured by remorse, rises and fiercely attacks the jury for having convicted Jean on merely circumstantial evidence, but is overpowered and thrown out of the court room. He then rushes off into the woods in the midst of a terrible blizzard and wanders about He falls exhausted near the door of Jean's cabin, with a cry for help. Marie hears the cry, goes out and drags him into the shelter of her house and revives him. As soon as Fabert realizes who it was that saved him, his remorseful feelings are redoubled and he tells Marie that it was he who shot Burke and not her husband. He then begs her to write at his dictation and he makes a full confession of his crime and signs it. She then puts on her snow shoes and starts out for the jail, She has a terrible journey and arrives at her destination after her husband has ascended the gallows, the awful noose has been tightened about his neck and the trap about to be sprung. The arrival of Marie, with Fabert's confession, of course changes the entire aspect of affairs and Jean is released and he and Marie go happily home to their baby. Fabert was never seen again, he having disappeared in the trackless wastes of snow. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less