Sleeping Fires (1917)

Brutal Edwin Bryce, tries to force a divorce on his wife Zelma, to secure his secretary Helen King as his mistress. Zelma refuses for religious reasons, but Bryce still obtains his divorce. Zelma then appeals to attorney David Gray, who has befriended her, for help in gaining custody of her little boy. Desperate, she finally steals the boy from the house. Bryce then employs detective Joe Giles to kidnap the child, and Zelma, panicked with grief, goes to the Bryce home where she finds Helen and Giles. With the thought of scaring Bryce, Zelma brings a pistol, which Helen tries to snatch from her. In the struggle, the gun goes off, kills Bryce, and Zelma is brought to trial for the murder of her ex-husband. Gray defends her and extracts a confession from Giles that the gun fired accidentally. Now acquitted, Zelma begins a new life with her son and David Gray.