John Dowling, a greedy factory owner, cuts his employees' pay while raising their food prices at the company store. The employees strike but to no avail. Mary Garvin visits Dowling to plead the laborers' cause, but because her mother had once refused his marriage proposal, he attacks Mary out of revenge. In the struggle, Dowling is shot, and Mary is tried and convicted of murder. Before the execution, foreman "Bull" Thompson boasts that his bullet killed Dowling during Mary and the factory owner's struggle, and Dowling's son Chester, who has attempted to introduce reforms into the factory, races to the governor's train to secure a pardon for Mary. After Mary's release, she and Chester are married.
Movie tag line: "ALL! ALL! GRAPHICALLY SHOWN ALL! ALL in WILLIAM FOX'S Stupendous 1918 Cinemelodrama "Cheating the Public" THE GREATEST MELODRAMA EVER FILMED"
Production companies:
Character: Mary Garvin
Character: John Dowling
Character: Grace Martin
Character: Chester Dowling
Character: 'Bull' Thompson
Character: Mary's Attorney
Character: Mrs. O'Toole
Character: Mary's Mother
Character: Frankie Garvin
Character: Martin
Character: Bobby
Character: The Baby Brother
Character: The Judge
Character: The District Attorney
Character: The Twelfth Juror
Character: Warden
Character: The Governor
Character: Dowling's Butler
Character: Dowling's Secretary
Character: Factory Inspector
Character: Character Not Available
Character: Character Not Available