Within the Law – A melodrama in 4 acts

A societal clash between the wealthy CEO of a department store and the poor shop girl who slaves for him working nine hour days, earning a paltry six dollars a week, faced with starvation and cramped living quarters; the weak judicial system and inept legal profession enhanced by the strong- armed tactics of the NY Police Department, and evils of the state prison, are the relevant themes in Bayard Veiller’s Within the Law, a stirring drama about injustice, vengeance and exoneration. Written in 1912, the plot concerns Mary Turner, convicted for stealing $400 from Edward Gilder’s Emporium, where she has worked for five years, and who is sentenced to a three year prison term in spite of her declarations of innocence. Gilder uses her incarceration as a warning to his employees. The action begins when Mary, handcuffed to Detective Cassidy, confronts Gilder in his office but her protestations fall on deaf ears. As she exits, she vows revenge. The second act occurs four years later. Mary is now living in Gramercy Square in a well-furnished room and is financially secure, operating a clever blackmailing gang that is always within the law. She tells Agnes Lynch, roomie and cohort, “the richest men in this country made their fortunes not because of the law, but in spite of it. ..anyone with brains can get rich in this country if he’ll engage the right lawyer. I have the brains and my attorney …is showing me the law… ”