The Mystery of John Wake

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

The "mystery" is the disappearance of John Wake, under circumstances which lead to the suspicion that he has been murdered by his friend Harford for the sake of a large sum of money in his possession. This suspicion, oddly enough, is shared by Harford himself, who believes that he has killed Wake and has hidden the body in an old cellar beneath his house. Considerable ingenuity is displayed upon the elaboration of the evidence of what is really an imaginary crime, since Harford merely stunned Wake in the course of a quarrel and left him for dead, little guessing that his supposed victim wandered away and in a dazed condition was taken by the police to a lunatic asylum, whence he escapes when the moment comes for a happy solution of the "mystery." The sentimental interest of the domestic melodrama is supplied by a love-affair between the son of the man who is thought to have been murdered and the daughter of the man who believes himself the murderer. Mechanical but fairly effective: and Recommended for License. Ernest A. Bendall.