Within the Law (play)

Within the Law
Advertising postcard for Within the Law
Written by	Bayard Veiller
Date premiered	September 11, 1912 (1912-09-11)[a]
Place premiered	Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre
Original language	English
Genre	Drama

Within the Law is a play written by Bayard Veiller. It is the story of Mary Turner, a sales clerk who is wrongly accused of stealing and sent to prison. Upon her release, Turner sets up a gang that engages in shady activities that are just "within the law". After the police try to entrap her, she is mistakenly accused again, this time for murder, but she is vindicated when the real killer confesses.

Veiller used his experience as a crime reporter to develop the play, but he was initially unable to find a producer for it. He finally settled on selling the rights to the play, along with two others he had written, for a fixed fee. After an unsuccessful run in Chicago, it became a huge hit on Broadway in 1912–1913, running for 541 performances. It was subsequently performed by multiple road companies and adapted as a movie five times. Although it was one of the biggest hits of its era, Veiller got relatively little income from it due to his decision to sell it for a lump sum.
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