Judd Collins was wealthy mine owner in Pennsylvania in the 1920s. He ran a mine and achieved wealth with a degree of ruthlessness than never considered the miners or the conditions they worked in. His son, Jesse, who he had sent to Princeton to study engineering, was much more sympathetic to the workers, however. Judd did not know that Jesse had left school to try to work with the miners, and to improve their lives. Stunned, when Judd saw his son lying dead, he broke down. He was last seen weeping over the body.