Animated Summary of Ruthless by William de Mille

William de Mille’s suspenseful short story "Ruthless" follows Judson Webb, a fiercely possessive and vindictive businessman who, upon closing his vacation cabin for the winter, laces a bottle of bourbon with rat poison to trap whoever previously stole his liquor. Despite his wife Mabel's desperate pleas that execution is a disproportionate punishment for petty burglary, Judson stubbornly refuses to abandon his malicious plot. In a swift twist of poetic justice, Judson slips on an acorn while gathering his belongings, strikes his head, and is unwittingly given a glass of the poisoned whiskey by the local caretaker who is trying to revive him, resulting in a darkly ironic and fatal conclusion to his own cruelty.