On August 3, 1920, around 3 a.m., there was a knock on Roland Totheroh's front door in Los Angeles.
Charlie Chaplins regular cameraman opened the door and saw Mr. Reeves, the studio manager.
"Rollie, we have to get out of town," Reeves said.
"Go straight to the studio, grab a carpenter and pack everything in boxes." Totheroh did as he was told, put the negative rolls of the latest Chaplin film in coffee cans and transported a dozen large boxes to the nearest freight depot.
Chaplin himself drove to Barstow, a small town between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and got on a train to Salt Lake City. There he moved into a suite in the Hotel “Utah” under the alias “Charles Spencer”. For the first time, Charles Chaplin was on the run in America. It shouldn't have been the last time.