Boris Karloff is listed by modern sources for the role of "Murder victim" in this movie, but he was not seen in the viewed print on the Turner Classic Movies channel. In the extant version, no murder is even committed.
First feature film of Broadway stage actress Dorothy Peterson (Mary Williams). According to a contemporary article in Film Daily, she beat out 99 other actresses who had screen tested for this role. She was also signed to a long-term contract with First National.
In September 1928, Warner Bros. Pictures purchased a majority interest
in First National Pictures and from that point on, all "First National" productions were actually made under Warner Bros. control, even though the two companies continued to retain separate identities until the mid-1930's, after which time "A Warner Bros.-First National Picture" was often used.
The Library of Congress online catalogue lists the title of Helen Grace Carlisle's novel as "Mother Cry", but by all other accounts, the title is "Mother's Cry".
When a reporter in the group that is gathered outside the Williams' house says that they will have the story in time for the "bulldog edition", that refers to the first or earliest edition of the newspaper printed that day.