The Outcasts of Poker Flat is a story by Bret Harte an American writer. It was made into a movie in 1919, 1937 and 1952. It is a story about the cruelty that society can inflict on its fellow human beings. This tale is all the more remarkable because of the resigned attitude of the victims. There is some defiance shown by Mother Shipton, but it pales in comparison with the "sentence" meted out by the town of Poker Flats.