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- A gang of thieves lure a man out of his home so that they can rob it and threaten his wife and children. The family barricade themselves in an interior room, but the criminals are well-equipped for breaking in. When the father finds out what is happening, he must race against time to get back home.
- Miss Louise Leroque was one of those charming young ladies, born, as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks, and after she married John Kendrick, she suffered an incessant yearning for all those delicacies and luxuries she felt were her due. John was a bighearted, indulgent husband whose every thought was for his wife's happiness, and while Louise was a devoted wife, still there was the strain of selfishness ever apparent, for she who studies her glass neglects her heart. She yearned for ostentation, and poor John was in no position to appease this desire. However, an occasion presents itself when they can at least bask in the radiance of the social limelight, in an invitation to attend a reception tendered a foreign prince. John is in the height of elation, hut Louise meets him with that time-honored remark, "I've nothing to wear." Well, he feels the strength of her argument, so goes and pawns his watch and chain to procure her a gown fitting for the occasion. The gown emphasizes the absence of jewel ornamentation, so they visit their friend and neighbor, who lends them a handsome necklace. At the reception she makes quite a stir and is presented to the prince, who becomes decidedly attentive. Arriving home after the affair, Louise rehearses the incidents of the event, when suddenly she stands petrified with horror. "My God! The necklace is gone." High and low they search, and even back to the ballroom, but without result, for we have seen it stolen from her neck by a sneak thief while she is talking with the prince. Unable to find the necklace, they swear to give their fingers to the bone, their life's blood until it is paid for. But then there is the humiliation of not returning the jewels, so they hunt for a duplicate. At the jeweler's they find one, in appearance an exact copy, but the price is $20,000. Twenty thousand dollars to ones in their condition meant a large fortune. However, John borrows money on his salary, gets loans from his various friends and is granted a large advance by his employer, giving notes for same: in fact, mortgaging his very life as the result of vanity. With the money he purchases the duplicate and gives it to their friend, who is unaware of the substitution. Meanwhile, the thief has taken the necklace to a pawnshop and finds it is a worthless imitation, and so throws it into the rubbish heap. Five years later we find the couple toiling, toiling, but still in bondage; after night in the endeavor to make a little extra above his ordinary salary. Ten years we find them, still hounded by the note collectors, aged and broken in health, yet determined. Twenty years, and the last penny on the necklace is paid, but at the expense of their bodily strength. Having cleared up his debt with his employer, he is discharged, being too feeble to do the work. As a last resort they write to their friend, confessing the substitution of the jewels, and their plight as a result, begging that she give them some slight assistance. Their friend, of course, is amazed, she cognizant of the worthlessness of her property, so hastens to give Louise back the jewels, arriving only in time to put them about her neck when she sinks back dead. John, poor fellow, is found sitting in a chair at the head of the bed, also dead. They had received vanity's reward.
- A king exacts vengeance upon his faithless mistress and her lover.
- While caring for his sick daughter, a doctor is called away to the sickbed of a neighbor. He finds the neighbor gravely ill, and ignores his wife's pleas to come home and care for his own daughter, who has taken a turn for the worse.
- Denton, a young easterner, arrives in the gold-fields, looks about for a "find" and a partner. Entering a saloon, he partakes of some refreshment, watches the patrons of the place and studies their characters, while thus engaged a young miner, named Harper, somewhat prejudiced against easterners, engages in a quarrel with a Mexican who is about to plunge a knife into the miner when Denton seizes his wrist and wrenches the weapon from his grasp. Harper thanks Denton, and after learning the eastern man's desire to find a prospecting partner, Denton loins forces with him and they start in to work a lead and strike paying dirt. They have hardly started operations when Denton meets with a serious accident and again Harper shows the manner of man he is by nursing his pal back to health and strength. This brings about a strong friendship and they go to work with a will and it is not long before they strike it rich. Weighing up their gold-dust they find they have a handsome pile and are now on easy street. Harper goes out to work and has proceeded but a short distance when he is seen by the treacherous Mexican who stealthily watches him on his way and then makes tracks for the pals' shack. Just after Harper leaves the shack Denton receives a telegram from his wife telling him that his mother is sick and advising him to return home at once. He leaves a letter for Harper with the dispatch stating that he will leave the gold dust intact as he has sufficient cash and the message will explain the cause of his hasty departure. The Mexican can be seen peering through the window watching Denton and the hiding of the dust in the chimney. Denton then hastily exits and hurries for the train. The villainous greaser enters the cabin, steals the gold and destroys the letter and telegram and replaces them with a note saying Denton had gotten tired and skipped. When Harper returns and finds the note he is furious, tells the sheriff and follows Denton east. Arriving at Denton's home town he traces him through an accident to a little child who happens to be Denton's own daughter. He carries the child home and the next day calls to see the little girl, and while he is sitting by her bedside Denton comes in. It is a dramatic situation, but after explanations and the reception at that moment of a "wire" from the sheriff in the gold-field announcing the confession of the Mexican, all is understood and once more the two men become pals and renew their bond of friendship.
- A son leaves to seek his fortune in the city. Many years later he returns and checks into his parents' inn. They don't recognize him, but noticing his fat wallet, plan to rob him.
- A country boy and a city boy are both courting the same girl. The girl sees the country boy's tender treatment of a wounded bird and chooses him.
- A new bride has made a batch of biscuits. Her husband pretends to like them, so she delivers the rest to his office. But one bite of these biscuits induces violent illness, and soon all his visitors (he runs a theatrical booking agency), plus the workmen at home, are ill. When she shows up at the office, they all go after her.
- A royal woman rejects her arranged marriage. The cardinal hatches a plan: the suitor will shave and change clothes. He arranges with 4 clowns to stage an attack on the princess which he easily repels. It works; the princess falls for him, especially when the cardinal arranges his arrest.
- In the little Italian city of Cremona there dwelt Taddeo Ferrari, a violin maker and student of Andrea Amati, the most famous of the craft. Ferrari's pretty daughter, Giannina, was beloved by one of his apprentices, Sandro. Filippo, a crippled youth and the best violin maker in Cremona, also loved the girl with a pure, holy affection that is more spiritual than material, but realizing his unattractiveness through his deformity, suffers his hopelessness with resignation. Yearly there is a prize of a precious chain of gold awarded to the maker of the best violin, and all the apprentices strive to win it. On this occasion, however, the hand of Giannina is to be bestowed upon the most proficient craftsman, and this induces the young men to make extra efforts to win. Sandro fully appreciates the rare talent of Filippo and feels sure his wonderful skill will win his sweetheart from him. Crushed and despairing he seeks out Giannina and tells her his fears, she tearfully acknowledging the strength of his reasoning. While thus occupied they are overheard by Filippo, who sees what woe his success would mean for her, and thinking only of her happiness, through his great love for her he makes a great sacrifice. Going to his room he takes his instrument and goes and places it in Sandro's box, taking Sandro's violin and putting it in his own. Sandro, however, thwarts the good intention of Filippo by exchanging the instruments, not knowing what Filippo had done, thereby upsetting the planned munificence of the cripple. When the instruments are placed in competition, and the prizes are about to be awarded, Sandro's conscience pricks him, and calling the cripple aside, confesses his deed. Filippo bursts into taunting laughter, telling him what he, himself, had done, and now he spoiled it all. Judgment is passed and Filippo is, of course, the victor. The chain is placed about his neck, and the hand of Giannina placed in his. But also, he feels she recoils, and thinking only of her happiness he crashes his violin over his knee, thereby putting himself out of the contest and making Sandro the winner. He then places the chain about Sandro's neck, and handing the girl over to him he rushes from the hall. We finally leave him alone in his room, crushed and dejected, yet contented in the thought that he had made her happy.
- A story, unique as to pictures, founded on fact and produced with absolute fidelity to nature. A news item in the English edition of the Cairo news (Africa), dated ten years ago, begins this startling series of picture events: British Ship Zanzibar Founders Off East Coast. Frightful fate would await castaways, as the country is uninhabited for hundreds of miles. Then we are shown a raft in mid-ocean bearing the only two survivors of the lost Zanzibar, Capt. Jack Ownes and his daughter Essie. A few hours later we get a glimpse of the African shore line, showing the captain and his daughter both lying senseless where the remorseless waves have tossed them. Five Years Later we see a rude cabin built of grass, mud and brush. The labor of its making has kept the brave captain and his daughter from madness, the utter hopelessness of their being rescued from this desolate region has finally become a settled conviction with them both, so they live as best they can, fighting as primeval man had to fight for food and shelter; the sea has washed ashore from the Zanzibar many things which have helped them in their present situation, the skins of animals protect them from the heavy dews of night, and the captain has learned through necessity to keep their larder stocked with his bow and arrows. An evil day comes; the father is stricken with fever, and in spite of his daughter's loving care, he succumbs, leaving Essie alone. For weeks afterward the girl barely exists, but at last the desire for life returns and hope, the feeling an all-wise Providence gives to humanity as a safeguard against our ills, regains possession of her mind and she fights on alone. One day in the woods she hears a wail, it sounds like the cry of an infant in distress. Upon investigation she discovers two baby leopards in the hollow of a tree; the girl hungers for companionship, so she determines to take the kittens to her home and as she reaches the door the mother leopard bounds into view. The girl, nothing daunted, clings to the babies. A strange scene follows; the fearless girl and the mother leopard become friends, she is alone no longer. One Year Later. Two animal buyers are starting for the interior. We follow the interesting movements of these men. We see them pitch camp in the jungles, trap leopards and other wild animals. Gates Finds Essie. A dense jungle; a white man with three native gun bearers is following a leopard track; suddenly he sees a magnificent specimen lying contentedly in his path, he raises his rifle, a human voice utters a cry, and a beautiful girl, clad in leopard skins, falls with arms outstretched across the body. Essie sees a human face and hears her mother tongue for the first time since her father's death. A few weeks later Jordan starts back with the first consignment of animals, leaving Gates to follow with the rescued girl. Essie has not only made friends with the leopard family, but being gifted by nature with a strange power over animals, she has taught them to obey her. We witness her giving Gates a demonstration of this power. The girl is alone in the world, and upon her return to civilization must have a means of livelihood. Gates is a showman and knows that an act such as Essie will be able to give with her pets will prove a revelation to the jaded theatergoers of America and Europe, so he proposes the scheme to Essie. She has grown very fond of her rescuer and is willing to be guided by his advice. Gates puts his men to building crates, and we see the party start back for civilization. At Cairo, Loading the animals on board a steamer bound for Paris. Then four weeks later we witness Essie's first public appearance. Gates has had scenery arranged to represent the girl's rude African abode, and the transplanted leopards, thinking themselves back in Africa with their Queen, obey her slightest wish, to the delight of a vast audience and as Gates takes the girl in his arms after her triumph, we see that the future bids fair to be as bright to Essie as the past has been unkind; the desolate days spent in darkest Africa are forgotten.
- Mary's beau arrives for a visit and she is anxious to introduce him to Papa. When Harry sees Papa walk in with a shotgun he panics and runs off in terror. Harry continues to encounter Papa everywhere and runs away, baffling the old man.
- Mr. Wilkens gets drunk at his club one night and has to rely on the other clubmen to carry him home. In order to cure his drinking, Mrs. Wilkens and the clubmen conspire to play a trick on him. They enlist the aid of a young lady who writes to Mr. Wilkens accepting his marriage proposal of the night before. Mr. Wilkens tries frantically to keep his wife from finding out what he supposedly did.
- No more popular fad has ever struck the feminine fancy than the peachbasket hat. This is a creation of headgear that for size outstrips anything yet designed by the disordered mind of the modiste. As a "skypiece" it is a "skyscraper," and in decoration it looks like a combination horticultural and food exhibition. Nevertheless, this mammoth "lid" was seized onto by the feminine world with the avidity of a boy for his first baseball suit. It is only natural that our friend, Mrs. Jones, should experience this obsession, and what woe it preambled! The Jones family are seated at breakfast. Mr. Jones is reading the morning paper. An account of a kidnapping by gypsies engages his attention, and he is filled with horror at the anticipation of the possible abduction of his young hopeful, a baby one year old. He tries to impress Mrs. J., but she is fascinated by the millinery "ads." The situation for Jones becomes more tense when on going outside he sees a couple of the odious gypsies with a child. Mrs. Jones takes herself off to buy a peachbasket, leaving baby in charge of the nurse, who, being of a romantic nature, enlists the services of the gypsies to tell her fortune. Mrs. Jones returns and almost catches the nursemaid, who is quite beside herself at her near discovery. Mrs. Jones places the huge box containing the hat on the table, while the nurse, placing the baby on the floor, assists in extricating the hat from its crate. Putting on the hat, Mrs. J. goes into the next room, followed by the maid, to view the effect in the mirror. .Mr. Jones now arrives, and his first thought is for baby; he cares naught for the peachbasket hat. Baby is nowhere to be seen. The nurse, in her excitement, does not remember where she placed it. Through the house they rush fruitlessly; out on the road and on after the disappearing gypsies, who are overtaken only to find that the baby the woman carries is not a Jones. The clouds of despair o'ershadow the couple in their dining-room, when suddenly the hat box on the floor is seen to move. There, under the hollow cube of pasteboard, is found baby Jones, the box having been blown by a gust of wind off the table over the child.
- A short version of James Fenimore Cooper's famous tale about Natty Bumppo, or "Hawkeye," and his exploits during the French and Indian war.
- A pack of admirers won't leave a beautiful woman alone at a seaside resort, so she devises a plan. She appears in a leg-revealing swimsuit, but the stockings have been stuffed with cotton to make her limbs appear misshapen. All but one of the men is driven off, and regret it when she removes the misleading leggings.
- Two lovers elope and expect to be pursued by her father. But the clever father has tricked them into running off, and celebrates their wedding when they return home.
- Fanny is the wife of Ben Webster, a trapper, and while he is an affectionate and dutiful husband, she yearns for something which appears better than her lot. She reasons: "Have I not youth and beauty and attainments far above this environment? Why should I be compelled to toil and struggle in this wilderness?" Truly, she did not know just what she yearned for, still a change of any sort would have been acceptable. Discontent is stamped upon her countenance, as Ben bids her good bye for a hunting trip in the North Woods. Webster embarks in his canoe, and sighting game, stands to fire. The light craft is overturned, throwing him into the water. Weighted down by his heavy clothing and cartridge belt, he would have drowned had not his plight been witnessed from the shore by Ed Hilton, a Canadian hunter. Hilton leaps in and succeeds in dragging the half-drowned trapper to land, where a strong friendship springs up between the two, and as night falls they make camp and sleep under the same blanket. Next morning they part with a vow of eternal friendship. Fanny goes to the village grocery store, and by chance meets Hilton, and it is a case of love at first sight with both, each, of course, ignorant of the other's identity. A second meeting is contrived and Hilton, thinking her a single girl, suggests an elopement, to which she consents. A meeting place is planned, and Fanny is there and leaves with Hilton his cabin. She has, however, left a note for Ben saying that she "is tired, and is going away." Poor Webster's heart nearly breaks as he reads this short, but cutting letter. Grief at first possesses him, then revenge. Taking up his gun, he starts after her. He hits a trail with the aid of a couple of villagers who had witnessed unseen the clandestine meeting of Fanny and the Canadian. Tracking them to the cabin he bursts in a few moments after their arrival. You may imagine the amazement on both sides when Ben finds Hilton is the man, and Hilton learns that Webster's wife is the woman. Hilton proves his innocence by commanding Webster to shoot; but no, Ben cannot kill the man to whom he owes his life, and so he staggers out and hack to his own home. Hilton, on the other hand, drives the heartless Fanny from him. She goes out, and for a time is undecided, when she resolves to face her husband and beg his forgiveness. Night has fallen and the cabin is in darkness when she enters. Going to the next room she gets the lantern, by which light she sees her husband sitting with his head reclining on the table. She assumes it is his grief, but on touching him, his inert form falls to the floor, he has terminated his existence. The shock causes her to recoil, and so doing knocks over the lantern, extinguishing the light. There in the shaft of moonlight we leave her kneeling beside the awful result of her discontent. "Oh, thou fool!"
- Soon after their engagement, Bill goes to sea, and Emily vows to stay true until his return. Unknown to her, Bill marries another woman from a different port. Emily waits faithfully for six years, finally becoming dangerously ill. When Bill suddenly appears in town with his family, Joe, who has loved Emily all along, forces Bill to make Emily's final moments happy by pretending he has returned to marry her.
- "Every dog has his day," says a proverb. It is also true in this instance when the workingman stands before the question of saving his employer or letting him perish in the flames. His better self prevails and he saves his foe.
- Buck Minor was the most detested man in Wolf Hollow, partly because he was quarrelsome and treacherous, partly because he abused and neglected his little wife, Molly, whom all the camp adored, and for whose sake it tolerated Buck. A bright baby girl was Molly's only comfort and gave her courage to endure the hardships which otherwise must have crushed her. The opening scene of the story shows a street in Wolf Hollow. Buck is on one of his usual rampages, and running into an athletic cowpuncher who is in town to spend his money, he makes an insulting remark and is soundly drubbed by the younger Hercules of the plains. Buck is proud of his fistic ability, and his defeat by a stranger before the denizens of the camp is more than he can stand, so he determines to pull up stakes and migrate to other parts. Stumbling along home to his cabin, he bursts into the one little room where his patient wife is rocking the little child to sleep, and with an angry growl informs her that he is going to "pull his freight" out of Wolf Hollow forever, and that she must accompany him, but leave the baby behind. Molly clasps the child wildly to her breast and begs piteously to be allowed to take her little one, but Buck is obdurate and gains his point by threatening to kill the infant unless she consents to leave it. Scrawling a note which he intends to leave, offering the child to anyone who may find it, he makes preparations for his immediate departure. Clinging wildly to her little one, the distracted mother is soon dragged from the house and told to mount one of the horses waiting without. Thus we see them riding away toward the setting sun, an inhuman father rejoicing in the prospects of shaking the dust of the hater camp from off his boots, a broken-hearted mother choking with sobs, thinking only of the helpless baby alone and deserted in the little cabin on the hill. Slippery Ann, a half-witted girl of the camp, meets Buck and his wife while on her return from a journey into the foothills, and is entrusted with the note Buck has written regarding the child. Hurrying on to Wolf Hollow. Ann turns the note over to Judge Honk, the father of the camp and dispenser of law and justice. The Judge is greatly exercised over the heartlessness of Buck, and calling the inhabitants of the camp about him, soon organizes a rescue party to repair to the deserted cabin of the Minors' and ascertains what truth there was in the strange letter. No time is lost in reaching the shack on the hill, and there, sure enough, lying on the bed is the infant. Taking it up rather gingerly in his arms, as though he were afraid of breaking it. Judge Honk heads the procession out the door and down the hill to the camp where a mass meeting is at once held to discuss ways and means of taking care of the kid. Cherokee Jim, the bartender of the "thirst emporium," suggests that they raffle off the youngster and whoever draws the winning card shall be the kid's adopted daddy. The raffle is quickly pulled off, and Ben Brooks, a good-natured, big-hearted cowpuncher, draws the lucky number. Ben almost reneges when he realizes what he has on his hands, but the cheers of good wishes of the rest of the bunch brace him up and they all retire to the "thirst parlor" to have one on the new daddy. After that "Ben's Kid" (as the baby is christened) becomes the one absorbing topic of conversation. Around the camp that night in the bunk house, a half-dozen sleepy punchers are trying to get some rest, while Ben in his bare feet is prancing around the room, jolting the baby up and down, while the youngster, terrified at its new surroundings, is making the welkin ring with its screams. "Fatty Carter," the heaviest weight on the range, does an Indian war dance, but to no avail. At last they all agree that the kid is sick, and a puncher is at once dispatched on the fastest bronco on the ranch to bring Judge Honk to the scene of battle at once (every one, of course, having absolute faith in the ability and knowledge of the Judge in all matters) to bring them out of the difficulty. The Judge soon arrives loaded down with mustard, and old-fashioned remedies of all kinds, and at once starts in to bring order out of chaos. Now, to return to Buck and his heartbroken wife. All afternoon they have traveled until near nightfall. The horses are unsaddled, the pack removed from the lead animal, and preparations are made to camp till morning. Now Molly has been turning over in her mind a plan, although a desperate one, it seems, the only loophole out of her present misery. Waiting until Buck has fallen into a sound slumber, she cautiously steals away from the camp fire and makes for a clump of trees in which are fettered the horses. Releasing her pony, she springs on his back and dashes away in the black night over the homeward trail. Aroused by the sound of her horses' hoofs. Buck awakes, and with a terrible oath upon realizing that Molly has outwitted him, goes crashing through the brush to his horse, and quickly saddling him, gallops away in pursuit of the fleeing woman, determined to overtake and kill her rather than let her escape from him for good. But he does not reckon on the swiftness of Molly's mount, and though he plies both whip and spur, his jaded horse is unable to gain a foot on the game little sorrel. On over rocks, through the stream, now down the slope of the mountain and across the gulch speeds the desperate woman, every nerve pounding on her brain, and every muscle strained to its utmost tension, her lips moving in silent prayer that she might outstrip the dread pursuer and regain the child fur whom her mother's heart cries out in bitter anguish. At last, brave girl, the goal is reached. Her way leads past the ranch on which Ben Brooks and the U.X. outfit are quartered, and seeing a light in the bunk house, the terrified woman heads her horse toward the beacon ray of hope. She barely reaches the door when the infuriated husband dashes up, bursting into the room. Molly startles the boys and the Judge into action. Buck, losing his head beyond control, follows her. "Save me," shrieks the terrified Molly. In an instant Buck finds himself in the grasp of a dozen willing hands. With a strength born of frenzy, he dashes them aside and draws his gun to shoot the cowering girl, when his aim is spoiled by quick action on Ben's part, and the Judge gets the bullet in his arm. Howling with pain, he yells to the punchers to hang the "varmint." But Buck is too quick for them, and knocking down a couple of the buys, he rushes his way out the door, and throwing himself into the saddle, plunges away into the night. No time is lost in going after him. Twenty swift riders are in the saddle before ten minutes have elapsed and they are off after the hated Buck, whose horse, already worn out from the other chase, is soon overtaken. A lariat hurls through the air and settles down about his neck, thus ending all hopes of escape for the fugitive. A letter written a year later to the Judge tells us what they did to Buck, while Molly, the pretty widow, is persuaded to let Ben retain his title to the kid by allowing Judge Honk to tie the knot, and Mr. and Mrs. Brooks start out on life's journey together, taking with them the good will and well wishes of the entire camp. -- The Moving Picture World, June 26, 1909
- A disfigured violinist mistakes a token of appreciation for a love bouquet. When he realizes his mistake, he loses his mind.
- Bob Ford, a young college graduate and a man-about-town, self-willed and wild, who tries his father's patience and generosity by going the limit, is called to a sudden halt by the old gentleman and sent out west with his valet to work on Jones' ranch in Texas and prove to his father that he is not a hopeless renegade. Bob arrives in Texas with his valet, whom he tells to take his place and pretend that he is Bob while he, Bob, will pretend to be the valet. Mr. Jones has a very pretty daughter, Flora, for whom her father feels some anxiety about coming in contact with a young city fellow, college bred like Bob, fearing that she will fall in love with him. Jenkins, the valet, presents the note from Bob's father to Mr. Jones, and the valet is received as Mr. Ford's son, while Bob is treated as the valet. The "Boys" about the ranch lay plans to put Jenkins through a course of sprouts and the way they do it would do credit to a "hazing bee." Bob runs against a snag when he meets Langdon who has the reputation of being a "bad man," in a fight and tries to put is "all over" the tenderfoot. Bob is game and tells Langdon, if he wants to fight like a man, to put down his gun and put up his fists. They get busy; Langdon is put "down and out" and loses his reputation as a terror. From that time on, Bob is one of the most popular men on the ranch. He falls in love with Flora and Flora doesn't object. From this point on, Bob has easy sailing and when his father comes to visit him at the ranch he is delighted to find his boy in good shape and a man among men, and just as happy when he learns that Bob is engaged to Flora Jones.
- Everything on this old mundane sphere has its use. Even the burglar's visit, strange as it may seem, may prove a blessing, as this Biograph comedy will verify. Jones has an insatiable longing to go to the club for a little game, so as a subterfuge tells his wife he is called away on business. Mrs. J. by this time has become cruelly incredulous and declares she will wait up for him. At the club Jonesy breaks the bank, things come his way, but when he leaves for home he anticipates that on his return things may continue to come, but not so felicitously. However, luck is still with him, for he finds a burglar trying to gain entrance into his home. Aha! an idea. The burglar is a coward, and he forces him to break in and so plays the hero, thereby softening his wife's anger by apparently apprehending him.
- Effie marries an honest farmer, rejecting a suitor from the city. Years later he returns and tries to persuade her to run away with him.