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- An unscrupulous and greedy capitalist speculator decides to corner the wheat market for his own profit, establishing complete control over the markets.
- Walter Avery is blessed with a most dutiful and loving wife whose every endeavor and thought is to make him happy, but being a man of the world he finds domestic life dull and his wife's attentions boring, and he eagerly accepts invitations to the different social functions. Accompanied by his wife, he attends a social gathering and meets a young dancing girl, society's favorite entertainer. He is immediately obsessed and infatuated, and his feelings are clearly reciprocated. Mrs. Avery's suspicions are aroused and she accuses him of undue attentions toward the dancer. He, of course, denies her accusations and cajoles her into believing that his thoughts are always only for her. But the time comes when she sees positive proof of his perfidy in a letter to him from the dancer, inviting him to attend a dinner at her home given in his honor, hoping he will not fail to grace the occasion. When he is about to leave for the dancer's home, Mrs. Avery picks up a bottle of poison, threatening to take her life if he goes. Regarding this threat merely a jealous woman's trick to keep him home, he derides it and pours the bottle's contents into a goblet, remarks that taking it that way would be more convenient, and off he goes. When he is gone, the situation's true aspect dawns on her. She realizes for the first time what a despicable wretch he is--not worth the effort to save him--so she dashes the glass with its contents to the floor. However, the strain of the ordeal proves too much for her and she falls to the floor in a swoon. Meanwhile, Avery reaches the dancer's home and his entrance is toasted. By strange coincidence, the glass handed to him is identical to the one he handed his wife and at once becomes conscience-stricken that his wife might have carried out her threat. Rushing back to his home he finds his wife in a swoon and thinks she is dead--and he caused it. Instantly he becomes a veritable maniac and dashes madly out of the house and back into the dancer's home like a fiend. The guests are thrown into a panic as he shrieks, "I killed my wife. I killed my wife!" and falls across the table dead, struck down by the relentless avenger of injured virtue.
- Annie is a maid who is seduced and made pregnant by one of her boss's relatives. Her loving fiancée, Johann, stands by her but her employers turn her out onto the street. Annie relocates to a nearby village for the birth where she reluctantly gives her baby up for adoption. Many years later she returns and, with Johann's help, kidnaps the child. The two are caught, arrested and imprisoned. After serving their sentence, Johann sets the manor house afire without realising that Annie's child is inside. When Annie tries a rescue, she perishes in the flames.
- During the early Christian era, Karma, a very spiritual and virtuous High Priest of the Temple of India, resists with all his religious fervor, Quinetrea, a beautiful and fascinating enchantress. Quinetrea eventually conquers and Karma falls a victim to her wiles. She triumphantly taunts him, and outraged at her cruel deception. Karma curses her, and Quinetrea is transformed into a huge snake. Fifteen hundred years later, Karma appears, reincarnated in the personality of Leslie Adams and loves the beautiful heiress, Lillian White. Together they visit the ancient Temple of Karma and are shown the reptile, which every hundred years resumes human form. While Leslie gazes fascinated, the snake uncoils and Quinetrea stands before him in all her bewitching charm. She holds him with her hypnotic power and forces him to accept an amulet for his betrothed, upon receiving which Lillian falls dead. Karma beholds a vision of his former self as High Priest, again curses Quinetrea, and drops dead across the prostrate body of his betrothed.
- A fisher maid named Betty on the rock shore one day meets Jack Dubois, a revenue officer. They part to meet that evening at the same place. Sam Wilson and his band of beachcombers change the government beacon fire, used to guide vessels safely past the rocks. Betty reaches the scene as they have finished their work. She is immediately taken prisoner and carried off to their rendezvous. Dubois, arriving a few moments later, is searching for Betty when he discovers the misplaced light. He connects the transposed light with the disappearance of Betty, and gathering his comrades he sets out to find Betty. He does not find her until the pirates are prepared for the final rush upon the hut in which Sam Wilson, now violently in love, is guarding Betty. In payment for his kindness Betty hides Sam from her lover, and all of Wilson's hopeless love is vented in a passionate kiss of her hand.
- Jane Carston was to return tomorrow from Ohio, where she had been at school for the past three years, and the ranch was all agog with expectancy and cleanliness. Head cowboy Bob Evans was the most eager and anxious. Tomorrow finally became today and Pa had gone to the station in his best linen duster and the buckboard to meet Jane. Finally, in a cloud of dust, Bob discerns them on the brow of the hill. Arriving at the house Jane greets mother with a rousing smack. She was effusive and kind to all the boys, until Bob. Then, was it possible Jane could be shy? Anyway her greeting was different from the rest. Things progress nicely until Bob is asked to mail a letter for Jane to Dr. J.C. Bronner, to whom Jane refers as "her darling old school friend Jack." Jealousy on Bob's part makes him very miserable, but is intensely amusing to Jane. Jane decides to clean up that "nasty messy old bunkhouse." She discovers a caricature of Dr. Jay Bronner on Bob's bunk and it incites her to further increase his jealousy. Jane flirts with Dick, another cowboy, and he promptly falls in love with her. The crowning blow comes to these boys when Jane tells them that Jack, her doctor, is coming out on a visit and shows them a letter from him in which it is inferred that Jane and the doctor would take a little tour of the world. Desperation makes these rivals join forces against this common foe, and they determine by "black hand" means to make him leave the country. The day the doctor is to arrive, all the boys are to go to the round-up and branding, and Bob and Dick both promptly refuse to go to town for the doctor, but all the boys leave the ranch. Jane goes herself and meets a charming young girl, Dr. Jacque Bronner. The girls are convulsed over the anger of the cowboys, but Jane secretly admits to Jacque her love for Bob. Returning from the branding, they are told the doctor has a headache and Jane was serving tea to the doctor in "his" room. This is too much for the boys. That night they enter the doctor's room, masked, with the purpose of "blue-checking'' him out of the country. In the surprise which follows their discovery of the doctor's sex, they miscalculate her determination, and Dick receives a painful but not severe flesh wound from the doctors silver derringer. Doc keeps them covered and yells lustily for help. Discovery and confusion not unmixed with mirth, follows. During convalescence under the Doc's attention, Dick heals his arm and breaks his heart. Bob sees silence may be golden, but learns that a speech in time saves many heartaches. Dick's heart and arm are healed simultaneously.
- John Blair, the District Attorney of a large city, is a drug fiend, and on the day he is to sum up the People's case in a celebrated murder trial, he finds that he is unable to continue. A young lawyer, named Gary, who has followed the case, calls upon Blair, seeking employment. The following scene is achieved by a double exposure which is perfectly accomplished. Confronting each other, the similarity of their countenances astounds them both and it gives Blair an idea. He offers Gary $1,000 to exchange positions with him. Gary agrees and they exchange apparel. Blair goes to the poor lodgings of Gary, while Gary, accompanied by Blair's wife, who has not detected the substitution, goes to court. With an eloquent summing up Gary wins the case. It is then he breaks the news to Mrs. Blair. She is at first unconvinced, but finally they both go to Gary's hoarding place where they find the real Blair dead. His good name and the reputation of his family are at stake, so a compact is arranged, whereby Gary becomes Blair and the real Blair is buried as Gary, the unknown.
- After a vain search for fortune in the depths of the earth, a prospector comes upon an Indian arrowmaker, who is about to conceal a quantity of gold which he has mined. The temptation is too great for the unlucky prospector and he follows the arrowmaker to a cave, kills him, and starts across the Colorado desert with the ill-gotten gold. The arrowmaker's daughter finds her father's body and a clue to the murderer. She takes up the trail and in turn is followed by her Indian lover, who assumes that she is in love with the white man. The prospector and the girl are soon in agony because of a lack of water, but little by little the girl overtakes him, and, exhausted, they can go no farther. The Indian, with a supply of water, arrives in time to resuscitate the girl. The murderer proffers them the gold for a sip of water, but the offer is spurned, and together they watch him die.
- The story is a repetition of history, of the Indians and whites living in peace until one of the whites commits an overt act, which arouses the redmen. In this case Johnson, the trapper, finds Peach Blossom out in the fields gathering herbs and kidnaps her. The girl sees the Indians, out on a hunt, calls to them, the trapper throws her to the ground, and then escapes. Eagle Eye, in revenge, goes to Johnson's cabin and takes his boy, who is carried to the Indian camp and turned over to Mona. She becomes a little mother to the child, refusing to permit others to touch him. Mrs. Johnson, discovering the loss of the boy, rides to the fort and informs the commander. He orders out a troop. When the Indians hear of the approach of the soldiers they break camp and take up a position in what seems a very poor tactical position in a hollow, where the soldiers can not only shoot down into them, but roll rocks among them. The Indians are captured and lodged in the stockade. Big Rock and Dark Feather scale the fence. Big Rock steals up behind the sentry, throws him to the ground and with Mona gets away. The soldiers pursue. The chief, exhausted, is overtaken and shot. The Indian woman draws a knife and plunges it into her own breast.
- Jim Hale is engaged to a pretty girl, Irene Smith, and goes west to search for gold. After enduring many privations he finally strikes a promising vein of rock, and spends his last money for powder to blast with. A terrific explosion rends the mountainside, revealing no yellow metal. Despondent and discouraged, Jim writes to his sweetheart, releasing her from her engagement and bidding her good-bye forever, and goes on his way. In his abstraction he becomes lost in the desert and suffers from the blistering rays of the sun and raging thirst. In a dying condition he is found by the Indians, who bring him back to health, and Jim marries an Indian girl and becomes a fur trader. Irene Smith and her father go in search of Jim, joining an emigrant train. The Indians plan to capture the train, and Jim determines to prevent the massacre of the whites. His squaw aids him in this, and he reaches the emigrants and leads the women and children to a distant fort, while the men remain to guard the horses, oxen and equipment. The meeting between Jim and Irene is pathetic, Jim confessing his marriage. A terrible battle takes place between the whites and the Indians, while Jim leads the soldiers to the scene. They arrive too late, as they find nothing but the smoking ruins of the camp. The squaw, thinking her husband is among the slain, determines to avenge Jim's death, and during the night enters the chief's tent and kills him. She is caught by the squaws, who beat her and throw her over a cliff. She painfully drags herself to the door of the cabin, where Jim finds her, and she expires in his arms. The picture ends with a silhouette dissolving scene after a title, "The call of the blood," showing Jim riding slowly back to civilization and Irene.
- John Allison sees the cowboys off on the roundup, and is left alone with his wife and baby. Faber and Stern, two horse rustlers, know this and attempt to steal two horses. They are frustrated by Allison, and in an exchange of shots Faber is badly wounded in the left arm, and Allison sustains a flesh wound in his right arm. The men escape. Mrs. Allison binds her husband's arm and rides away for the sheriff and a doctor, leaving the baby with Allison. Faber insists upon returning. Stern accompanies him. Faber creeps up to the ranch house door and shoots Allison. Stem enters the house and sees the man is beyond help. He sees the baby and, thinking it may starve, takes it away with him. He has a long and cold ride to his mountain shack, and upon his arrival discovers that the child has died from exposure. Years pass, and Stern becomes a horse dealer. He has kept a pretty little brooch which he found upon the baby. He runs across Worthless Dan, a boy of eighteen. Stern gives him food and persuades Dan to accompany him. They call upon Mrs. Allison, and while refusing to buy a horse she is attracted to Dan, who reminds her strongly of what her boy would have been at his age. The next day Stern shows Dan the baby's brooch, and he tells Dan he can pass off as the widow's son if he (Dan) will do as he is told and help him (Stern) occasionally. Dan consents. Mrs. Allison is easily convinced and Dan goes to her, and soon learns to love this gracious lady. One night Stern enters the house and, seeing Dan alone, demands that he break open the safe and go with him. There is a fight, which Mrs. Allison witnesses, and Stern is ejected. Dan confesses the deception, but Mrs. Allison takes him to her heart.
- The deacon is a reformer, and is appointed the head of the Purity League, composed of the old maids of the town. A poster of a dancer is condemned by the league. The deacon goes to an amusement park and there sees the original of the poster standing on a platform during a ballyhoo, and sneaks in and gets a front seat. The dancer's efforts are met with a storm of applause from the deacon, who meets the girl after the show and becomes badly smitten, and in a moment of weakness is persuaded to have his tintype taken with the girl in costume. Some time later the show hits the deacon's home town, and the Purity League tries to prevent the performance. The arguments with the management reach an exciting stage, when the girl comes up and shows the picture of the deacon. The leaguers turn upon him, strip him of his badge and assist his wife in teaching him a thorough lesson.
- Aunt Hetty comes to visit her nephew and niece and brings her goldfish. Her niece is most hearty and affectionate in welcoming "Aunty." Some say that it was because Aunty had money and the niece wanted to be sure of appearing in the will. But it doesn't seem possible. Anyway Aunty arrived, she sent for fresh brook water and the errand runner met the Constable, who was also Fish and Game Warden. The nephew 'phones home that he is detained by an important meeting and will not be home to dinner, or supper. The truth is that he has a poker party bid. Beside playing poker he "has a few" with the rest of the follows, and then he has a few more. Somehow, someway, he manages to get home after all are in bed. Quite natural in his condition he wants a drink, meaning a drink of water, of course. He discovers Aunt Hetty's goldfish bowl, is about to drink when he sees "monsters" swimming around. The bowl goes to the floor with a crash. Aunt Hetty and niece seem to shoot into the room and discover him in the throes of reptile fear. Aunt Hetty scoops up and saves her fish and a doctor and nurse arc sent for. Nephew falls in love with the nurse. It all ends well, for nephew promises to abstain when the goldfish horror is explained. Aunt Hetty thereupon enters his name in her will and her visit promises a pleasant future for all.
- Tip in the Canadian woods is a small town where John Stanway's law office window looks into the window of a saloon next door. One day while working at his desk Stanway sees a brawl in the barroom, in which the bartender finally hits a man over the head with a mallet; this is all Stanway can see clearly. It develops later that the man who was struck dies, and the blame is shifted by the bartender, who knows nothing of Stanway's espionage, to the town drunkard, who has a beautiful daughter with whom Stanway is in love. Of course the story ends properly, as all stories should, with the bartender in jail, the town drunkard reformed and the lawyer married to the girl. But before it ends there is a corking good fight between the accused man and the real culprit.
- The picture was taken in the Sierra National Forest in California and shows what a wonderful work the United States rangers are doing. We are first shown one of the principal causes of forest fires, that of careless campers failing to extinguish their campfire. Next we see the lone lookout on top of the mountain peak overlooking the entire forest area. He spots the white haze crawling up over the distant ravine and sends the alarm to the forest headquarters over the 'phone. From headquarters the alarm is sent to the nearest ranger and we see him mounting his horse and starting for the fire. In turn each ranger is notified and all arrive at the burning forest, and then begins a fierce fight against the fire. Not by water, but by rake, hoe, brush and most of all by fire itself. The fire getting beyond control, a general alarm is sent in and help is called from the power house, but the fire continues to resist their endeavors and more help is needed. The heliograph is called into play and a message is sent miles across from one mountain peak to another. As a result farmers are called out who, getting on a high speed truck auto, dash to the burning forest. We see a settler driven from his home and all his possessions lost in the flames. And when night closes around we see what a strong lesson has been taught to the few merry campers who left their fire burning by the roadside, never thinking of the future nor of the result. We are shown the pathos and the destruction caused by carelessness.
- Captain King is a Northern officer who is shot and left unconscious on the field of battle, which takes place near the home of Lieutenant Kane, a Southern officer, who is also badly wounded. King regains his senses, and as he sits up and endeavors to take a drink from his canteen he sees a ghoul at work on a group of dead and dying Confederates, Drawing his heavy pistol, he makes short work of the human vulture, and staggers to the spot, where he discovers Lieutenant Kane with a spark of life still remaining. He gives the Southerner a drink from his canteen and extricates him from the bodies lying on top of him, and then binds up his wounds. In the meantime Kane's mother and sister learn that he is among the missing and go to the battlefield in search of him. The two officers are brought to the Kane home, where King soon recovers, while Kane lingers between life and death. King's command comes back and he joins his regiment. The officers hold a conference in the Kane home, and Lieutenant Kane is moved to an old darky's cabin to prevent his capture. One of the Northern officers is Dick Stanton, of the Confederate secret service. Helen Stanton has nursed King, and he has fallen in love with her. Stanton forces his attentions upon Helen, who is saved from an embarrassing situation by King's interference. Stanton follows Helen to the cabin and enters, intending to cause the arrest of the wounded officer, but is amazed to find that Kane knows him and introduces him to Helen. Stanton tells them he is endeavoring to secure the Federal plans for General Lee, and Helen promises to aid him. During the conference he, supposedly accidentally, knocks down the candlestick, and when the light goes out he hands the papers to Helen, who has been watching her opportunity, and she rushes from the room. The sentries head her off and attempt to capture her, and she doubles on her tracks and re-enters the house, running up to the attic. Captain King follows and is thunderstruck to find out the identity of the fugitive. He takes the papers from her and, hearing the steps of other pursuers on the stairs, he takes quick action to save her. Hiding her, he kicks the window out and shoots himself in the arm and tells the other officers the spy has leaped out. His coat is torn open to bind his wound, and the missing papers drop to the floor. He can make no explanation, and an immediate court martial is ordered. Rather than betray Helen, King accepts his condemnation as a spy. Stanton manages to stay behind during the excitement in the attic, and finds Helen. She promises to elope with him if he will leave behind a written confession that he is the guilty party, to exonerate King. He writes the confession, but refuses to give it to her, and the overwrought girl attempts to take it by force. She is roughly handled by Stanton, and in the scuffle she pulls his revolver from its holster and fires. The shot arouses the officers on the floor below, and as they come rushing up Helen places the confession in the stiffening hand of Stanton, acknowledging that he is a Confederate spy, and secretes herself. King is restored to his position, and parts from Helen in an affecting scene.
- George and Mabel are in love. Mabel's father is opposed to George and his suit. George writes Mabel a letter, asking her to meet him at Darling's restaurant. Father gets hold of the letter, and decides to meet George himself, taking with him a large club. Mabel warns George. George disguises himself as a blonde lady and keeps the appointment. George flirts with father and they dine together. Father is very much smitten, and George steals father's hat. George then runs out on father, who does not know what to make of it until he arrives at home, only to find George and Mabel planning their wedding day. Father raises a row until George threatens to expose his wild actions and career in the restaurant, and father has no other course left open to him than the giving of the parental blessing.
- The fact that an Indian tribe is eating puppies starts an action-packed battle in a Western town.
- Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
- After the murder of her lover Julius Caesar, Egypt's queen Cleopatra needs a new ally. She seduces his probable successor Mark Antony. This develops into real love and slowly leads to a war with the other possible successor, Octavius.
- The story of a man's gratitude to a snake for saving his life: He takes the snake home to live with him and then conceives the idea of having the snake kill the man who stole his sweetheart. He places it in the other man's bed. But when the little daughter of the girl he had once loved creeps into the bed, he has a change of heart.
- A potentially violent patient in an insane asylum is calmed when he hears a nurse playing the piano. But shortly afterwards he breaks free, eludes his pursuers, and acquires a gun. He soon comes to a house where a young wife is home alone, and there is a tense confrontation.
- Vamp propositions a reform candidate for governor.
- An ape, turned near human by Dr. Coriolis and given the name 'Balaoo', is smitten by the beauty of Coriolis' niece, Madeleine. Being inquisitive, though, he runs off, getting into mischief, and falls in with a poacher who saves his life. Acting now as his slave Balaoo kills a man for the poacher, but balks on his orders to kidnap Madeleine, deciding instead to set a trap for the poacher.
- A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.
- An American Indian raised by his grandmother on Lake Superior is declared a prophet of his people.
- Emperor Maximian, having married his daughter, Fausta, to Constantine, renounced the purple and went into retirement, but the enforced idleness and his desire for power and action, induced him to again resume the imperial power. In the field near Lodi, where the oath of allegiance of the army has been received, Maximian begins his triumphant return, and we see him again amid the people crowding the streets, impatient to see him again. He enters the imperial court where Constance, a sister of Constantine, and Licinius, the young Caesar of Illyrium, and Fausta are waiting the arrival of their august relation. The love affair between Constance and Licinius is discovered by Fausta, who has instructions to prevent this alliance from being consummated, as Maximian himself has set his heart on winning Constance. As soon as he enters the palace, and the tumult of greetings cease, he goes into the ladies' room and, dismissing Fausta with a sign, is left alone with Constance, whom he tries to win through flattery, but she refuses him. She goes secretly to St. Maternus and listens to his inspiring words, receiving the right of Christian baptism from his hands. Fausta, having followed Constance, sees all and hastens to tell her father of her discovery. Maximian orders a banquet in the hope that the allurements of pleasure will break down the stubborn defense of Constance. Even this fails, for Constance does not even go near the banqueting room. Maximian then calls together the pagan priests; he annuls his decree, giving tolerance to Christianity. Thousands of confessors of Christ will fall. Constance alone, by giving herself up, will be able to appease the bloody sword of the persecutor. He forces the young neophyte, Constance, to be present at the gladiatorial games. A populace present at the games at the hecatomb of martyrs. The heart of the young Christian girl undergoes a terrible martyrdom, but the bravery of these martyrs gives the girl the firmness that only faith can produce. Maximian, again failing in his attempt to win Constance, tries again, and goes to the field of Lodi and, summoning the army, he orders incense to be thrown upon the pagan tripod. Here again Christian heroes give up their lives to their faith, their bodies are carried in chariots before the imperial seat, before the eyes of Fausta and Constance. Realizing that there is no peace in the court of Maximian for her, she, with her companions, mount their horses and rush to the Court of Constantine. Here exists no bacchanalian orgy, but the sweet calm of virtue. Constantine, amid the lowly, the oppressed and the poor, does his work of upright government. Constance tells her powerful brother all of the horrible plots in which she has been involved and the terrors she has seen. In the meantime, Maximian and Fausta plot the death of Constantine and send the corrupt centurian, Elvius Brutus, to execute the treasonable deed. Through a trick, this design is frustrated, but Brutus is led to believe that his work has been carried out and he tells Maximian, who comes before the gallis coharts, exclaiming: "Constantine is dead. I am your emperor!" "Constantine is living!" interrupts a powerful voice, and the austere monarch appears among a crowd of faithful followers. Maximian is put to death and Fausta, fearing the penalty for her part in the plot, rushes word to her brother, Maxentius, in Rome, who declared war on Constantine. Gathering his coharts together, Constantine crosses the snowy Alps and carries the war into Italy. As day is declining, Constantine, unable to rest, paces to and fro between the tents when, at last, his eyes catch sight of something dazzling in the direction of the sun. He sees a splendid cross in the blue heaven in all its glory, with the inscription: "In Hoc Signo Vincis," but the Emperor, not comprehending the meaning of this sign, was further instructed in the clear night where a vision of the Lord Himself appeared, telling him: "By this sign you will conquer," and directing him to engrave the Holy Cross on his shields. The army resumes its march toward Rome, exulting at the miracle. Meeting the army of Maxentius on the Banks of the Tiber, the battle wages fiercely for hours, but eventually, the followers of Maxentius are put to rout and retreat across the Tiber on bridges made of boats, which give way, carrying Maxentius and his men to their death. Having made his triumphal entry into Rome, the first thought of Constantine is to pay homage to the chief of Christianity, Pontifex St. Melchiades. He prostrates himself at his feet, together with the dutiful Constance and promises to give Christianity free liberty and, as a token of filial reverence, gives the magnificent palace of the Lateran, to be the mother church of all the churches of the world. We see Constantine in his triumphant dress in the same imperial hall where the last bloody persecution had begun. Licinius hastens to Milan to joint his beloved Constance, and has signed the decree giving full liberty to Christianity. He is flanked by a victorious host and looks at the people crowded and acclaiming while the herald reads the imperial messages, "We, Constantine and Licinius Augustus, being at Milan to make joint treaties concerning the welfare and security of our people amongst the things which we deem enhancing the prosperity of our subjects, we specially give importance to those that have reference to the homage due to the Divinity and thus we have given to the Christians and to all citizens of the Roman people the liberty to follow the form of faith which each one may severally prefer." The forum is deserted, the darkness of night prevails and Constantine is alone in his hall lighted up by the soft rays falling from a lamp; he holds in his hands a little tablet containing the decree and is meditating. A few lines contain the history of the world. He closes his eyes and before his mind appears in review the facts which led Christianity to victory after so many centuries of bloodshed. Footsteps awaken the Emperor. Constance and Licinius, with their arms interlocked, enter. Constantine sees and smiles. In the triumph of faith and justice, innocent love also has its victory.
- It was Christmas Eve in the south, but the spirit of peace and love did not pervade the northern girl's heart. The gallantry of the young southern swains, however, was more than manifest, when a drunken band of Unionists entered the house, among them her sweetheart. From him was protection needed most. His rival, a Confederate soldier, showed her that character is far above political principle, and true love came into its own.
- When a woman's heart turns to stone, that is the time to watch out for her, for the possibilities are that you win lose her. This was Broncho Billy's experience, anyhow. Although he had been warned that a Mexican was trying to steal his wife away from him, he trusted her implicitly. The time arrived, however, when the Mexican tried to elope with Broncho Billy's wife. Unexpectedly Broncho Billy returned to his home and discovered that the Mexican was hiding in the clothes closet. To give him a good scare, Broncho Billy fired a few shots into the closet, above the head of the villain. Though it hurt him beyond expression, Broncho Billy ordered the Mexican on his horse, placed the weeping form of his wife beside him, and ordered them away, never to return again.
- Oftentime it has been proved that the own children of a family have proved less loving and considerate than those who have been adopted. And so it was in the case of the adopted brother of this family. He became the sole support, while the old gray-haired father sat by the fire, the young daughter looked after the house and the degenerate brother went off to the saloon with his questionable companions. The money for his debauches was often supplied by the adopted young brother. The brother has just left for the saloon, and the adopted son follows him to the village, just in time to see the drunken crowd throw a stranger out of the saloon. He is jestingly known as the "book-writer," and his drunken debauches are the talk of the good people and the abuse of those of his kind. The boy befriends the author by taking him to his cabin. Here while he sleeps off his drunken stupor, the boy reads some of the manuscripts lying on the table. When the author awakens the boy seeks to encourage him into a fresh start and begins to arouse new courage in the writer. Meanwhile back in the saloon there is another fight. A drunken farmer coming out is met by one of his former hands who demands the pay that is coming to him. The farmer underpaid the man. There is a struggle between the two and a large roll of bills is displayed. The degenerate brother and his friends coming out of the saloon see the money and decide to follow the man and rob him. They do this. The boy returning home from the author's cabin comes upon them and is an unwilling witness to their crime. They see him, and pursuing him into the nearby bushes they threaten and abuse him until he agrees to keep silent. As he is passing the sheriff's house he sees the man who had been robbed on the porch while the hand who had previously quarreled with him is also there and being accused of the crime. A strong sense of rebellion against his degenerate brother arises in the boy's mind. All his life the other man has made people suffer. The boy decides to stand by the truth and he goes to the sheriff and tells him the true story of the crime. Thus the degenerate brother and his friend are brought to justice. Some time later while they are working on the stone heap not far from the prison a fight arises between an unruly prisoner and a guard. It is an opportunity they have long been looking for and they make good their escape. Successful in evading the guards, they hide under a rocky cliff. Presently upon the height above they see two men fighting; one renders the other unconscious and the two convicts see in this a chance to cover their own tracks. They steal up behind the two men and rob them of their clothes. In their new garb their first thought is for vengeance on the adopted brother who had been the cause of all their suffering. They seek him at the home, but he is bidding goodbye to the author, who is leaving that locality, a changed man, due entirely to the boy's influence. They intimidate the girl into telling his whereabouts, but on their departure she goes to the house to find the boy. She meets him on the street returning from the author. The two convicts, however, had seen him from a distance, and jumping on two horses they find by the roadside they follow in quick pursuit. The girl runs for the sheriff and the chase continues. The author on the outside of the town, however, had stopped to rest. The boy, followed by the two convicts, pass by on their horses. He takes in the situation at a glance and following after the two he reaches them just as they are about to fall upon the boy. In the struggle he kills one and he himself is shot by another. The other convict falls into the hands of the sheriff. Thus the good done another returns to the boy and frustrates the evil design that was to be perpetrated against him for the price of a life.
- From the dungeon where the lean beasts prowled, Hassan Bey summoned from her young lover's arms the old rug maker's daughter. Still she was obdurate. In his madness, he had poisoned his other love with the deadly sting of a serpent. His fury spent, he fell from bey to man, and sought to atone according to his light.
- Dr. Warren, a reserved man of a seemingly stern, cold nature, which is roused only in behalf of his loved profession, is an army surgeon, stationed in India. In the pursuit of his duties, he leaves his beautiful, pleasure-loving wife, Alice, to her own devices. Captain Richard Alston, a handsome young officer, tries to make up for the husband's neglect by paying the pretty wife decided attention. Dr. Warren's suspicions are aroused, but at this juncture he is called away by an attack of plague at the river camp, some distance away, where a serum that he has discovered is demanded to stem the death rate. Dr. Warren works heroically among the wretched huts of the natives, nursing the sick and burning down the hovels to prevent the spread of the infection. In her loneliness, Alice sends for Captain Alston. On the road he encounters a child stricken with the plague. Alston puts the little one on the saddle before him and gallops away toward the hospital. When later he arrives at the Warren villa he reels with an awful sickness; the deadly infection has overtaken him. Alice, horrified and distressed, suddenly discovers a note to her husband, advising him of the plague at the river camp. This is her first knowledge of the reason for his absence, and suddenly she realizes that it is her husband she fears for most, and loves most, after all. At this moment the Indian servant announces the approach of Dr. Warren, returning after successfully accomplishing his surgical labors. Alice drags Alston into an adjoining room and goes to meet her husband. The doctor wonders at her nervous, frightened manner, when there is a sudden crash in the next room. The doctor rushes in, his terrified wife following, and finds Captain Alston prostrate on the floor. Alice springs between the angry husband and the helpless officer. Dr. Warren pushes her aside, and going into his laboratory, selects a revolver from the wall. As he turns to go, Alice confronts him and forcefully reminds him of his duty as a soldier and a surgeon. Torn by conflicting emotions but moved by his sense of professional duty to suffering humanity, the doctor hesitates only a moment. Forgetting all other impulses, he treats and cures the stricken captain. After Alston recovers, he goes to the doctor and promises to do whatever may be asked of him as atonement. The doctor asks him to promise to leave the country forever. Then, turning to his wife, he tells her to choose whether she will go with the captain or remain with him. Alice, now awakened to the full nobility of her husband, asks him to let her remain. The doctor, too, realizes his neglect of Alice, and husband and wife are at last united on the basis of a greater understanding and a truer and more abiding bond.
- Claude Melnotte, an artist of lowly birth, is spurned by the proud Pauline, daughter of the wealthy Lyons merchant, Deschappelles. Beauseant, a rich gentleman who has been refused with levity by Pauline, plans to be revenged for the insult. He sees Claude Melnotte place a bouquet on the windowsill of Pauline's room. Pauline finds a note in the bouquet and when she discovers that her secret admirer is Claude Melnotte, the son of a gardener, she throws the flowers into the street. Beauseant follows Claude home, and persuades him to assume the fictitious title of "Prince of Como" for which purpose Beauseant furnishes money. Claude signs a contract, agreeing not to reveal his true identity until Beauseant gives him permission. Beauseant equips him with the valuable dress and trinkets of his supposed princely rank, introduces him to the leading society, and obtains for him an invitation to the home of the merchant Deschappelles. Pauline is enchanted with the Prince, and his rank and apparent wealth prove too much for her when Claude proposes marriage. She accepts him and the wedding takes place with great pomp and splendor. Meanwhile Claude has told his mother of his deception and has asked her to help him to comfort Pauline when she is disillusioned. He has to take Pauline to his mother's home as he has no other home for her. Pauline is heartbroken when she finds that she is the guest of a poor cottager instead of the mistress of a wonderful castle. Finding Pauline inconsolable Claude suggests that she divorce him, and having no hope in life left him, he enlists, goes to war, and Pauline returns to her father's home. He is promoted for bravery and returns two years later as Col. Melnotte. During Claude's absence Deschappelles has lost his money and Beauseant has come to the rescue, making the hand of Pauline his condition. Claude is just in time to prevent the marriage, and win Pauline for his own again. The scene closes with Pauline in the arms of Claude.
- Tom Morton, in love with Elsie, is unaware that his friend, Jack Winters, also loves her and is trying to win her away from him. While out riding one day, Tom sees a little Indian child playing with a rattlesnake. He shoots the rattler and thereby gains the gratitude of the child's mother. Returning to her hut with the child, the mother is beaten by her husband, Sancho, while he is in a drunken frenzy and she, swearing vengeance, follows him with a gun. In the meantime Tom and Sancho meet and have an altercation. As Tom draws his gun, the squaw shoots from ambush and Sancho drops dead. Men rushing out of the store find Tom with his gun drawn and he is accused of the murder. Jack who has been attracted by the queer action of the squaw, follows her and witnesses the firing of the shot, but remains silent, planning to have Tom convicted of the murder and thereby winning Elsie. The day before the trial, Jack frightens the squaw into leaving by telling her that she is suspected of the murder and she, after a night of wandering falls exhausted at the door of Elsie's home. While being cared for by Elsie and her mother the squaw recognizes the picture of Tom and upon being told the cause of Elsie's grief she confesses that she killed Sancho. Elsie immediately takes her to the court house where she tells her story. As she finishes the exposure, the wounds inflicted by her husband prove fatal and she falls dead at the feet of the man she has saved.
- Lucile has married Ed Wilson, but still continues to receive visits from Tom Hughes, a former suitor and friend of her husband, who works in the same office with him. Tom generally announces his arrival by a yodeling call outside the house, and is always given an enthusiastic welcome by both husband and wife. Estrangement results between Ed and Lucile when she sees Tom getting along in the office better than her husband. Ed becomes discouraged and takes to drink, and is finally discharged from the office. Tom suggests to him that the right thing to do would be for him to drop out of Lucile's life and give her a chance for happiness with another man. Late one night, Ed leaves the house and starts for the west. Chance, in the form of a railroad accident, favors him, and he is able to lose his identity by changing clothes and papers with an unrecognizable victim. Tom identifies the papers and the dead man is buried as Ed Wilson. Two years later Lucile marries Tom. Ed, meanwhile, has assumed the name of "Bill Stanton," and is making good as a forester in the great northwest. Within a few years he becomes enormously wealthy, and one day, by chance, he meets a clerk from his former office. He hears of Lucile's marriage to Tom and is told also that Tom had so neglected and ill-treated her that she had died, suspicion pointing to Tom as her murderer, though nothing could be proven against him. Ed resolves to be revenged on Tom and starts toward the city, sending word that he is coming. His letters become more and more frequent until the thirteenth announces that he is in the city. By means of the call which Tom has formerly used when calling at his house, Ed reduces Tom to a state of absolute terror. He finally enters Tom's house and the final act of his vengeance is accomplished. In the struggle between the two men Ed is shot and dies a few moments after his victim.
- An Italian street dancer rises to stardom and is shot by her jealous lover.
- Dr. Kaishian, an adept at hypnotism, visits a department store, where he meets a young saleswoman. Unable to resist his magnetic eyes, Nora becomes a willing slave, and is duly ensconced in his home. Here she is soon disillusioned, but the Oriental servant, Nagon, prevents her from escaping. Dr. Kaishiau in the park observes a beautiful woman walking with her husband, William Armstrong. Contriving a ruse whereby he can scrape an acquaintance, he brushes rudely into the couple, and in profuse apology, tenders his card. When the Armstrongs return home, they find one of their children ill, and their regular physician being out on a call, they think of their chance acquaintance with Dr. Kaishian, who is summoned. The wily doctor loses no time to enmesh Mrs. Armstrong, and before he leaves he has reduced her to a state of servility by the exercise of his hypnotic talents. He compels her to follow him immediately from the house. She attempts to write a letter to her husband, stating that she is going against her will, and just has time to blot it, when the hypnotist tears it up, and forces her to inscribe another, stating that she is leaving voluntarily, and that he will never see her again. The distracted husband is told by the maid that she suspects Dr. Kaishian is at the bottom of his wife's elopement, and Armstrong rushes to the home of the doctor, who professes deep solicitude. He extracts an apology from the husband, even while the wife sits in a hypnotic state behind the curtains in the same room. Nora, burning with anxiety to expose the evil doctor, is ruthlessly seized by the Hindoo servant, who bears her away, When Armstrong leaves, the doctor hastens to the room where Nagon has concealed Nora and orders him to place her in a dry cistern, and drown her by turning a flooding device. While the Oriental is manipulating the mechanism, the girl seizes the opportunity to wrest from him the iron lever, and deals him a terrific blow on the head, and escapes, while the water wells up and makes him suffer the fate he had intended for her. Upon Armstrong's return from his futile quest, the maid rushes forward with additional evidence that the wife is a prisoner in the doctor's house. This is furnished by the blotter she used when she wrote the first message that the doctor tore up. This time he determines to succeed. The Armenian is prepared for the terrific encounter that ensues. Through the rooms the wrathful Armstrong and the now terrified hypnotic battle until he reaches where he has a gun concealed. He stands in front of a curtain, and just as he is about to fire at Armstrong, Nora, who is on the opposite side, plunges a stiletto into his side, and he falls dead. Armstrong recognizes his wife's scream, locates her, and is again happy with her and her children. The police come and discover the evil doctor's body, but not before Nora is far from the house of iniquity.
- A Lord's daughter elopes with a man who is arrested when he dons a dying highwayman's coat.
- Mary has two admirers, John and Hal, but while her father and mother approve of John, Mary selects Hal, marries him and moves to another state where, after staking out a claim, both start to work it. Mary is injured by an explosion at the mine, and Hal writes her parents to come. In the meanwhile, he has met a dance hall girl, Cally, and as the accident has blinded his wife, he makes love to "the woman who don't care" in her presence. Doctor Scott performs an operation on Mary's eyes and after removing the bandages, lifts the shade, but the first thing the wife's eyes fall upon is her husband with Cally in his arms. It is the last straw, for months she has been made to realize how thoroughly worthless a man she has married in preference to the nobler John. Cally and Hal elope, but the horse runs away, instantly killing the woman, and Hal soon follows her. However, Mary is not left alone, for her parents arrive and with them is John, who has come to offer what aid is in his power, and to later take his place beside the woman he loves and who now loves him.
- Lieutenant Banks, of the United States Army, on special service in Japan, secretly courts Mirami, the daughter of a Samurai. Osaki, her brother, discovers the situation and warns his sister against the American. Banks is ordered back to America, and tells Mirami to be faithful and he will send for her. A year passes, and Lieutenant Banks marries an American girl, while Mirami still faithfully believes that he will return to her and her infant. She has been disowned by her father, and is living alone with a servant. The United States Ambassador writes to Banks, telling him about the child, and he replies, "I was shocked and surprised to bear the news. I want to do all I can for the baby. Explain to Mirami the social barrier that prevented my marrying her. Beg her to send the baby to me that I may look out for his future. Cable me result." Osaki has been ordered to America in the secret service of his country, and he plots with his sister for revenge on Banks. She complies with Banks' request and sends the baby to him, but travels on the same boat, disguised as a man, accompanied by Osaki. In California Osaki secures employment as a fisherman, while Mirami is engaged by Lieutenant Banks as servant. Her face touches his memory, hut in her disguise he does not recognize her. While in Japan Banks has secured maps of great value, and Osaki seeks to recover them. In the dead of night Mirami enters his room and secures the papers, passing them to her brother on the outside, through a window. Banks hears a slight noise and sees the figures in the darkness. He fires and mortally wounds Mirami, while Osaki makes his escape. The dying girl is carried to a bed, and Banks learns her identity. His wife comes into the room, bat Mirami has lapsed into the coma of death. Banks is alone with her as she expires, and falls to his knees by her side in a paroxysm of grief. Far away, safe from pursuit, Osaki destroys the papers he has traveled so far to secure.
- The simple truth presented in this picture is that man is a combative animal and a predatory one. This is especially true where a woman is the prize covered by two males. The lady in the case is an ex-circus rider by the name of Pauline. She is married to a man of wealth, and preserves a memory of a circus performer, who in this case contributes his modest share to human evolution by walking a tightrope. This is about all that he does well, and there is nothing doing on the credit side of his ledger when he calls upon Pauline at a time when she begins to long for a little variety in life, such as is afforded by automobile tastes with a trolley-car income, the lot of the average circus performer. The husband does not approve of the invader, and instead of carrying his wife away to Palm Beach for a season he bursts into all kinds of rage; there are fifty-seven varieties shown in this screen portrayal, and so outrages his wife's self-respect that she leaves him and goes back to the old life, taking her little girl along. On account of this act of folly on her part, her husband decides to devote the remainder of his existence to the business of retaliation. With the privileges his wealth and leisure afford for doing something worthwhile, he devotes his career to gratifying a bitter desire, sure indication of a perverted or decadent mind. He goes forth completely disguised and reappears as the proprietor of a circus in order to effect a dramatic vengeance and he thus becomes the employer of his wife and her lover. He is not particularly subtle, else he could have driven them gradually into acute poverty, the worst punishment doled out to human beings of health and ambition. He bides his time until the rope walker is dazzling an audience. (The audience is made up of exhibitors who visited the Vitagraph yard during the convention.) The dirty work, that of cutting the rope, is discovered and some athletes climb up rope ladders to the swings to save the little girl on the ropewalker's shoulders, the daughter of the man who planned the dastardly deed. The husband now realizes that his scheme may react and attempts to climb after the athletes, but his time has come. The men on the swings save the child through their daring and skill. For some reason or other they also save the family breaker as well. The husband, who felt himself to be a wronged man because of the loss of his wife and child, who attempted to destroy the enemy of his peace and happiness, falls to his death.