- During the American Revolution, an American girl, played by Betty Harte, hides her soldier sweetheart, played by Hobart Bosworth, when British Redcoats occupy her plantation. Through a ruse with a gullible sentry, she rides to warn General Washington (Tom Santschi) of an impending attack by the British troops.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
- It is Philadelphia in the year of '76. The British arc in possession. In the opening scene we see them roystering in the open streets. An old Quaker arrives at the home of the widow Morton to find young Harry Grey, a captain in the Colonial army, and sweetheart of Pamela, the widow's pretty daughter, saying farewell on the steps. "Thou art a rash lad to have ventured here to see thy sweetheart in that uniform, and our town crowded with red coats." The mother appears and urges the boy to fly. An old negro servant rushes on to say to Massa Harry that his life depends on immediate flight. The young man laughs and dashes away, followed by the servant. Just here the neighbor's daughter is seized in the street by a drunken soldier. She screams and runs into the yard of the Mortons for protection. This action is too much for the man of peace, and the sturdy follower of William Penn promptly throws the brute into the street. He rises, draws his sword, only to be confronted by Major Breen, of His Majesty's army, who orders him away, apologizing to the family, and he and his brother officer are introduced to the ladies as the particular members of His Majesty's service who will take up quarters at the widow's spacious mansion. The British were there providing for quarters for their officers throughout the stricken city. In the next picture, pretty Pamela is at her dressing table. When the old servant rushes in to tell her that her sweetheart has failed to get through the lines, and is on the roof outside her window. He comes in, closely pursued by two Hessians. Pamela's wits work rapidly as the young man is about to give himself up. She thinks of the wardrobe; Harry conceals himself. The two officers quartered in the house enter, one goes to look behind the curtains of the bed, but Major Breen's eyes are on the young girl, he sees the quick look of anguish she gives toward the wardrobe. He draws his pistol and takes aim at the door. Pamela screams and shields her lover's hiding place. Breen orders the young man to give up, further concealment appearing useless. Harry steps forward. Love has shown the young girl that there is still a chance. As the Major is enjoying his brief triumph the young American officer throws up the muskets of the two soldiers and escapes through the window. As the Major turns to fire at the retreating man, Pamela seizes his wrist and the bullet meant for her lover's heart embeds itself in the ceiling. Pamela's chum disposes of the other officer by pushing him headlong into the spacious bed, and holds him prisoner, while Harry makes good his escape. Six months later. Major Breen and a party of fellow officers are whiling away the evening in the parlor of the Morton house over a huge bowl of punch, when the British general in command arrives to inform them of a plan of attack on Washington's weakened army that is to be put in execution that very night. The plan is given to the Major, as he is to lead the van. It reads: "Washington is encamped in a bend of the river. Our forces will unite with those of General Tryon. We will menace the evening on three sides and drive him back to the impassable river." The party breaks up. Cornwallis and the officers go to carry out their orders brought them by the General. Breen lights them out and carelessly leaves the plan of attack on the table. Pamela and the servant enter to restore the room to order. As she assists in cleaning the table she discovers the paper. Once possessed of its contents, she determines to warn General Washington. There is but one way to get through the lines. The Major's service clothes, carefully brushed and folded, he is in plain sight in the adjoining room. Her mind is made up. "Get my horse, be ready at the side door in five minutes.'' To get the clothes, dash up the stairs to her own room, takes but a moment. The Major returns, misses the important paper, sees an open window and thinks it has been stolen by a spy. He is astounded to see Mistress Pamela enter dressed in his uniform. An exciting scene occurs during which the brave girl wounds the Major and gets away. We next see Pamela dash away through the snow-covered streets with the plan of attack in her possession. She arrives at the sleeping camp to fall exhausted from her horse into her lover's arms. Washington, thus warned, arouses his soldiers and the girl returns and reaches her home just as the British army starts out on their errand of slaughter. A dispatch bearer from Tryon's army arrives and delivers to General Cornwallis the startling message: "Useless to move your army; Washington has crossed the Delaware." The picture story closes with a series of living tableaux in which the brave Colonial girl is seen clasped in the arms of her soldier lover, and thus ends one of the most striking reproductions of this eventful period. Love staged, a love story founded on facts, a tale of woman's heroism in the "Days of '76." -- The Moving Picture World, July 11, 1908
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