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- Dick Blair, the idle son of millionaire parents being born with a "silver spoon in his mouth" like many another of the "Idle rich," abuses his opportunities and becomes in early manhood, a dissipated man about town. In spite of repeated warnings and also threats of disinheritance, he continues in the "pace that kills" until his father, realizing that unless the boy is thrown upon his own resources and made to feel actual want, he would go to an early grave, finally drives him from the home that had sheltered him since childhood, and orders him to make his own way in the world. His new life begins when he saves from drowning the daughter of a famous banker and modestly disappears after the heroic deed. In answering an application for a private secretary, he finds his employer to be the father of the girl whom he had saved from drowning. The daughter of the banker recognizes Dick as her rescuer and the banker takes a special interest in him. Dick's sterling qualities eventually win him a junior partnership with his employer and also the hand of the girl whom he rescued from a watery grave. Proud of his wife and the position in life he has attained, he calls upon his father and a happy reconciliation follows.
- Two well-to-do brothers, Tom and Jerry, have been associated in business for years, and the affection existing between them is something remarkable. Through the loss of his wife, Tom is given to melancholy and shows sign of a mental breakdown. This culminates in a complete aberration when his only daughter elopes with a young man from the Golden West, who has been visiting relatives in the vicinity. Jerry receives a letter from his niece in her new home and he decides that a change of scene would be beneficial to Tom's condition. They go west and are discovered in their western home having brought family jewels, heirlooms and the proceeds of the sale of their eastern property. An adventuress known as "The Badger Queen" in league with a desperado, has been doing the Lady Raffles act along the borders of New Mexico and Arizona. It is a singular method they adopt to secure hush money. She secures lodging at ranches and then disappears. Her paramour threatens exposure and is usually bought off. They play the same game upon the unsuspecting brothers and make their "getaway." They are, however, under suspicion and the sheriff soon rounds them up and recovers the loot, bringing them back for identification. This leads to the happy reunion of the family. The sight of the daughter and her little child happy in the love of her husband and his mother brings a ray of reason to Tom's mind and he eventually is restored to health and his reason returns.
- Nell O'Connor, an Irish patriot, feared by the English, and loved by the Irish, is compelled to seek refuge among the hills to avoid being captured and probably hung, as a traitor. Sir James Blackadder is anxious to see Nell O'Connor caught, as he is in love with Lady Broughton, who is the promised wife of O'Connor. Sir James employs a notorious character, Red Rufus, to spy upon O'Connor, and offers him a large reward if O'Connor is captured, but O'Connor has many friends, among them being Pike and Honora, two simple-hearted, loyal Irish patriots, who aid O'Connor throughout his forced exile. When Sir James shows Lady Broughton a pardon for O'Connor, and threatens to burn it up unless she becomes his wife, Honora manages to obtain the pardon, secretes it on her person and replaces same with another paper, which Sir James burns. When O'Connor is captured and brought before Sir James, who is about to commit him to Jail, in spite of the pleadings of Lady Broughton, Pike and Honora spoil this plan by producing the pardon.
- When the stern old judge was notified that twelve decided men had arrived at a verdict and were waiting to deliver same to the court, a hush fell over the crowded room. The prisoner, pale but hopeful, took his stand in front of the jury and searched their faces for a sign of encouragement. His mother and the girl smiled cheeringly and whispered words of hope. The last scene in a long and bitterly fought murder trial was about to take place. The only evidence against the accused was purely circumstantial. Yet the jury convicted him and he was sentenced to death. The story leading up to this point, tells the details of the midnight attack. It also takes the reader through a maze of conflicting situations on to the concluding scenes when justice is finally meted out to the guilty one. Nothing has been so well and carefully told in pictures before. There are twenty-five distinctive scenes in which upwards of fifty acting people are seen to advantage.
- A young squire has fallen in love with the pretty daughter of one of his tenants. Unfortunately he has never been able to declare his love to the pretty Irish lass for lack of opportunity. While visiting among his tenants with his sister, they come to the home of the girl's parents and the young squire makes the best of this opportunity, declares his love, and asks the pretty colleen to become his wife. Although flattered by the offer of the young squire, the lass hesitates about accepting, as she loves and is beloved by a handsome Irish lad of her village. Being undecided, she asks the squire for time and assures him of her answer on the morrow. The squire returns to his home and writes a note to the colleen, stating that he will call the following day for his answer. As the girl is perusing the epistle and pondering over the dilemma she falls asleep. She dreams that she has married the squire and that he has grown tired of her: he has even gone so far as to hire assassins to waylay and murder her. The timely arrival of her former sweetheart and his heroic battle with the hired assassins saves her from this violent death. The young squire meeting his wife and her former sweetheart becomes insanely jealous. He is about to kill her when her former sweetheart begins a desperate struggle and accidentally kills the young squire. Soldiers passing that way come upon the scene and place the Irish lad under arrest for the murder of the squire. The lad is condemned to death and the day is set for his execution. The girl then realizes how great her love is for the poor Irish lad and also that her marriage to the squire was a great mistake. She visits the lad in his cell on the last day and as he is led forth to the execution she falls in a faint. She wakes from this horrible dream sobbing bitterly, and makes up her mind as to the proper answer to give to the squire. When the squire calls on the following day she introduces him to the Irish lad who has been her sweetheart for years and thanking the squire for the honor of his proposal, assures him that she would rather be the wife of the Irish lad, whom she loved. The squire takes his defeat manfully and makes the happy couple a substantial wedding present sufficient to give them a start in life.
- When Marcelle Gireoux, beautiful, poised, mysterious musical comedy star appeared at the Gayety, and Brisbane saw her, he soon began to take observations. He observed that her presence planted Vesuvius in his heart. He arranged for an introduction at the first opportunity and was admitted behind the scenes, to her dressing room. Marcelle liked Brisbane and made no secret of it, but he misunderstood her affection for a stronger feeling and imagined his conquest would be an easy one. But hers was a companionable sort of friendship and she allowed him to go no further. Meanwhile Brisbane was neglecting his home, his business, everything for this woman. He deluged her with endearing letters, showering her with presents. Madly he promised himself to win this ideal of his dreams. Marcelle, by mere accident learned of Brisbane's home ties and discovers the cause of his wife's broken heart. She realizes what a terrible mistake she has innocently made in leading this man on, so she determines to open his eyes to the fact that their relationship must cease. A note dispatched to Mrs. Brisbane and another to him bring them both to the apartment of the actress, where he is brought to the realization of his folly in the nick of time. Some time later, Marcelle, with her husband and child, pay the Brisbanes a friendly call and find them happy in each other's love, made stronger each day by the memory of one who lifted the clouds and made the sun to shine in two lives where doubt and despair existed.
- Unable to wreak her vengeance upon the artist who spurned her and married another, she waits five long years with the memory of the insult fresh in her mind, she seeks other channels and strikes at him through his younger brother. The former model has become a famous actress, and among the playwrights who seek her is the brother of the man who had spurned her. It is an easy matter for the famous actress to make a slave of the young author and when he has introduced her to his family as his fiancée she meets the elder brother, now a happily married man, and tells him that she is only playing with the affections of his younger brother. "As you, have made me suffer, I shall make you suffer through the love you bear for your brother; as you cast me off, so shall I cast him off." The innocent victim of this woman's vengeful spirit is an unwilling listener to this denouncement, and, realizing how his life has been blasted by his love for this woman, falls unconscious at her feet.
- Jack Mason, the successful Wall Street magnate becomes insane from overwork, his insanity takes the form of hatred and jealousy toward his loyal wife. He attempts to kill her and is sent to a sanitarium as a dangerous maniac. Information comes of his escape from the sanitarium, and cannot be found. His wife takes up the search single handed. Emaciated and ragged she finds him in one of their former trysting places and in attempting to escape from her, he falls down a deep cliff and is found there unconscious. The fall regains his reason. The first face he gazes upon is that of his devoted wife, and her devotion brings him back to health and reason.
- Chuck Westman was that type of plug ugly and strong-arm man at one time prevalent in the city of New York, but thanks to the strenuous measures on the part of the police department, now almost, if not quite, extinct. A gang leader by reason of his abnormal brute strength, he held sway in a section of the lower East Side, obtaining funds to support himself and adherents in idleness by intimidating inoffensive merchants and other residents of the section to purchase tickets to fake balls and picnics, and which they gladly bought realizing that otherwise they would meet with physical violence. Long immunity from punishment due to political pull, the result of his controlling and influencing a large number of votes. Chuck became callous and unmindful of the fact that just punishment must sooner or later be his lot. These conditions also permitted a wide-open town, and in the days when the lid was off gambling places still existed in the Metropolis, and it was in one of these that John Stone, a society and business man to all intents and purposes, but in reality a sharp and card cheat, was caught at his tricks and exposed and thrashed in the presence of a number of friends, who formerly held him in high esteem. Burning with resentment and not possessing the moral and physical courage to inflict a punishment he thought due his assailant, he sought out Chuck Westman in his haunts, to enlist his services in obtaining revenge. Negotiations were satisfactorily made, but the cost was high and Chuck Westman, secure in the belief that he could easily earn the price offered without suffering any consequences, undertook, with the assistance of some of his gang, to administer a beating to Richard Harding, a wealthy young club man who had exposed and thrashed John Stone. But little did Stone or Westman reckon on the consequences, for Harding, a well trained athlete, when assaulted more than takes care of himself and with the assistance of nearby police puts his assailants to flight. Harding possessing wealth and influence and also a determination to prevent further crimes of a similar nature, visits the chief of police and identifies the man who committed the assault upon him as Chuck Westman, by means of the Rogues' Gallery. An unknown or less determined citizen might not have received the consideration shown Harding and once again Chuck Westman might have gone scot free, but in this case it was policy to make an example of someone and therefore Chuck Westman finally met his just deserts. Captured in the rear of a low dive. Chuck after a violent fight temporarily eludes the detectives sent out to make his capture and seeks refuge in his own home; but orders have been given to these New York sleuths, "don't fail to bring in your man," and Chuck is finally captured on the roof of his home, after making a determined resistance. Chuck's family consists of his mother, wife and infant child, who witnessing Chuck's capture, realize that what they had long expected has now reached a definite conclusion. Chuck had never shown the slightest consideration for his family, but a woman's heart is a peculiar organ and, notwithstanding the neglect, abuse and beatings both mother and wife had been subject to, this touch was a son and a husband and their agony was just as strong as though he was a respected, law-abiding citizen. We pass over the trial, conviction and sentence of Chuck Westman, but fifteen years later he is discharged from prison, an aged, broken-spirited man whose associates and political friends having deserted him when he could no longer give value received for their efforts. Hungry and with no place to turn, driven from pillar to post, he is munching on a crust of bread taken from a refuse can when a young girl, noticing his condition, insists that he take her lunch. Long confinement and famine have made Chuck a weakling and with the assistance of a passerby his young benefactress insists upon taking him to her home. Chuck's family in the meantime have prospered; they were enabled to remove to a more respectable neighborhood. As the child crew up into a comely industrious girl her added earnings made the little family more than comfortable. It was to this home that Chuck's daughter led him, for it was she who found Chuck starving and ill. The past had all been forgotten and forgiven long ago. Chuck had had ample opportunity to reflect on the error of his ways while in prison and with an honest trade, learned during his incarceration, and a respectable and loving family to encourage him, he became and is now, what he never had been, a hard-working, honest and respected citizen.
- A seafaring man in moderate circumstances has left his daughter with his widowed sister and her crippled son at their modest home in Liverpool, England, while he goes to look after some property he had acquired in the Bermudas. He is taken suddenly and seriously ill aboard ship and a wireless message to this effect is sent from the S.S. Trent to his daughter. The aunt has not sufficient funds to pay for her niece's passage and the daughter therefore resolves to disguise herself as a boy, in one of her cousin's suits of clothes and steal her way aboard a schooner about to sail for Bermuda. She gets aboard the vessel and secretes herself in the lifeboat, where she is discovered when out at sea, by Dick Dead Eye, a villainous sailor. The Captain orders the flogging usually meted out to a stowaway, but the mate, a sympathetic, manly fellow, is struck by the boy's appearance and innocent manner and refuses to apply the lash. The Captain administers the Cat and in her struggle the sex of the stowaway is revealed. During the voyage the stowaway jumps overboard and saves the mate's life, which has been placed in jeopardy by the vengeful Dick Dead Eye. During the long trip to Bermuda the mate and the girl stowaway are constant companions, and love finally wins its way and the mate lays his heart and fortune at her feet. Arriving at Bermuda the lovers find the girl's father at the Seaman's Hospital, almost recovered and return with him to England by the first steamer where the young couple are happily married at an early date.
- The opening scene shows a massive banana plantation with the native men and women at work. A brutal overseer has abused a little native maid and discharged her from the plantation. The young American finds her in tears and learns the story of her persecution by the overseer, whom he sends for, and after a wordy war, the overseer is discharged. He leaves the plantation vowing vengeance upon the American, which he soon proceeds to do by inciting the plantation hands to kill the American and burn his home. The little native maid overhears the plot and starts to warn the American. She has been caught eavesdropping by the overseer and others and they pursue her and overtake her and leave her for dead. The girl, however, is far from dead as shown in the picture. With agonizing effort she drags herself through a field of ferns to where the American is lying in his hammock and tells him of the contemplated attack upon his home. He carries her into his house and proceeds to barricade the place against invasion. The girl in her weakened condition, unknown to the American, goes to the house of the Padre and begs the good Father to come to the aid of the American, which he proceeds to do, but the natives have reached the American's home in advance of him and besieged it, almost totally wrecking it. The American, aided by a native boy, has put up a gallant fight with overwhelming odds against them. With burning brands the place has been fired. Every window has been broken. The tumult is at its height as the priest reaches the scene and taking the holy cross from his girdle, he raises it aloft and in the name of the church he commands the natives to desist. The great power he wields over the natives is shown as they kneel in submission to his command. He orders them to carry off their wounded and leave in peace. The young American, wounded, totters from his ruined home and humble gives thanks to the good Father for saving his life. The scene is most impressive as the girl and the young American kneel to receive the Padre's blessing.
- What a price pride has paid in this world of ours. Had only young Mrs. Druce frankly told her husband, the only part of her family history with which he was not familiar, there would have been no family skeleton to rattle its bones in their household. Her only brother had been a wayward and dissolute boy, and as a man committed a crime for which he was sentenced to prison under an assumed name. Being one of several convicts to successfully escape from prison, he obtained shelter in the home of a poor hardworking brother and sister, gaining their sympathy in the guise of a workingman who had been injured by a fall and temporarily unable to labor. According to the demands of her convict brother for funds necessary to his flight from the country this weak sister took to him her pearl necklace, a recent present from her husband. All might have been well, had her husband been less proud of the personal appearance of his handsome young wife, for when he requested, then insisted, that she wear the necklace at a function they were to attend, the aid of the police was solicited to unravel the supposed theft. The convict did not want pearls, he needed money and not being well enough to attend to the matter, his young benefactor gladly conveyed a note and an innocent little package to a friend of the sick workingman. Now the police happened to have the addresses of all the connoisseurs of pearls, who were not out of town, and one of the first visits they paid was to the saloon in which our convict's pal made his headquarters. They arrived in time to get the pearls but they were still in the pocket of the convict's messenger. Silly little wife; your husband loves you; he didn't marry your family, he married you. Why don't you make a clean breast of it? But no, she must revisit her brother and demand back her necklace, perhaps she thought he would loan it to her for just a day or two. That is how she happened to be in the room with her brother when the police brought back the messenger to identify the poor sick workingman, who had sent him on an errand. That's why she left the room so unceremoniously with her convict brother by way of the ladder to the roof, and that was the cause of her descending to the street by means of the fire-escape, and that's how she arrived home and kept her terrible secret from her husband. For when the boy could not produce the poor sick man, the police had the thief who stole Mrs. Druce's pearl necklace. Nor did his little sister's story enlist any consideration until later on. This poor, little sister was a different kind of a sister, her wits had not been dulled by sitting on a family skeleton, but had been sharpened by fighting the wolf of hunger from the door, so she took a hasty trip to the roof and not fancying the view, sought the street via the fire escape, and being interested in the poor, injured workingman, found the one she wanted and when he was comfortably settled in one of his haunts she lost no time in making a call on the nearby police station. There she found a man in blue, they are not all alike, this one had some gray matter under his hair, that's why he wore some gold braid on his coat and that's why he had captain on his cap and that's why they call him chief to-day. He listened to the little sister's story; he took several officers with him, and he captured an escaped convict for whom the State had offered $1,000 reward, dead or alive. You know who deserved the reward and, of course, she got it, but best of all, she and brother gained a friend, for brother is now private secretary to the chief. Young Mrs. Druce? Why she buried her family skeleton. The convict had no reason to tell who he was.
- A big, strong, young American, the son of wealthy parents, instead of devoting his time to business and becoming a respected citizen, finds that a life of idleness and sport is more to his liking. Warnings and threats make no impression until the father, losing all patience, finally disowns him and drives him from the house. He soon discovers that the dollar is his best friend, as persistent efforts to borrow money from his fellow members at an exclusive club results in a polite request for his resignation. He falls lower and lower until finally he becomes a tramp. He becomes keenly aware of his condition when time and again he is driven from doorsteps or chased by dogs whose irate owners have no sympathy for tramps. Shunned by men, women and children in every walk of life, he becomes immune to all sense of feeling and sinks to the lowest levels. A little girl's kindness in offering part of her food opens his eyes and when the little girl's sister reproves him for the life he is leading and tells him to become a man. New courage enters into his shrunken and stupefied existence and he promises to make another effort. He comes to his father and pleads for another chance to make good. The yearnings of the boy's voice and his poor condition touches the father's heart and a reconciliation follows. With the picture of the young girl always before him the young man makes great strides in his business career, and when he presents himself at the home of the young girl whose kind words gave him courage to start life anew, she does not recognize his identity. She admires his manly spirit in confessing that he is the former tramp and as their acquaintance lengthens, she finds many other admirable traits in her handsome companion. From admiration to love is but a short step, which both take with evident pleasure.
- In Russia, a house was shrouded in gloom by the death of a kind and loving father and husband. Two children, boy and girl, the latter blind since birth, were left to comfort the sorrowing mother. In America an uncle learns of the death of his brother and sends a cable asking that the boy be sent to him. Arriving in New York, little Michael soon becomes the pride of his uncle and aunt. War breaks out with Spain and Michael enlists in the army. On the field of battle he proves himself a brave soldier. He succeeded in obtaining secrets by which the American forces put the Spaniards to rout and captured their most important stronghold. Badly wounded he lay in the field hospital until health and strength returned. After the war he returned to his uncle with an honorable discharge in his possession and a letter from the President commending him for his bravery. At home he found a message from the mother he left in Russia asking him to come and visit them if possible. The following week found Michael bound for his native land. During Michael's absence his little sister grew into beautiful womanhood, marred only by her sightless eyes. An officer in the Russian army once made an insulting remark to her and had followed her home. On the day of Michael's return she was sitting in the kitchen of their home expecting him. Suddenly she heard a step behind her and then was seized roughly and kissed while a voice which she recognized with horror warned her to remain quiet. Hearing the girl's scream for help her mother entered and would have been roughly handled but for the timely arrival of Michael who knocked the Russian libertine down in true Yankee fashion and drove him into the street, the Russian swearing vengeance. Michael suddenly taken prisoner by the Russian government accused of being a Russian subject plotting against his government. His assurance that he was an American citizen laughed at by the revengeful officer and he was led away to prison. His mother, frantic, rushed to the American Consul, prevailed upon him to investigate. Release of Michael demanded by Consul without result. The Ambassador returned to the embassy and cabled the Secretary of War of the U.S., calling for one of Uncle Sam's gunboats. The Secretary of War recalled the evidence he had of Michael's bravery and gave his consent. Again the American Consul visited the Governor-General's palace and demanded the release of Michael, but was laughed at for his pains. Just then an American admiral stalked in followed by a company of marines hearing the stars and stripes. Better judgment prevailed and the prisoner was given up. Later on Michael, the mother, blind sister with him, were taken on board the gunboat and returned to his own land of freedom.
- While due credit must be given to those women who have, by their wisdom, counsel and support made our domestic conditions what they are to-day, the wonderful prosperity of the United States as a whole is due to the extraordinary resources of the west, and therefore the places of honor in the niches of history rightfully belong to the women who so nobly assisted in settling and populating the great west. Stop and reflect what fortitude those women showed in venturing into the unknown wilderness, what heroism they displayed, surrounded by hostile Indians, and sacrificing their lives to eventually benefit all mankind. History is replete with the many instances of those acts, but mere words can but poorly represent to the mind the details of the exact incidents. To be able to view the actual occurrence cannot but indelibly impress upon the mind what we really owe these women pioneers. To see the simple life of these people, their sports, pleasures and hardships, and how, when the men folk are attending a country election, the red men take advantage of the situation and pillage and burn their homes. But better still to visually observe how these women, reared to danger, bravely protected their lives and property and also the wild rides of some of the women to warn their neighbors and bring the men to their rescue.
- The early history of the country is replete with thrilling adventure by land and sea, but it is safe to say no class carried a nefarious calling to such bounds as the pirates. These jolly freebooters led a rollicking life, cutting throats with an easy grace and piling up their ill-gotten treasures to tremendous proportions. History has proved that they seldom lived to enjoy their wealth; most of them "dying with their boots on." Capt. Boncoeur, one of the best of his profession, after being signaled goes ashore and learns that a gunboat is scouting in his vicinity; also that $5,000 reward has been offered for his capture dead or alive. He determines to abandon his ship, knowing he cannot pass the mouth of the bay, and cogitates how will he secrete his treasure. A happy idea occurs to him. Disguising himself as a merchant captain, he, after considerable difficulty, gets a note to the leading man of the place, saying his wife had died at sea and asking permission to use his family vault for a few days as a resting place for her body. The request is complied with and the supposed corpse is brought ashore in a coffin. The villagers show their respect and form a procession to the vault where it finds a resting place. Now in this little community of principally fishermen and their families, is a poor but beautiful girl names Mary. Jack Reynolds, the son of a wealthy landowner, becomes enamored of her, but her father interposes, his objection being owing to the difference in their stations. This is all very distressing to the young couple, who are to be separated for a short time, during which a jealous lover acts contemptibly and incidentally learns the identity of the pirate, and, smarting from a blow from him in Mary's defense, the vision of receiving the reward prompts him to go gunning for the freebooter. He surprises the pirate and gives him a mortal wound, but does not capture him. Staggering on to the beach, he meets Mary, and realizing his time has come, the pirate gives Mary a paper, saying, "The pirate's wife will yield your dower." The rival happens on the scene and steals the paper, meantime tying Mary securely. Jack, her lover, incidentally comes in and Mary explains. They run to the vault, open the coffin, and behold, not a corpse, but filled to the brim with golden treasure. Then they try a joke, hearing Pedro, the rival, coming to the vault. Mary gets into the coffin, and upon opening it Pedro thinks he is gazing on a spirit or else his senses are leaving him. His shrieks cause quite a crowd to gather. Mary explains his treachery and he is taken to prison. The fathers of the couple come to an understanding, and as Mary was Jack's equal in every particular except the cash, and as she now has an abundance of that necessity, thanks to the pirate, a match is made then and there for the happy couple.
- When a shiftless, worthless son advances the theory that he need not work so long as Dad is willing to and spends his time in pool rooms and other disreputable places, he is only one in thousands of others just like him. He doesn't mind if a loving mother grieves; he won't allow himself to realize she cares. He's in the rut and he's going to stay there. Then his father's house is robbed and suspicion points to the son. The evidence is strongly against him and things look dark. Luckily for him, a big-hearted desk-sergeant seems to think there's some good in the young fellow, at least he takes a chance of losing his stripes and shield, and allows him to go out of jail for twelve hours when the boy swears he can bring in the real culprit. Nor did the sergeant make a bad guess for the erring son did bring in the thief, and the money he stole, besides. You can imagine how proudly that desk-sergeant felt when he brought that boy home, acquitted of the crime, and led him to his grief-stricken mother. Dear old Dad tried to maintain a stern exterior but his trembling lip betrayed his inward emotion. Anyway, everybody seemed to realize a big lesson had been taught. A future loomed up ahead of the boy and he made up his mind to go after it. Perseverance won and he later on owned a paying business of his own. And, do you know, he blames "the copper" for it all.
- Living a frivolous, butterfly life, Eleanor Summerville cannot sacrifice her pleasure-loving habits for the sake of love, and refuses the offer of marriage of Frederick Robinson, but becomes the wife of Count von Bulow. When she hears of Robinson's success in the financial world, where he is known as one of America's multi-millionaires, she regrets her decision of having married the nobleman, and, notwithstanding the fact that Robinson is married, she decides upon winning him away from his wife. Although Robinson shows her, time and again, that he does not care for her, she, with the devilish cunning, traps him into a compromising position, and is discovered by her husband, who immediately issues a challenge to the man he thinks has ruined his home. Finding that the lives of two good men are at stake, she regrets her conduct and does everything in her power to stop the duel. The duel is fought and Robinson is wounded. In her efforts to stop the duel, she meets with a serious accident, from which she cannot recover. She confesses to her husband and exonerates Robinson of all blame. She does not survive from the shock and accident, and after receiving forgiveness from those she had wronged, she dies, praying for forgiveness from the Higher Power.
- Cupid has played many mischievous pranks and has sent his darts into many strange beings, but the strangest prank of all was when he sent his love dart into Bud Tucker, the burglar and all around bad man. Bud never knew the tender passion until be met Anne, the Salvation Lassie. While seeking to escape from the police he enters her room and she, recognizing him as the man who had returned her prayer book and one for whom she held out great hope as a convert, decides to protect him from the law's clutches. She orders him to jump into bed and when the police call she tells them that he is her sick brother. Through her influence he, in time, reforms and obtains a position as butler in the home of Anne s friends. Surrounded by good influence, trusted and respected, his cup of joy is full to overflowing. With the tenacity that characterizes him as a successful bad man, he adheres to his new principles in life and when his death occurs he is deeply mourned by his new friends.
- An Italian adventurer, posing as a nobleman arrives in New York accompanied by a beautiful woman who is introduced to society as He Countess Zingara. They are received in the most exclusive society circles and arrange to secure invitations to a grand ball given by a wealthy Italian banker in honor of a visiting foreign ambassador. When festivities are at their height, the banker's wife discovers the loss of a valuable necklace of pearls, valued at twenty-five thousand dollars. Her husband, desiring to avoid a scandal and not wishing to mar the pleasure of his guests, quietly telephones the Central Secret Service bureau for a trusted man. Petrosio, the famous Italian sleuth is assigned the case and he immediately calls at the banker's home where he is introduced as a foreign Count. Meanwhile, Murrile, the adventurer, drops the stolen necklace to confederates outside, and in doing so collects a quantity of dust on his coat sleeve leaving the imprint of his arm on the window sill. Petrosio is quick to notice the arm of Murrile and detects an expression of alarm on the face of his beautiful companion. Adopting various disguises, first as the cabby who drives the suspected pair from the ball, and later as an express man. Petrosio is successful in collecting a mass of damaging evidence against the suspects. When about to arrest Murrile and the fake Countess, Petrosio is taken prisoner by them but his life is saved by an Italian girl in the confidence of Murrile, who falls in love with him and takes his place in the large gunny sack which is to be thrown into the East River. Petrosio arrives at the dock with a reinforcement of blue coats in time to save the girl whom he takes to his home and cares for. Meanwhile, Murrile and his accomplice are preparing to leave for Europe. Petrosio learns their whereabouts and manages to answer Murrile's summons for an expressman to haul away their trunks. The pair are captured and taken to prison and the necklace restored to its owner, the gallant detective refusing a handsome purse from the banker for the work he accomplished.
- Tales are numerous of the miscarriage of justice. Many crimes have gone unpunished and not a few men have been sorely punished for criminal deeds never committed. But the man who goes through life with a conscience shattered by the knowledge of wrong inflicted on another usually comes to grief, sooner or later. So it is no wonder that one of the principals in this all-absorbing film narrative of ours, a wealthy broker, who accidentally filled one of his employees and told the world it was a case of suicide, was seized with frightful horror when confronted by a likeness of the dead man's face, many years after. Still, if the son was not likened unto his father, and had not applied for a position to the very man for whom his parent worked, eighteen years previous, the old broker would have no doubt carried his ever-haunting secret to his grave; but fate conspired to bring about proper restitution for the sorrowing family and a combination of circumstances served to add unusual interest to the unfolding of the plot.
- A young actor playwright and his wife are living in a furnished room. The wife rebels at the condition of affairs. After a quarrel she goes away with another man. The young husband is downcast at this, but he continues to peddle his play. He takes up his quarters at a boarding house and becomes acquainted with a stenographer, who soon falls in love with him. The man finally gets a manager to read over the play, but while awaiting a decision he is suddenly taken sick. Alone and helpless, he is thankful for the help of the stenographer, who proves a faithful nurse. He receives word that his play has been accepted and recovers in time to see it produced. After the success of the play he leaves the boarding house and apparently forgets all about the stenographer. She reads of his divorce and of his wonderful success as a playwright. When he again meets the girl he begins to realize the strength of her love. He proposes and is accepted. The man, now a popular playwright, spends most of his time at the club. He neglects his wife, but at the same time he is kind and considerate to her. The wife begins to realize that her husband does not have the love for her that she craves for. He is called away to witness the production of one of his new plays and while at the hotel he receives a telegram which informs him of an addition to his family. The first realization of what his wife has gone through comes over him. He hastens back home as quickly as possible and the sight of his wife and baby awakens the man to his sense of duty. The man's attitude toward his wife changes. The first wife sees her former husband and follows him to his home. Through the window she sees him happy and contented with his second wife and baby.
- Mrs. Dane, a wealthy widow, becomes interested in the son of her gardener, who is trying to become a lawyer. Mrs. Dane finally decides upon sending the young man to a New York law school, and after an affectionate farewell to his sweetheart, father, and friends, he leaves. A year later he has become one of the brightest students of the term. Mrs. Dane falls in love with the young man, and asks him to marry her. The student's father is apprised of this, and succeeds in having Mrs. Dane leave his son go back to his country sweetheart, who has been pining for him. The young lawyer reprimands Mrs. Dane in the midst of a reception, for her actions. Two years later Tom's sweetheart dies, and learning the truth from Mrs. Dane, accepts her as his wife.
- A yacht is wrecked off the coast and the sole survivor, the owner, is saved. He is taken care of in the home of the Walls, simple and honest fisher folk. Grace Wall had been the belle of the settlement but notwithstanding her score of suitors, she chose for her life's companion, Dave Wall, sturdy type of American coast fisherman, her senior in years. Their few years of wedded life had been one long honeymoon and if ever a marriage was planned in Heaven, theirs was the one. Devotedly attached to each other and with an infant child co complete their happiness, not a cloud had marred their married life. This was the home that sheltered, and the family that succored the yachtsman during convalescence from his injuries and the exhaustion in his battle with the merciless sea. While the husband attended to his daily duties, the yachtsman read to the young wife. Only a short time before the wreck she bad been obliged to physically protect herself from the advances of a scoundrel; during the absence of her husband from their home. Scorned and resentful this villain meted out a terrible punishment. His warped mind conceived the idea that the friendly relations between the rescued yachtsman and the young wife are of another character. He seeks out the husband and suggests to him that the young wife is in love with the man who had accepted his hospitality. Wall would have been less of a man had he not almost choked the breath from the body of the villain, and would have succeeded but for the interference of his companion fisherman. But sad to relate the devil protects his own, for when Wall forces the cur to prove his statement or have his worthless carcass fed to the fishes, he allows full play to his imagination and tells Wall a story that would arouse jealousy in the most calm of men. How our eyes deceive us, circumstantial evidence has made thousands of innocent appear guilty, and so it was when John following the advice of his false friend, spies upon his wife and finds her in the arms of the man he rescued from a watery grave. Broken hearted, Wall drives his wife and her supposed lover from his home. His wife being seen in the arms of the yachtsman was due to her meeting with accident. A misstep wrenched her ankle and in falling she was caught in the arms of the yachtsman. Generations of Puritanical blood flowed in the veins of this unreasoning husband, and the letters of explanation sent him by the misjudged wife were destroyed unopened. With the spirit that martyrs are made of, this suffering wife never lost courage, strong in the knowledge of her innocence she continued to write to her husband in the hopes that eventually justice would be done her. Refusing the help of the man who had innocently been instrumental in her separation from all she held dear, she supported herself by her needle and led a blameless life. The mills of the gods grind slow but sure and justice will not be denied, for the mother makes a final appeal and sends it to the daughter, who must now be old enough to understand and able to influence her father. That no time is lost in begging the wife and mother to return and that she received the welcome request with gratification and thanks to God is a foregone conclusion.
- The mother, with her son, visits an old friend of her husband's in hopes that she may secure a position for her boy in his office. The boy meets with the gentleman's approval and is engaged as a stenographer. In the office is a young man who has been living beyond his means. He robs his employer of a sum of money, and to throw suspicion form him, places some of the money in the boy's desk. The employer discovers the loss of the money, a detective is called and in his search the detective finds the money in the boy's desk. The boy is accused of the crime, he protests his innocence, to no avail. His employer decides that the law must take its course, the boy is arrested. The mother learns of her boy's arrest, she goes to the employer and pleads with him to spare her boy. Her pleadings are in vain. The employer declares he can do nothing toward freeing her son, he has committed a crime and should pay the penalty. The guilty clerk is troubled with a guilty conscience and takes relief from his trouble thoughts by excessive drinking .While walking across a street he is hit by an automobile and injured. The accident occurs in front of the boy's mother's home. He is carried in the house and taken care of by the boy's mother. He has been treated so kindly by the mother that he decides the boy shall suffer no longer. He makes a confession of his crime on the strength of which the boy is released from jail. The employer expresses his regret of having dealt with the boy so harshly, reinstates him in the office in a higher position. In the meantime the guilty clerk has recovered from his injury. The boy's mother begs the detective who is to take the clerk to jail, to allow her to take the clerk to the employer's office. She decides to plead with the employer in the clerk's behalf. The mother, with the detective and clerk, come to the office, she realizes that the employer has decided that the clerk shall be punished, but hopes to soften the employer's heart. The employer remains firm and the clerk is taken away to jail.
- Nell has undertaken to run down a band of jewel thieves, who take to sea in a sailing yacht and is followed by Nell Pierce in a motor boat. She runs down the yacht and the thieves drop the bag of jewels overboard, but Nell's quick eye has taken in the action and notes the location where the jewels went over. Nell meets with a series of startling adventures and is captured, but eventually makes her escape. In the meantime, she has trailed the thieves to the home of a marine diver, whom they engage to go down and recover the jewels. The diver and his assistant proceed out to sea and get ready to go overboard when Nell, with an assistant, overhaul the diver's craft just as they anchor. The captain and his assistant are overpowered and bound, and Nell Pierce takes the diver's suit, gets into it while her assistant screws on the head piece. She is then assisted overboard and sinks to the bed of the ocean, and after a long search, finds the jewels and is pulled aboard.
- Brian Maguire, known as the "Inshavogue," struck terror to the hearts of the enemies of Ireland and was worshiped by Ireland's peasants. In a mountain fortress, he defied the entire British Army, and at last, when the struggle for freedom seemed hopeless, the British offered to the Inshavogue the following terms if he would leave Ireland: A pardon for him and his patriots, a large sum of money and land, and a free passage to his newly acquired property in one of the British possessions, but when Inshavogue came among them, he was immediately handcuffed, shackled, and cast into prison. Inshavogue escaped into the mountains, left his wife in a peasant's hut and that same night she gave birth to a baby girl and lost her own life. On the very same night, Lady Roderick, the owner of the estate, gave birth to a baby girl, who died almost immediately, and the physician in attendance, who had also attended the wife of the Inshavogue, takes the motherless babe of the Inshavogue and changes it for the dead body of Lady Roderick's child. The child grows to beautiful girlhood as the daughter of Lord and Lady Roderick. At her eighteenth birthday she is told her true history, and through the knavery of Sir Francis, a disappointed suitor, she meets her father; Inshavogue, when he realizes that the girl is truly his daughter, proclaims himself to the peasants and patriots of Ireland. He is cast into prison and is pardoned through the influence of Lord and Lady Roderick.
- Wm. McPherson bids his wife and baby good-bye for a journey into the wilds of Kentucky. He has been summoned by the Revenue Department for this important mission. The moonshiners have grown unusually energetic and Uncle Sam determined that every still should be smashed, and when Uncle Samuel says a thing he generally means it. Mac's wife and baby were very dear to him and these continual separations caused a tugging at his heartstrings, greater than the serious events of his adventurous calling. But a man in his position is not supposed to question. The word "duty" is paramount on every occasion. Arriving at a small town in Kentucky armed with a letter from his chief, he was successful in obtaining the services of a number of picked men who knew every inch of the ground and were practically without fear. As a construction crew on a new branch of railroad their identity was very successfully concealed. After a season of careful strategy and numerous hard battles the gang was put to rout, handcuffed and "moonshine" became a dead letter in that section. One of the most difficult problems of his career now confronted Mac. A young moonshiner with a pretty wife and daughter presented the problem. During one of his scouting expeditions Mac and Simpson, his right-hand man, were captured by two guards, dragged into the moonshine camp and stared death in the face for a few moments as they looked down the muzzles of their guns. Mac was a jovial chap and probably his coolness and bravery at this crucial moment caused the young wife to intervene in his behalf, and the sight of the other deputies coming to the rescue led to their attempt to escape at that moment, The battle was short and decisive; the vagabonds were outnumbered and outclassed, Mac being well satisfied with the result. One incident remained, the detective came upon the young moonshiner hiding in the well, his wife and baby by his side. There was no question, the man merited arrest and a long term of imprisonment, but the wife pleaded: "I saved your life, now spare us." Thoughts of home and his own baby, well... Mac shut his official eyes for a moment. The department never heard of it, but Mac felt he did his duty nevertheless.
- Ned's persistence in attempting to return a lost handkerchief to a charming young lady in spite of attempts to ignore him, gets him into all sorts of trouble. He follows her from place to place and she continues to evade him, until she becomes tired of his persistence and has him driven away from a ferry boat, bodily thrown from a car, refused admission to the different amusement places at a summer resort, and finally has him arrested for annoying her. He tries to explain to the Judge and Mabel that he had merely tried to return her handkerchief. When asked to show the handkerchief he cannot find it, having placed it in the sweat band of his hat during the excitement, and forgotten all about it. After being fined $50.00, he is freed and goes home a wiser man. Upon reaching home he finds his sister in conversation with the very young woman who had caused him all the trouble. Satisfactory explanations follow, and the result is a happy ending to a day of mishaps.
- There's plenty of material for good dramas in the Salvation Army. Almost every soldier in this vast organization could tell a story of heart-throbs, of hopes and ambitions, of storms and distress, which would suffice to make a drama dramatic. "The Angel of the Bowery," is famous in song and story all over America. She was a Salvation Army lass whose father had died a drunkard. She loved a chap in their home town but the boy's mother would not countenance a union between her son and a drunkard's daughter; so the girl went to New York and became a Salvationist. Little did she know she would later meet her old sweetheart in a low Bowery dive, where he had finally drifted after leaving his mother in anger, and started on the downward path. But she never faltered when her duty called. Just what transpired afterward must not be told. That there was a wedding at the Barracks must be admitted, however, and it was attended by the rank and file of the army.
- John Walsh was born and raised in the lower East Side, there, as boy and man, he had worked and played, laughed and cried, and the conditions and customs of this vicinity were an open book to him. Early to appreciate the value of an education, he managed to struggle through public school, not a struggle as far as intelligence was concerned, but a struggle to remain in school because of his being obliged to help towards the support of his family. He managed to do more than his share in this respect, by selling papers and doing odd jobs before and after school hours. Arriving at manhood his cherished ambition was realized, for he secured an appointment on the police force. He was that type of young New Yorker who has made the history of the metropolis, in politics, in business and yes, in finance. Skinny Leach was that other type of East Sider who fill our police courts and jails. As a boy he was constantly sought by the truant officer or kept busy eluding the police. As a youth he slept in hallways or wagons, and as a man became the leader of a growler gang, living by levying tribute from inoffensive Chinamen and Hebrews for funds with which to rush the can. It was ordained that these two opposites meet, for when the young patrolman was assigned to duty, his post was located in the vicinity of Five Points and Chinatown. Here is where the growler gang held sway and where Leach ruled. Hazing is not only practiced at West Point, for at Five Points the kid coppers must go through their course of sprouts, and believe us from what we've heard, we would prefer the Army brand of hazing. "The easiest way may be the best," and "You may catch more flies with molasses than with salt." But John knew his people, to win the respect of the gang element yon must be a better man. "Hey, fellers, there's a new cop on the beat. He soaked me for trying to do Mickey the Bootblack out of the price." That was all that was necessary; such an affront to the gang was not to be tolerated and they proceeded to do the fresh cop, and they almost succeeded, too, but for Mickey the Bootblack and his sister Nell. The gang got John; they beat him up good and they finally cooped him up in a Chinese chop suey joint for the new cop gave a good account of himself, as future reference. It was not all one-sided, though, the leader of the growler gang can testify. When Mickey reached the station house the reserves had an incentive for haste, for one of their fellows needed help. Copper and crook have no love for each other and it was a merry little war that Chinatown witnessed that day, on the street, through houses and on the roofs, that gallant squad of bluecoats took the opportunity to settle many an old score. Leach got his, about five years, ample time and opportunity to reflect upon the error of his ways. We are glad to say that he did. He tried to get work after he had done his bit, but, well a jailbird doesn't always get a show, maybe he is hounded by the police. This ex-convict was arrested on general principles and brought before Captain Walsh, and that's why he is an honest hard-working man to-day. He did not receive a lecture on the error of his ways; he was given a chance, "If you'll stand for him, Cap, I'll give him a job. Can you drive, young feller? Git up." Leach owns a couple of teams himself now. The other day he delivered a package to Mrs. Captain Walsh, Mickey's sister, how did you guess? And she let him kiss the baby, too. That's an East Side evidence of good will.
- Mike, the messenger boy, is a great admirer of "Buffalo Bill" stories. The present issue was more, exciting than any other he had read. He lost himself in the story until he fell asleep. But Mike did not lose the thread of the narrative, even though he was journeying through slumberland. But he grew tired of Buffalo Bill as a hero and decided to play the role himself. Donning his buckskins, boots and spurs and arming himself, he sets out for Death Knell Ranch mounted on his broncho "Spitfire." His arrival is marked by great rejoicing on the part of the assembled cowboys and he further regales himself in their eves by protecting the ranchman's daughter from the insults of a cowpuncher. Mike slapped his face and then kicked him until he begged for mercy. A few days later, evil eyes are looking through a window, watching the wealthy rancher as he counts his gold. In the distance comes the daughter. One glance and she knows her father's danger. Something must be done to break up this diabolical plot. And as though he had divined her thoughts beforehand, our hero rushes up on his steed and halts at her side. Explaining her father's peril, the girl urges him on until they reach the door of the ranch house. But the Mexican cut-throats have anticipated just such an interruption and have carefully locked and barred every door and window. Mike and the girl are foiled for the moment. Then Mike's fertile brain begins to work. One glance at the roof and another at his trusty lariat and the problem is solved. In a moment he has lassoed the chimney and is climbing up. Then, placing a long, keen-edged knife in his teeth, he waves a farewell to the girl far below. One shot from our hero's pistol and seventeen Mexican brigands bite the dust. Then the old man is released and the girl falls fainting in Mike's arms. Spurning the half-dozen sacks of gold offered him by the grateful ranchman, "The Terror" rides away. He has but reached a bend in the road when, glancing hack, he witnesses a terrible sight. A band of bloodthirsty Indians have taken the old man and his daughter prisoners. Wheeling about, he follows in pursuit, struggling to overtake the redskins. Alas! They have bested him in the start. But he reaches the Indian camp in plenty of time to unlimber that awful mowing-machine weapon and, adjusting its delicate mechanism, he takes careful aim and fires. Nineteen savages are hurled into eternity while the rancher and his daughter remain impervious to danger. Mike has graciously given his horse to the father and daughter when suddenly, springing up on every side, he is confronted by more Indians. With a last grin of defiance on his countenance, he again charges the magazine of his arsenal and pulls the trigger. This time two of the devils live on. He chases them on foot up the mountainside. Reaching the edge of the cliff, he overtakes the pair. A twist of the wrist and one is hurled to the jagged rocks below. The other hangs on with a deathlike grip. Nearer and nearer to the brink they draw, and finally both drop into space. As they fall, our hero releases his hold and throws out both arms. Thanks to his excellent presence of mind his fingers clutch a projecting branch and, exerting his wonderful strength, he holds on, poised in mid-air. Now, Mike's dad hears peculiar sounds emanating from his son's room and he drops around to investigate. Presently he hears a crash and bursting open the door he sees a badly scared youth sitting wild-eyed on the floor, his face and hair sprinkled with plaster and in his hands he tightly clutches the gas chandelier, which he has pulled from the ceiling. Mike has finished his story, but the spanking he receives from dad is more welcome than the finish he expected when the protruding branch against the cliff gave way.
- Vladimar Petroff, leader or the revolutionists in Russia, was brought before the Governor-General charged with treason. His two little children, Sophia and Carl, aged six and seven, come to beg for clemency for their father. The Governor-General, a cold, heartless man who sees danger in allowing the revolutionary element the slightest chance of attaining power, and being personally embittered against the prisoner, orders him put to the knout before the eyes of his children. The agony of the father is apparent to the little ones, who try to comfort him, but writhing in pain, he tells them to keep fresh in their minds the scene they have just witnessed and when they grow up to manhood and womanhood to find a means of avenging his death. Eighteen years later we find Sophia and Carl in the secret stronghold of the Nihilists. Carl is their leader and Sophia their queen. To carry out their plans against the Governor-General to obtain information vital to their cause. Osip was selected for the dangerous mission. Arriving at the palace, he adroitly concealed himself behind a huge portrait, where he could obtain a full view of all that transpired. The Governor-General, while consulting with one of his secret aides, happened to glance in a small mirror on his desk and there saw reflected, a face. It was Osip. Quietly a note was written and handed to the aide, who read it without a word and left the room. Almost immediately the guards brought Osip before the Governor-General. Yivan, the aide, looked him over carefully and whispered a plan to his chief. Osip was led away and Yivan began the execution of his plan. Disguised as the Nihilist, the aide made his way to their stronghold, where he was received with open arms by all but Sophia, who, becoming suspicious, decided to put his identity to the test. In an outer chamber a body of men were dressed to represent Russian soldiers and they, following a supposed officer, burst in upon the Nihilist group and ordered them to surrender. The Governor's spy revealed his identity, but found too late he had fallen into the trap laid for him by Sophia. Firing three shots from his pistol, a pre-arranged signal for help, he summoned a detachment of soldiers and the rattle of musketry filled the room, while Russian and Nihilist fought for supremacy. When the smoke cleared away they found Sophia missing. She had escaped by a secret passageway into an underground tunnel. The rest of her followers were taken prisoners and forthwith sentenced to Siberia for life, among them Sophia's brother. Joining a band of gypsies, the brave girl disguised herself as a dancer and managed to gain admittance to the Governor-Genera's palace, where, luckily, she found him in the midst of a debauch. Signifying her willingness to dance for him, Sophia managed to dazzle the wine-crazed ruler by her charms, although he was suspicious of her and feared she might be the Nihilist queen. Ordering Carl brought in, the Governor-General watched Sophia closely while the guards flogged him before her eyes. She retained her composure and only laughed as Carl was lashed. Satisfied with the test, the Governor-General ordered the guards away with their prisoner and poured wine for himself and the girl. Sophia managed to place a drug in the now contented ruler's glass, and finally effected Carl's release. They mounted waiting horses and rode for the frontier, passing through the lines in safety and finally embarking on a vessel bound for America. Arriving at the harbor of New York, Sophia and Carl received their first impression of the land of the free. Silhouetted against the sky, the Statue of Liberty stood out in bold relief, a sign of freedom of oppression for the unfortunate soul-tortured emigrant. A year later we find them happy in their home, celebrating an American Fourth of July.
- Nobody knew he was a convict when he returned from prison and began a ceaseless search for work, to keep the bodies and souls of a wife and child together, until a former guard recognized him on the street and "tipped off" his record to the very man who had just employed him. After that they knew him everywhere he went and he gave up in despair. Besides, the baby was sick and there wasn't a penny in the house to buy food or medicine. Finally desperation got the better of John Rance and he went out to steal. An accident in the street swerved him from his purpose and he forgot his mission while he saved a sweet little girl from the jaws of death. Then he hurried home to tell his wife about it and wait for midnight. John did not realize how close he was to the old prison cell when he heard a stern voice call out, "Hand up," nor did he seem to care much until he heard the maid in the house he was trying to rob telephone for the police. Then he begged for mercy as he thought of his starving wife and sick baby. His wild pleadings awakened the household. A little golden-haired tot of five came running in to find her papa standing over a masked man, holding a shining revolver. When the mask was removed and she saw his face, John Rance cried like a baby when he heard the little one tell her father he was not a burglar but the man who had saved her life that very day. Do you think Jack went back to a cold and cheerless cell? Not on your life. The kid's mother hid him away until the police came and went, without their man, then somebody gave him a chance, with money to back it up.
- The estate of James Van Sant declared to be worth upwards of seven millions. When his will was read it was found he appointed his nephew, Herbert, executor, giving him power to settle the estate and divide his wealth according to the stipulations contained therein. To his wife, one half of his fortune was to set aside for her own use and to his only son the remaining half. Upon the death of the latter, his portion would become the property of Herbert, the boy's cousin. There was a vast difference in the make-up and temperament of the two cousins. Herbert was shrewd, crafty and scheming. Secretly he participated in nightly orgies with denizens of the underworld and developed a fondness for wine and women. Harry was the soul of honor, clean-cut and a lover of home, but sadly lacking in business experience, as his time had been spent in college and among his mother's social set. Therefore, it was but natural Herbert should covet Harry's good fortune and curse his own condition. Men of his type rarely consider the means necessary to the acquirement of a fortune, nor did Herbert hesitate when he found he could become suddenly wealthy by simply removing from earth a single individual. He knew of a man, Lugi Lombardo, who would readily undertake such a task for money, so he called on the Italian and opened negotiations. Lugi was the unconvicted head of the Cammorists in America and was surrounded by the scum of Sicily, Calabria and Naples, whom he controlled absolutely. He would stop at nothing to make money. The bargain made, Herbert arranged to have Lugi receive Harry when he arrived at a given point, lured there by a false message which he would send. Harry was at home with his mother when the message arrived and he hurriedly left the house to aid, as he thought, a friend in need. Lugi'e men were lurking in the shadow and suddenly pounced upon him as he approached and carried off, bound and gagged, to the lair of the gang. Then Lugi was struck with an idea. Why kill this man for a paltry few thousand when he could be kept alive, a prisoner, and used to blackmail the man who wanted him out of the way. So when Herbert appeared the Italian told him it would be far better to tie the prisoner in a sack, attached to heavy weights and consign him to the river than to attempt to dispose of his body in any other way, to which the cousin assented. He was told to meet the Italians at an abandoned dock, at twelve o'clock that night and there he would see the job done to his entire satisfaction. When Herbert saw the huge bag and its contents dropped with a splash in the river, he turned away with a smile of exultation, satisfied with the night's work. Meanwhile, Harry had been taken to the ruins of an old mill where a hiding place, under the ground, had been previously arranged by Lugi and there he was left under guard. After a lapse of time, Harry is mourned as dead and the scheming cousin goes to the family lawyer to arrange with him the further execution of the will. The attorney becomes suspicious at his eagerness and decides to employ a detective to try and find his old client's son. The famous Petrosio, the Italian Sherlock Holmes, is engaged and quietly he begins the work of investigation. While collecting evidence on another case, Petrosio happens to visit the Italian quarter and there overhears a drunken Sicilian speak of a prisoner in the old ruins. He follows the fellow and discovers him to be one of Lugi Lombardo's tools. Subsequently, Petrosio reaches the old ruins where Harry is incarcerated and succeeds in releasing him at the risk of his life, and, with the aid of a squad of police also arrests Lugi and his band of cut-throats. By means of the harrowing, nerve-wracking torture of the "Third Degree" a confession is forced from the weaker of the gang which is used later on to convict Lugi and send him up the river for a long term. Pertrosio does not allow Harry to return home as yet but keeps him in seclusion until the night of a reception which Herbert gives to his friends in the Van Sant mansion, in spite of the widow's protest. There he declares himself the rightful heir to Harry's share of the Van Sant millions and just as his friends are about to drink his health the family attorney introduces Petrosio, who tells the villain he will bring to him a man to whom he dare not repeat the declaration he has just made. Herbert's face blanches but his nerve does not forsake him until Harry is brought in and he realizes his danger. His attempt to escape is frustrated by Petrosio who turns him over to the proper authorities. Mother and son are again united and joy reigns in the Van Sant household where a few hours before only gloom and despair existed for her.
- A sudden decline in stocks created a stampede in Wall Street. Many stock jobbing firms tottered on the brink of collapse, among them Brown & Swain, whose clients numbered among them some of the most substantial investors in the metropolis. On the day of the avalanche, Swain frantically asks his partner to raise sufficient money to tide them over. Brown insists nothing can be done as funds are exhauster. At this juncture, Col. Jones calls to deposit with his friend Brown, $150,000 worth of bonds for safekeeping, The Colonel is given a receipt for the same and departs. Swain, who has witnessed the transaction, endeavors to persuade Brown to use these bonds temporarily towards recovering their losses, but is met with a prompt refusal, and Brown secreted the bonds in a private compartment in the firm's large vault. Swain, who has access to the vault but not to Brown's private secret compartment, being driven to desperation engages a noted safe-cracker and crook, Billy Valentine, to burglarize the vault and secure the bonds. Brown discovers his loss and sends for his old friend, Pierce, the Yankee Detective, to unravel the mystery. The message arrives shortly after the death of the old sleuth, who was killed at the post of duty, but his daughter, Nell, decides to make the journey and takes up the case instead. Brown looks upon the girl with much disfavor and refuses to place the case in her hands. Nothing daunted, she bribes the office boy to remain at home on the pretense of being ill and she impersonates a supposed brother and reports for work in his stead. Valentine, the crook, calls at the office of Brown & Swain to secure from the latter the money promised for securing the stolen bonds. Nell recognizes him as an old offender whom her father had sent to Sing Sing five years before. Swain tries to put Valentine off by promises, but the latter forces the broker to turn over the bonds, at the point of a gun, insisting he will hold them until the money promised is forthcoming. Nell shadows Valentine to his haunt, the home of an old hag, in the disguise of a Salvation Army lass. She is captured by Valentine's accomplices and made prisoner. During the night, while the old hag is stupefied by drink, Nell manages to escape by burning the ropes with which her hands and feet were tied, in the flame of a candle. In the meantime, Valentine has received a letter from Swain directing him to the office and stating his money is ready. Nell attempts to reach the office first and is successful, arriving in time to see the bonds delivered and Valentine paid. Here the plucky girl shows her wonderful presence of mind by locking Swain in the huge vault when he steps inside to secure some papers. She then rushes out to arouse the police and accompanies them to Valentine's home just in time to capture both him and his gang. Returning to the office, Nell finds the door looked. Becoming suspicions, she climbs a fire-escape to an adjoining roof and reaches the window of the brokerage office just in time to prevent the distracted Brown from taking his life. Explanations follow and the vault is opened in time to turn Swain over to the waiting police.
- The banking firm of Montford & Co. were in need of cash to tide them over a panic and save them from ruin. Temptation came in the form of a large deposit made after banking hours by an old sea captain whose entire savings were put into their hands to be deposited on the morrow, in the regular way. As it was after banking hours, the head of the banking company gave Captain Horton his personal receipt and assured the captain of a deposit slip the following day. A victim of heart trouble, the captain succumbs to this long-dreaded disease and falls dead in the presence of the bankers. It is an easy matter to abstract the receipt from the captain's pocket and as no entry had been made, the bankers decide upon keeping the money for their own use. Apparently satisfied, Bannister, the partner of Montford, assists in removing the body from the banking office. The widow and daughter of the captain, knowing their father had gone to the bank to deposit a large sum, are horrified to learn that no deposit had been made and when the body of the captain had been found there was no trace of any money, or of its deposit. Deprived of their little fortune they soon find themselves in want. Bannister, one of the firm of Montford & Co., had gone from bad to worse, and at the end of five years had become a tramp. While lounging about the streets he protects a young girl form the assault of a thug, and upon escorting her home, discovers her to be the daughter of the old sea captain whom he had helped rob. The pitiful story of their poverty and hardships awakens in Bannister his manly instincts, and intent on making reparation, he calls upon his former partner and commends him to return to the widow and daughter the sum put into their hands by the old sea captain. He is laughed at and threatened with arrest as a blackmailer by the head of the banking concern, but he is not frightened, as he has in his possession the receipt which his partner gave to the old sea captain, and which he had obtained before they removed the body from the office on that eventful day. His threat to make public this receipt secures for him the money at once. The mother and daughter come at his call to the banking house and are acquainted with the fact of the injustice done them, and upon being asked their intentions as to the prosecution of the banker, leave the decision in the hands of Bannister, who, after a moment's hesitation, tears up the receipt and thus destroys all the evidence of a crime committed.
- The care-burdened souls that have struggled from out of the Czar's domain, only to encounter dire misfortune on these shores, are legion. But the future of Betsy Muscova looks bright, when with her aged father she leaves Russia, the only home she ever knew, and turns her face toward the Statue of Liberty, and David, her lover, promises earnestly that he will soon follow her. Arriving here she settles down to work as a dressmaker, and true to plans, David comes through America's gates one year later. Will Betsy allow her lover to go to the sweatshops to grind out a living? No. not she. He must he a professional man, a doctor. Accordingly he enters upon his studies, while Betsy toils patiently at the whirring sewing machine to meet expenses. The new surroundings soon lose their novelty for David, and alas, he comes under new influences. His studies have thrown him into an environment far removed from the heroic Betsy and the machine that is yielding the wherewithal for his future. A certain Clara Greenfield has entered into his life, an accomplished girl of wealth and social position. He forgets Betsy, and soon preparations are underway for his marriage to Clara. As if by fate, Clara's bridal gown is being made by Betsy and one day Betsy brings it finished to the fine Greenfield mansion, a chance glance through the portieres, she sees her David, a man who owes his all to her. She asks Clara who he is, and learning the truth, pours out her heart to her sister Jewess, as only a Jewess can. The little Russian martyr has found a soft resting place for her confidences, for Clara is of lofty caliber, and one fine day when the thankless David stands under the wedding canopy, his love for his benefactress entirely forgotten, the ceremony is performed, and when the bride's veil is lifted, there stands Betsy Muscova.
- Willie Jones, a persistent young book agent, calls on Mr. Biffins at his office and endeavors to sell him a set of books. Biffins despises book agents, and drives Willie away in scorn, but Willie is destined to come into the life of Biffins again, unknown to either one and create havoc in the quiet Quaker household of Biffins. Willie making a canvass in the residential district meets a pretty little Quakeress who is none other than Biffins' own daughter. Willie finds her a willing subscriber on the installment plan. The mother, a quite dignified Quakeress, does not object to her daughter having the books. For other reasons besides collecting the payments Willie is a frequent caller. Biffins is in the dark for a while, but one day he comes upon the lovers billing and cooing and what Biffins says and does to Willie would daunt the heart of any gay Lothario, but Willie possesses true Yankee grit, besides his winning ways, which has not only made him a successful book agent, but also successful in love. The mother of the girl likes Willie, besides it is her daughter's first love and she pleads with Biffins to sanction the union of hearts, but nothing doing in that line for Biffins. No book agent shall ever marry his child. Now Biffins is a straight-laced man and was never known by his Quaker wife to take a drink of anything strong. Unknown to the good wife, Biffins takes a little stimulant for his nerve, but to hide the fact from his loving ones, he labels the bottle "Poison" and cautions his family not to touch it. This is for external use only, which he is supposed to apply on a sprained wrist. After a stormy scene with his weeping daughter and wife regarding the marriage of the book agent and the girl, he goes to his office. Mrs. Biffins is left alone in sorrow. She decides that her life is not worthwhile, and makes up her mind to die. She orders a wreath from the florist, dons her old wedding dress, and taking Biffins' bottle marked poison, she drinks a goodly portion and waits for death. But the grim monster is slow in coming, so she takes a little more and with tears she is bidding her home a long farewell. While waiting for the fatal potion to take effect, the wreath of flowers arrives. The poison now seems to be getting in its work. She drops on the sofa, drags the wreath over her chest dead to the world. At this stage her sister calls. The sister almost faints with fear. She sees the farewell letter, the poison bottle and other evidence of preparations for the other world, so grasping the letter she hastens off to the office of Biffins and poor Biffins reading it gets the shock of his life. Together they hasten to a doctor's office and the trio start for Biffins' home. One glance at Mrs. Biffins laid out in her bridal robe is enough to stun the distracted husband. The doctor calls for water. The sister hastens for some. The first thing she finds is a big sprinkling can of the garden variety. This she carries to the doctor, who waves it aside and orders drinking water. Again she exits. In the meantime the learned medico gets the aroma of the poison and aside to Biffins inquires if his wife is temperate in her habits. Biffins assures him that she is, but he looks at the bottle and the truth dawns on him. He whispers to the doctor, and a smile mantels the doctor's face. Then they both smile as they take a nip from the poison marked bottle. The doctor leaves a prescription for a throbbing head and takes his leave. Biffins looks about with a humorous twinkle in his eye and picking up the sprinkling can proceeds to moisten the wreath of flowers on Mrs. Biffins' chest. In the meantime Willie and the little Quakeress in blissful ignorance of the near tragedy, 'neath the apple blossoms have settled their own affair.
- Just how she happened to marry on her birthday, she could only attribute to an accident because the coincidence occurred to her only after the happy event. However, her artist-husband kept this thought in mind when the time arrived for the celebration of their first wedding anniversary and planned a little surprise for his dear little spouse. Hubby decided the most pleasing present he could bestow on his lovely wife would be a beautiful portrait of her, painted by himself. How to execute the work without a suitable model was the next problem to solve. At last he took the housemaid in his confidence and secretly used her as a model, fitted out in his wife's apparel. After a time, people began to gossip about a strange woman who posed in the artist's studio, behind lock and key. The wife began to hear these comments and her father, mother, sister and brother joined the village mob in denouncing the disloyal and erring husband. The portrait was nearly finished, but to divert suspicion, a change of models must be made, so the cook was pressed into service and the work continued in a small house in the outskirts of town. But the family tracked him there and through the key-hole saw him kissing the picture he was working on. Then they burst in the room and confronted him with his guilt. Of course you can imagine what happened when they saw the portrait.
- Madge Morton, who after losing her mother, is left alone in the world. She is cared for by a minister, who soon learns the girl's story and adopts her. The minister has a son by the name of Harry, who takes a large amount of money from his father's desk, to spend on a girl he met while at college. Madge, who has witnessed the deed, is discovered in the room by the minister, who, believing she stole the money, orders her from the house. In the meantime, Harry is apprehended of the girl's character, and returns home with the money intact, only to be told by his father that he has ordered Madge from his home, believing that she stole his money. Harry immediately starts out to find the girl, which he does. She is reconciled with the family, and all ends happily.
- With an independent income, a beautiful home and a talented daughter, Joseph Jacobs could not leave well enough alone. As a clothing manufacturer he had shown ability, was successful and prospered. But, filled with ambition, he longed for new worlds to conquer, and, like many another unshorn lamb, chose Wall Street as his field of action. Jacobs' experience is but a repetition of so many similar tales chronicled in the daily paper. The cobbler should stick to his last, the same old story, ruin and bankruptcy. But how of them at home? The tales of business failure do not divulge the sufferings and heartaches of the wives and children. In this case Jacobs' daughter Ethel received the full brunt of the storm. Ethel a few short months previously had met Rose; the acquaintance was formed at the time he soundly thrashed several toughs who had offered insult to Ethel, and it was a case of love at first sight. The father received Ralph with much favor and it was during the festivities of the engagement party given in honor of Ethel and Ralph that the crisis occurred. Called from among his guests, Jacobs is handed a telegram requesting his immediate presence at the office, where he finds chaos reigning. The bottom has dropped out of the market. Every available resource possessed by him is thrown into the breach. Not a dozen fortunes equal to Jacobs' can stem the tide. Wiped out a ruined, he returns to his home, where he informs the assemblage that he is bankrupt. Like rats leaving a sinking vessel, his guests lose no time in making their departure; all but Ralph, who offers his entire resources, which Jacobs and his daughter in their pride refuse. Ethel is made of stern stuff, reassures her father, and who can tell, perhaps saves him from a suicide's grave. You might as well be dead as broke. The once successful business man after years of struggle peddles suspenders, collar buttons and such for a livelihood, while his daughter labors as a shirtwaist hand. But every cloud has a silver lining, for one fine day Jacobs finds before a prominent New York department store a lady's bag containing a large sum of money and other valuables. Shouting fails to stop the departing auto; therefore, Jacobs takes his find home, where the struggle between keeping this fortune and its return is long and bitter. Ethel saves the day; there is nothing to indicate the owner, so Ethel advertises the property as found. An article so valuable must belong to someone, and so it does; the owner scans the morning paper and departs to the address mentioned, with the full intention of handsomely rewarding the finder, and so he does, for the purse belonged to Ralph's mother, and Jacobs obtains as a reward a son-in-law and freedom from further poverty.
- Way out west, Curley, a very pretty girl, is operator at Pawnee Junction. Hawkins, a "ne'er do well" from the east, has won her affection. Jim Bradley, a young ranchman, has just sold his property and given the proceeds to Curley for safe keeping. He has been a quiet admirer for some time, but has not screwed up his courage to the proposal point, until the time when he deposits the money with her. Curley admires Jim for his many sterling qualities, but her heart being pledged to Hawkins, Jim is obliged to yield the field to his rival. Hawkins, unobserved, has seen the money to into the safe; he determines to possess it. Late in the evening, when Curley dozes over her desk, a masked man enters, holds her up and makes a desperate attempt to secure the money. Hs is frustrated by a clever ruse and compelled to enter the closet which she locks. Curley now dashes out for assistance and Jim and some cowboys start out to capture the culprit. In the meantime, the masked burglar in the closet bursts the door, throws off his mask, disclosing the scoundrel Hawkins. He dashes out, procures a horse and rides off. Curley and Jim head the pursuers and outdistancing the others, come upon the thief. Curley is completely stunned at the revelation, the man who she has regarded as an ideal, now stands before her a despicable scoundrel. Jim sympathizes. The noise of approaching horses attracts them. He draws his revolver, wounds himself in the arm and allows the thief to escape as the cowboys draw up. He tells them Hawkins has gone in another direction. Curley binds up his wound and while taking his handkerchief her photo drops to the ground. The quiet, unassuming hero touches a responsive chord in her heart and she nestles close to Jim, and let it be forever and forever.
- When the wreckers of this story had completed their dastardly work of luring and wrecking a ship upon the rocks, they began looking among the wreckage for valuable. Although there was not enough left of the ship that would sustain life on an angry sea, the wreckers were surprised to find among the wreckage, a young baby, who came through the ordeal safe and sound, watched and guarded by the Higher Power and All-Seeing Eye. The wrecker captain, hardened as he was, could not resist the unconscious appeal of the innocent little life, and with a tenderness not attributed to his calling, he takes the babe and adopts her as his own, lavishing all the love of his pent-up nature upon her. The child grows to beautiful womanhood and in spite of her environment, becomes a sweet, womanly girl, beloved by the reckless and lawless companions of her father. Her beauty, noble character and sweet, womanly ways, gradually softens the heart of her adopted father and when the opportunity presents itself, at her pleading and for her sake, he begins his life of reformation. This does not suit his former companions, who do not cease luring unsuspecting ships upon the rocks with their false beacons, until caught and apprehended by the government. The revenue officials, led by a brace Yankee officer, find the home of the wreckers among the rocks of the dangerous coast. Amid these surroundings the revenue officer meets the adopted daughter of the wrecker captain, and learns from her of her father's desire to reform. With information furnished by her and her adopted father, he captures the gang of wreckers, after a hazardous chase among the dangerous rocks and reefs. Young, beautiful and sweet, the daughter of the wrecking captain charms the revenue officer, and before he leaves the scene of his recent victory, he wins her for his wife.
- The Metropolitan police are mystified by a number of robberies, in which the robber leaves absolutely no clew. When a cable from France informs them to be on the lookout for a famous French crook who is a master of hypnotism. They assign their best detectives on his trail. At the Van Osten reception the police mingle with the guests, and one of their number becomes suspicious of an apparently dignified French nobleman with exceptionally piercing eyes. His watchfulness is finally rewarded when he sees the Frenchman put under hypnotic power the young woman who is engaged to marry the son and heir of the Van Osten millions. The detective hears the explicit instructions given to the young woman to take the famous Van Osten jewels from their hiding place and bring them to him. Under the hypnotic power, the young woman obeys the command and is seen handing them to the Frenchman by her fiancé. Thinking that his sweetheart is in league with the man, he obtains the jewels and permits suspicion to fall upon himself. All ends happily when the detective steps forth and arrests his man, compelling him first of all to release the woman from the hypnotic spell.
- The heroine of this story, having lost her mother when but barely more than a baby, was left to the care of her father, who, thinking that his infant daughter should have a mother's care, married a widow with an only son. Having as he thought, provided his daughter with a mother's care, he dismissed the matter from his mind entirely. Unfortunately for the little motherless one, the woman whom her father married had no room in her heart for her husband's daughter, and the little one became the butt of her ill-temper. Neglected, abused and beaten, the little girl seeks solace in her poorly-furnished room before the portrait of her sainted mother. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she prays for her mother to return or take her to her heavenly home. In this pitiful attitude the father finds her and hears from her own lips the story of her miserable existence in her own home. When confronted with the child's statements, the stepmother denies any cruelty and excuses her treatment by pleading her desire to punish the child for her willfulness. Having had his eyes opened, the father pays closer attention to his motherless baby, and discovers the truth at last. He orders the woman from his home and devotes himself to his daughter. A childish brain, full of innocence and purity can bear no ill will, and when the little girl hears from her stepmother of his mother's illness and lonesomeness, she brings about a reconciliation and is amply rewarded by the gratitude and love of her hitherto cruel stepmother.