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- Shakespeare's tragedy of the Scots nobleman whose ambition leads him to betrayal, murder, and damnation.
- John Howard Payne at his most miserable point in life, writes a song which becomes popular and inspires other people at some point in their lives.
- Belle Gordon, an orphan, finds an advertisement in the papers for a governess to apply to the Rev. Strong, at Cripple Creek, Col. She writes and has her fare advanced. Upon arriving there she finds the place consists of a crowd of disreputable miners and dance-hall girls. She learns that the advertisement was merely a trap to lure her out into the dance-hall of Martin Mason. She tries to get away but cannot. Dynamite Ann, one of the worst women of the place, remembering the time that she first came to Cripple Creek through the same sort of an advertisement, wishes to help the girl. Joe Mayfield, the United States Deputy Marshal enters, and, seeing Belle's plight, rescues her. He takes her away with him, and also Maggie, Mason's young daughter. He asks Dynamite Ann to go to his cabin to look after the girls. She accepts, grateful for the trust reposed in her. Reginald, a young dude from the east, dances attention on Maggie, while Joe Mayfield loses his heart to Belle. Joe is interested in a mine called the "Last Dollar" which is reputed to be worthless. Mason and his partner, Alvarez, discover gold in the mine and try to bargain with Joe for its possession. Joe refuses to relinquish it, and for revenge the Mexican takes up Joe's adopted child who is walking on the rocks and throws her down. As he goes up again Wahketa swings out on a grape vine and catches the child in midair. The next day Mason and Alvarez go down into the mine. Joe and Belle, coming down later, are surprised by them and tied hand and foot. Wahketa, who is also tied, manages to burn the cords off his hands and releases Belle and Joe. The three make their escape. A short time later, on the wedding day of Joe and Belle and Maggie and Reginald, Mason and Alvarez come and look in at the festivities. The wedding takes place and just as the guests are leaving the room, the Mexican shoots through the window at Joe, but Ann jumps forward and receives the bullet in her own heart. She dies in Joe's arms.
- The story depicts a youth at the crossroads of life, listening to the call of the church, renouncing love and worldly pleasure which beckon him and consecrating himself to the priesthood. It shows a woman of the world with ideal, pure-hearted love within her grasp, surrendering her lover to a sanctified existence.
- 'Our Mutual Girl' was unique. Not quite a serial, not quite a newsreel, and not strictly an advertisement, it combined elements of all three. In 52 weekly one-reel episodes, running from January 19, 1914 to January 11, 1915, the Mutual Girl outwitted villains, saw the sights of New York, met with theatrical and political celebrities (who frequently helped her out of trouble), and tried on fashionable outfits in chic stores. The fashions were an early example of product placement--although, apparently, not paid placement.
- May gets a job on a paper through the friendly help of Jason Hunter, son of a newspaper owner, who is inclined to be somewhat wild. A public outcry against lottery schemes is on, and May is sent to locate the shop where the lottery is conducted. She discovers the plant in the rear of a Chinese laundry, and notifies the police. But she makes them promise not to raid it until ten o'clock the following night, so that she may have time to get the story for her paper, and also because at that time the owner of the place may be found on the premises. The next night when she goes to the shop, she is dismayed to discover that the owner is Jason Hunter. She has no way of heading off the police at that hour, though she resolves to "throw" her paper for Hunter's sake. She hurriedly runs out, takes down the laundry sign and puts it upon a shack two doors away. The police raid an innocent place, and May returns to the office and is dismissed for failing to get the story. Next day Jason learns of this. He confesses to his father, May is restored to her job and Jason gives up his foolish ways.
- Romeo and Juliet type story loosely based upon the famed Hatfield/McCoy feud.
- Elaine, a well-known lecturer, hates men. John, who has written a book called, "Women, the Silly Sex," cannot bear the sight of a woman, and to avoid them all in general, he arranges for the purchase of a deserted island where he will be able to write in peace. Elaine goes to the home of a friend in the country, near John's island. One day, out on the lake, she starts to rehearse her speech with such feeling that she falls overboard. She swims ashore and there finds John's clothes, he having gone in for a swim. She hurriedly changes her dripping riding habit for his things. Seeing him coming out of the water, she runs up the path. He finds the wet suit and thinks some boy took his clothes. He races after Elaine, and catching up with her grabs her by the collar and announces his intention of thrashing "the boy." But luckily her cap comes off and he sees that it is a woman who has invaded his island. She calls him a brute and tells him she wants to get back to the mainland. He suggests she wait in his cabin until a boat passes. An hour goes by and Elaine commences to feel hungry. She summons John and tells him that she is hungry. He points to the icebox and bids her cook what she wishes. She is furious at the idea, but later hunger gets the better of her pride and she manages to prepare lunch. Five o'clock arrives. She tells John that he will have to swim to the mainland for a boat. He cannot swim well and is not anxious to take a chance. She insists. He finally goes, and as she sees him dive into the sea she gets frightened and begs him to come back. But he does not listen. He encounters a rowboat with Elaine's friend and a couple of fishermen looking for the missing girl. He takes them to the island and Elaine is taken aboard, but not before she has shaken hands cordially with the woman hater, who finds himself wishing that he might see her again. In the pocket of her riding suit he later finds her card and calls upon her. They become great friends and a double conversion is affected when he persuades her to burn her lecture with a copy of his book.
- Dog-Who-Never-Leaves-the-Scent, for his bravery in helping the government in an Indian uprising, is bidden name his reward. He asks that his little son be taken and educated as a white man. This is done. John Graham becomes a football star at Carlisle, and later wins a medical degree. He marries Mary Penton, and obtains the position of post surgeon on the Indian reservation. At John's request, the colonel tells the Dog that he is not to disclose his identity as the boy's father to John's white wife. The Indian promises. However, he assures himself that Mary is worthy of his son. And for a moment he holds his grandson against his breast. Later, the child wanders away, and the colonel sends for the Dog to trail him. He finds little John just about to spring a bear trap with his hand. At last, the son acknowledges his father. The picture closes as the old Indian is folding one end of his blanket about Mary and the child, and the other end about his son.
- Grinde is a junior partner of a pottery firm. An old chemist, Benjamin Lord, discovers a formula for glazing pottery that is designed to revolutionize the industry. The chemist's grandson, David, takes a sample of the new process to Grinde, who says he will give it consideration. He delegates his foreman, Mole, to steal the formula. Mole kills the chemist, and he and Grinde frame an explosion to conceal the crime. After David refuses to sell the formula, Grinde and Mole lock him and his sweetheart in a vault with poisonous gas. Grinde then tries to kill Mole, who knows too much, and take over the firm from his elderly partner at a directors' meeting.
- Mrs. Neville is the neglected wife of a rich old man. Things come to a climax at a reception given by them, and she yields to the pleadings of an impassioned admirer and decides to elope with him. Twelve o'clock is the appointed hour. In packing up her clothes she finds a bundle of old love letters, and looking them over revives tender memories of her courtship. Weeping bitterly, the appointed hour is forgotten. Her husband gets wind of the contemplated elopement, and armed with a pistol he cautiously enters her room. The pathetic figure of his sobbing wife brings to him a realization of his neglect, and when she confesses and pleads for forgiveness he takes her tenderly in his arms and tells her that it is he who should ask her pardon, and with a full understanding and renewed love, the two look brightly forward to the future.
- In Mexico, a humble peon has great difficulty retaining his small farm because of the greediness of those controlling the government. While he is in another town, two federal officials search for loot in his cottage and attack his two sisters. The elder, lame from birth, shoots herself rather than succumb to their lust. Her 14-year-old sister loses her mind and dies after telling her brother what occurred. The peon vows vengeance and is branded an outlaw by the frightened officials. After he escapes from jail with help from an old family servant, he is aided in eluding his pursuers by Americans traveling in a covered wagon. Years later, the outlaw, now the commander-in-chief of the Constitutionalist Army, wins many victories and kills one of the officials who attacked his sisters. When he learns that the Americans who helped him are in trouble, he leads a cavalry charge to rescue their wagon train from being attacked by revolutionists. He recognizes one of the attackers as the other official and is about to exact vengeance as the film ends.
- To prove his argument that any child reared in the right atmosphere will turn out well, young millionaire John Dean adopts a child from the slums and has her raised with little Edith, the child of his friend Mr. Ellis. The children are the same age and grow up together as sisters. When they are 18, Dean returns from abroad and his pride in his young ward turns to love. They are very happy together. Edith has become infatuated with the good-looking chauffeur and Mary tries in every way to take her thoughts from him. One day she drops a letter from him in the library. Dean and her father find it, and as they are puzzling over it, Mary enters, looking for something, and to save Edith, claims the note as hers. Dean is heartbroken and Mr. Ellis says, '"I told you so." Mrs. Ellis agrees. Edith, impatient at Mary's long absence, rushes down, and seeing Mary's plight, confesses. Mary is about to go away forever when Dean rushes after her and blames himself for doubting her. He offers her his name and his heart. And as she has learned to love him, she accepts both.
- A murderer is haunted by the spirit of his victim.
- Walter Earl and Elmer Hay are two young farmers who are suitors for Dot Maynard's hand. Her father favors Walter while she herself favors Elmer. Walter is a clean cut young chap, but is inclined to be rather wayward and it is just those shortcomings that cause Dot to think that her sympathy and pity for him amount to real love. The rivalry comes to a climax shortly before the party at Dot's house. Elmer finds Walter trying to kiss Dot as she is returning from school after having a show fight with him. Taking Elmer's proffered arm she leaves Walter laughing at her and goes home with Elmer. The night of the country dance and candy pull when all the country side is on hand the two young men almost come to blows. In fact after Elmer has been cautioned by Dot's father not to show her too much attention he finds the hard cider much to his liking and when the two are about to come to an ugly fight it is only averted by the father's anger and the breaking up of the party. Maynard has Walter wait and tells Dot that it is his wish that she marry him and his command that she have nothing further to do with Elmer. Elmer has waited outside for Walter to leave and then throws a snowball to Dot's bedroom window. She sees him and comes down to meet him by stealth. They arrange to elope the next day. On the way to meet her the next day, Elmer somewhat under the influence of drink, curses and beats his horse unmercifully when the sleigh overturns. Dot, coming along with her bundle of clothing, oversees his brutality and her seeming love at once turns to hate. Walter happens by when Elmer tries to force her into the sleigh and takes her home with him. She tells her father everything and he leaves her with Walter. She asks Walter's forgiveness and discovers that she has really loved him all along.
- From his private room in an expensive hospital, young John Gilbert, through a pair of opera glasses, sees a little crippled dancer in the window of a theatrical boarding house opposite. He becomes so interested in this girl that he sends his own doctor over to attend her. He learns that she has had an accident and will never be able to dance again. Daily he sends her gifts, flowers, books, etc. She receives them gladly, as they contain no card from the mysterious donor. Gilbert, on the way to recovery, meets a great surgeon from abroad. His first thought is, could he cure that girl across the way? After consulting with the doctor, the surgeon accepts commission from Gilbert to visit the girl. When she learns what he has done for her, she refuses to accept the assistance of a man she does not know, much as she would like to get well. But Gilbert sends her a letter stating that she has brought a new interest into his life and helped him recover and asks that he be allowed to do the same for her. She finally consents. The operation is performed successfully and the girl returns to the stage. Gilbert watches her and later meets her. After a long acquaintance, during which he never betrays the fact that he was the man who had helped her, he asks her to become his wife. She refuses him and tells the story of her unknown friend to whom her heart is given. Then Gilbert tells her the truth, and she, surprised, but very pleased, willingly accepts his ring.
- Mary Lang, daughter of a rich broker, is bored by the banal society existence she leads. Her father has arranged a match between Mary and his young business partner, John Barrick, who deeply loves the girl, but cannot seem to satisfy her romantic nature. Mary destroys all the photographs she has of herself and runs away in disguise to find adventure. Hugh Grey, a smart young reporter, while calling on Lang, chances to see a picture of Mary on his desk. On impulse he pockets it. Next day when the story of her disappearance is all over the city, Grey recognizes in a girl who the evening before had arrived at his boarding-house, the lost heiress. He immediately lays siege to Mary's affections, and believing that at last she has found her true romance, she promises to become his wife. On the day before that set for the wedding Mary finds the photograph in Grey's possession, and realizes that she has fallen into the clutches of a fortune hunter. She denounces him. Determined at least to win the reward of $10,000 which Lang has offered for his daughter's safe return, the reporter locks the girl in her room and sends for Lang and Barrick. Grey takes the check for the reward and also a trouncing for Barrick for refusing to give up Mary's photograph. Her eyes are opened to the genuineness of Barrick. and she becomes his wife.
- Douglas Kent sends his secretary, Arnold Morrison, to Iviswold, the Kent country home, as the bearer of a valuable necklace, his wedding present to his niece, Dora Kent, engaged to Count Luigi. Dora does not love the Count and does not wish to marry him, but her mother desires her to have the title and insists on the match taking place. Dora, in order to avoid the loveless union, decides to run away. Morrison arrives at Elmville, the nearest railroad stop to Iviswold. and starts out for Iviswold on horseback. Night approaching and a storm coming up, he stops at the Mountain Inn for the night. It is at this inn that Count Luigi has planned and executed many crimes with the assistance of Smiley, the rascally innkeeper. Morrison, in ignorance of the true character of the place, gets a room, and prepares for dinner. Dora, in escaping from her home, is thrown from her horse and is forced to stay for the night at the Mountain Inn. Dora and Morrison are in the dining room together at dinner. The Count, who is watching from a corner, comes to Dora and tries to force her to return. She breaks off the match and when he persists in his attitude Morrison steps in. A fight follows, in which the Count is beaten. During the struggle the necklace falls to the floor and Smiley sees it. Later he tells the Count. Morrison, fearing for the safety of the necklace turns it over to Dora, unaware of her identity, and asks her to keep it for him until morning. In the night Morrison is attacked by Smiley and the Count and is thrown cellar. Failing to find the necklace in his possession they try to gain entrance to Dora's room, for they suspect her of having it. In the meantime Dora's mother has discovered her daughter's absence and telephones Douglas Kent, who starts out at once for Iviswold. While the conspirators try to get in her door, which is barricaded, Dora rushes to the window and cries for help. Kent in his auto, on the way to Iviswold, hears the cry and he and the chauffeur rush into the hotel in time to overcome Smiley and the Count as they are breaking into Dora's room. Morrison is released from the cellar and he and Dora discover each other's identity. Kent thinks the necklace may be a wedding present after all and gives it to Dora.
- Bailey, a crook, has his nose broken by Burton, the detective, in a street fight, and is a marked man thereafter, easy for the police to capture. He pulls off a job and is traced easily and captured by Burton because of his broken nose. Bailey now naturally nurses revenge against Burton. Bailey is sent away but escapes from prison and has his nose straightened by a benevolent doctor. He is now able to pass by Burton unrecognized and feels safe in working out his revenge, which he plans against Burton and his sweetheart. He has the girl lured away, but Burton rescues her and Bailey goes back to prison.
- John Ward, a young workman, loves Mary Durland, daughter of a rich politician, who installs prison contract labor in the prisons of his city. The other knitting mills in the town cannot compete with cheap prison labor and are forced to close down. John and his brother, Joe, are thrown out of work and with others of the men, go to see Durland, who refuses to listen to them. John and Joe vainly look for work. Their mother is ill and needs nourishing food and medicine, and they have no money. Joe, an impulsive, warm-hearted lad, decides that as Durland took their living away, he shall pay, and he goes to his office intending to rob it of enough to carry his mother through her illness. Durland returns for some papers and the boy is caught. He is sent to prison and works on the knitting machines. He breaks down under the strain, is brutally treated by the guards and is later transferred to the road making gang. Unaccustomed to this he faints continually, but never meets the slightest kindness or consideration. Mary Durland returns home from boarding school and meets John, who is now a mechanic. She sees the difference in him and asks what is wrong. He does not tell her the truth, not wishing her to know her father is the cause of his trouble. John becomes a labor leader and makes up his mind to fight the prison contract labor system. Mary, who has become interested in sociological work, discovers the truth about the prisons when she finds Joe, physically and almost mentally a wreck. To convince herself further she goes through the prisons as well as the hospitals. She goes up North and studies prison conditions there. She finds men learning trades and working for the state, not in competition with labor. Returning home she calls on John to come and see her, and to him she tells what she saw while away, announcing her intention of fighting the prison contract system. John, then tells her she will be fighting her own father, but nothing daunted, she goes right ahead. Mary and John appear before the legislature just as a bill is about to be refused prohibiting prison labor. They have Joe with them, helpless and almost a cripple, and Mary makes an impassioned speech recommending the bill. She so interests the men that they rise and one and all vote for the bill. Durland, feeling himself beaten, consents to his daughter's marriage with John.
- Bud Johnson, a halfwitted youth, is in love with Ruth Bradley, the belle of the village. Ed Moore, a young farmer, proposes and is accepted. Bud hears of this and plans some way in which he can revenge himself. Ruth and Ed elope and are married. She writes home to her father, begging forgiveness. He softens and answers her letter, bidding her come home at once. When he mails it, however, it falls out of the chute and is found by the halfwitted boy. who, seeing it is addressed to Ruth, opens and reads it. He tears it into bits. The young people, receiving no answer, conclude that the old man will not relent. Ed goes to work in the city and they soon have their own home. Repenting, Bud sets out to find them. After a search lasting two years, he finally locates them in time to save their baby's life and bring all three home to the waiting father. This much done, the poor halfwitted boy, asking forgiveness, dies.
- Before they reach their journey's end, homeseeker Bob West and his little daughter Ida are attacked by Indians who kill West, take Ida captive, and keep a letter West had written to his sister in the East--which incidentally bears the imprint of a smudgy little finger. Ida is rescued from the Indians by Morgan, a slave trader who takes her and the letter home to his plantation, where he substitutes the little white girl for a mulatto slave child who has recently died. Ida is put in charge of Sally, a yellow girl, and brutally treated. Some time later Mr. and Mrs. Marks pity Ida and buy her from Morgan. She lives happily with them for 12 years. Fred Gilbert, the Marks' nephew, pays them a visit and falls in love with Ida. His uncle and aunt are horrified, believing that the girl has Negro blood, and the young people are about to part forever when Sally, who has become inflamed by jealousy against Morgan, produces the letter written by West just before his death. By a fingerprint test Ida's identity is confirmed, and her white blood proved. The young people marry. Morgan is hunted down by a posse and is shot dead.
- Louise Fallows learns that Phil Brooks, an old admirer of hers since gone to Hawaii, has fallen heir to a fortune in the United States She goes, with Jackson, her partner in dishonesty, to trace Brooks and cheat him out of his legacy. Arriving in Hawaii, Louise finds Brooks married to Ana a native woman. The adventuress bribes a witch of the island to terrorize Ana into believing that her husband will die if he stays in Hawaii, and if she continues to be his wife. The native girl, convinced of the truth of the soothsayer gives up Brooks and disappears. He returns to the States to claim his fortune, Louise with him. For a few weeks, the little Hawaiian wife is forgotten. Then, one day, the American hears Louise playing on her guitar "Aloha-Oe," the Hawaiian song, "Farewell to Thee." She is entertaining Jackson in secret. Brooks forces from Louise a confession, and returns to the Islands, where Ana welcomes and forgives him.
- Guy Mannering is present at the birth of Harry Bertram, the heir to the Bertram estate. Meg Merriles, queen of the gypsies, living on the Bertram estate, is also present, and by consulting with the stars they cast the young heir's horoscope. This shows he will have much trouble and misfortune during his life, holding forth until he reaches his twenty-first birthday. Several years pass. The older Bertram is made justice of the peace. With this new authority he at once lakes action against the gypsies who have lived for centuries on his estate. Meg Merriles, who has long been a friend of the house of Eliangowan, takes this as a personal insult and calls down the purse of her race upon the home of Bertram. In taking action against the smugglers who infest the coast, Bertram employs inspector Kennedy to rout them. Young Harry, now five years old, and his tutor, are walking about the shore. They pass Kennedy who places the child on his horse. The smugglers in the meantime recognize Kennedy as their enemy. They attack him and throw him over the cliff. The boy being a witness to this is taken away to their cave. Meg, who has seen this, begs for the boy's release, but Lawyer Glossin, a silent friend of the smugglers, prevails upon them to kidnap the boy, for without an heir the house of Bertram, by his clever manipulation, will easily pass into his hands. Sixteen years later, young Bertram, now known as Brown, becomes an officer in Col. Mannering's regiment in India. He is very much in love with Mannering's daughter, Julia, whose mother, fearing the colonel's anger, encourages the young lovers in their secret meetings. This is misinterpreted by the colonel, who thinks that Brown is paying attention to his wife. This situation leads to a duel in which Bertram is shot and supposed by Mannering to be dead. In reality he is taken prisoner by the Sepoys and held captive till he manages to escape. Learning that the colonel has returned to England, he follows, and finds him living in Scotland, a widower, with his daughter, near the Bertram estate. He sees his sweetheart again. Old Meg recognizes him as the heir and the smugglers also recognize him, and inform Glossin, who, upon the death of the young man's father, acquires the estate at very small cost, leaving Miss Bertram, the daughter of his old master, penniless. Glossin at once takes action with the smugglers, who, to protect himself from the charge of the murder of Kennedy, is a willing tool of Glossin, and agrees to get them young man out of the way. This plot fortunately is overheard by one of Meg's trusty men, who immediately informs her. Realizing that she owes many a favor to the house of Ellangowan, she sends word to the colonel that if he would like to see that the heir to the house of Bertram is still alive, to come at once to the smugglers' cave with help. She tells Bertram who he is and bids him be at the smugglers' cave that she may prove what she says. She leads him into the cave. Here she confronts Glossin and Hatterick and promises that her prophecy shall be fulfilled. A struggle ensues, which by the timely arrival of Col. Mannering and his help, terminates in the capture of Glossin and Hatterick. Meg has been shot during the affray, and with her dying breath announces to all that Bertram is the long-lost heir to the house of Ellangowan. The colonel recognizes in young Bertram, Brown. His daughter Julia arrives and the lover-like attitude of the young couple explains to him the error, and he consents to their speedy marriage. Bertram meets for the first time his sister Lucy, in whom Col. Mannering has shown an interest more than brotherly. They all repair to the castle where Bertram is formally proclaimed its master.
- Dr. Watson, on his way east, gets off the train to stretch his legs at a way station, and being called to the aid of a section boss, who has broken his arm, he finds there is no other train east till morning. He gets a room at the Red Horse Hotel and to while away the time joins in a faro game, winning all the money in sight. Bland, the gambler, and his assistants, Jack and Bill, hate to think of the doctor getting away with so much cash, so they conspire with the hotel keeper to drug Watson's drink, intending to rob him later. The doctor, however, only pretends to drink the doped liquor, and when the gambler attacks him in his room he overpowers him with his hypodermic needle and succeeds in escaping from the hotel, pursued by Jack and Bill. Watson finds refuge in the cottage of Granby, the section boss whom he has doctored. Already he has become much interested in his patient's pretty daughter, May. That night, in an attack upon the cottage by Watson's enemies, the gambler's accomplices, May is instrumental in saving the doctor's life. The rest of the story is eloquently implied.
- Harry Ogden - ne'er-do-well - is caught by a sheriff's posse and is about to be hung when he is saved by Betty, the daughter of a Kentucky Colonel, who is traveling in the West for his health. Ogden is addicted to a morphine habit and Betty, who is a doctor, hides him in their house and nurses him back to health. Ogden asks Betty to be his wife, and he is returning to his family home to get some money. The Colonel, mistaken for Ogden by Taylor, a rival for Betty's hand, is shot and killed by Taylor, who leaves evidence pointing to Ogden as the killer. Betty plans to turn him over to the law when he returns. Meanwhile, Taylor is killed by Choo, who is secretly in love with Betty, and she learns through Choo that Ogden is innocent of her father's murder.
- Burt and Albert are twin brothers, so exactly alike that nobody can tell them apart; the only way is that Burt has a particularly odd scar on his right wrist. Both brothers love Lucille Dayton, daughter of a wealthy stockbroker. She prefers Burt and accepts his proposal. Albert is furious and seeks some way to dishonor his brother and win the girl for himself, Finally he forges his own name to a check, and by appearing at his club, establishes an alibi and makes it look like Burt passed the check. Burt is arrested and sent to jail. Lucille believes in him and vows to be faithful to him. His brother out of the way, Albert ruins the girl's father. The old man dies and the girl is left penniless to earn a living. Albert tells her that sooner or later she will come to him. He has her discharged from every position she manages to get. About this time Burt is released from jail and is unable to find either Lucille or Albert. Despondent, he joins an underworld gang and is soon assigned to rob a house. This happens to be his own brother's. He enters the richly furnished room, switches on the lights and the twin brothers are face to face. Burt denounces Albert, and he, overcome, and seized by an attack of heart failure, falls dead. Burt dresses in his brother's clothes and ringing for a servant has the body carried out as that of a vagrant. Unable to get work, Lucille seeks Albert's home. Burt comes down to find the girl he has sought crouching in a chair by the fire. He goes to her, she shrinks away from him, saying only, "I came because I was hungry." Burt takes her in his arms and makes her understand who he is. Breaking down she sobs out all the horror of the past few months when she was always persecuted by his brother and how she was on the brink of yielding to his demands because he was making life so hard for her. Burt comforts her, saying, "We have both been on the brink of sin, but now let us start anew together."
- The headless body of a young man is found in the river and newspaper man Connors and cub reporter Bruce are sent out on the story. Bruce wants to make a record and finds a white and streaked button. Bruce follows the clue and finds in a factory in L.I. City that two employees, John Joyce and Sam Leonard, did not show up for work that morning. Leonard is accounted for, but Joyce is not. McGinnis, a stableman, identifies a picture of a man in a group picture on the wall of the factory office, as one who hired a rig from him, and next to this man is Joyce and a girl, Helen Lister, whose photo adorns Joyce's dresser. Helen tells that she was engaged to Joyce until Greening, the other man of the group, came to work at the factory and Joyce warned her against him. The night before the murder Greening had called and taken her to Jersey City to be married. He had gotten out at his flat in Manhattan, gone inside, then called out the window to tell her to wait at a hotel for him in Jersey City, but he had never shown up. Bruce then discovers that Greening was the son of a multi-millionaire and no one knew why he should be working in a factory under an assumed name. Bruce and McGinnis go to Greening's flat and have a run-in with the janitor and tie him up; later they also catch Greening. He escapes and calls the police and denounces Bruce and McGinnis as burglars, but they turn the tables again and take Greening to the newspaper office. They believe that he killed Joyce to get his girl, but it transpires that the man they have captured is really Joyce. Joyce tells them he followed Greening the night of the murder and confronted him in his rooms and forced him to promise to marry the girl under his own real name and not that of Greening. They fight and Greening is killed accidentally. He then threw his body in the creek. He pretended to be Greening in order to throw the police and reporters off the track and save the girl's reputation. A letter found from Greening tells that he was really on the square with the girl and meant to marry her and the shock of this fact being brought home to Joyce, and the realization that all his work and killing has been for naught, kills him.
- Robert Marsh, a wealthy young rancher, has an Indian sweetheart, Nona, who bears him a child. Already, however, he has deserted her for Vera Blanchard, a girl from the east, whom he marries. They have a daughter, who is the idol of her father's heart. While hunting the rancher's gun accidentally explodes and he is stricken blind. After this his only consolation is his baby girl. When the child sickens and dies Vera is distraught between her loss and fear of its effect upon Robert, so when she finds on the doorstep an Indian baby she stifles her grief and puts the foundling in her husband's arms. The red mother dies, and the Indian girl grows up as Marsh's daughter. Years later, a great specialist comes to perform an operation upon the rancher's eyes, and the girl, who has recently discovered that she is an Indian changeling tries to go away forever. By feigning that the doctor's experiment has not been a success. Marsh, who loves Nita, as the girl is called, and guesses her intention, causes her to stay with him. Soon after this, he finds her praying, and clasping a wooden crucifix which years before he had given Nona. He tells her that she is in very fact his daughter.
- Willard McCourtney buys a farm in the west from Moreland Ellington, and finds that he has been buncoed. The property is worthless. Returning east for redress, he discovers that Ellington has closed his place of business and fled. McCourtney is forced, by his poverty, to take a job as waiter in a disreputable café. Some time later, he recognizes Julia, the daughter of Ellington, whom he had met at her father's office, entering the restaurant with a white slaver. McCourtney watches their actions in an alcove box, and is convinced that the girl is about to be drugged and kidnapped. He is filled with the joy of revenge. When Ellington, who has received word of the plot, rushes in a few minutes later, inquiring for his daughter, the man he once wronged tells him that Miss Ellington had been there, but that she had just left. At this moment, a note is handed to McCourtney. He reads that his wife is the mother of a baby girl. Suddenly, his own daughter, in years to come, seems to have exchanged places with Julia Ellington. Horror-stricken, the waiter rushes into the alcove and knocks from Julia's hand the cup of drugged wine just as she is raising it to her lips. Ellington, still unconvinced, returns. He is just in time to rescue his daughter. The slaver escapes. The triumphant father, not recognizing McCourtney, attempts to press upon him a bill. The waiter refuses the money. However, in pulling out his handkerchief to mop his brow, the swindler broker drops his wallet. On returning to inquire for it, he finds that the roll of bills is considerably depleted and accuses McCourtney of having robbed him. In reply, the waiter hands him a paper on which is written, "Received of Moreland Ellington $2,000 repayment in full for the 200 acres of worthless land he sold me. (Signed) Willard McCourtney."
- Bud Walton, the village blacksmith, is big and strong physically, but he has not the courage to put his strength to good purpose. All the boys take a slap at him whenever they choose, and Bud makes no attempt to retaliate. This causes his sweetheart, June, to despise him. Sykes, a handsome stranger, comes to town. He becomes infatuated with Bud's sister, May, who is attracted by his fine manners. One day while walking along a cliff, Sykes roughly embraces her, and she falls over the precipice and is killed. Will, Bud's assistant at the forge, who long has loved May, discovers why Sykes has fled the town. He urges Bud to follow Sykes and avenge his sister. When Bud proves too weak of spirit to do this, Will goes, but is sent back badly wounded by Sykes. June arraigns Bud for his cowardice. Stung beyond endurance, he meets Sykes and though mortally injured himself, breaks his enemy's arm and carries him back to town. Throwing Sykes at the feet of June, the craven falls dead across his antagonist's body.
- The girl's father wants her to marry her rich suitor, but she loves the poor one. One evening, both young men are calling on the girl. Her father is all attention to the rich fellow. The girl puts a record into the phonograph and she and her sweetheart sit back in the shadows as "Annie Laurie" is played. The father's face softens; he sees himself a young man courting his sweetheart back in the early sixties. The Civil War breaks: he goes off in a Union uniform, carrying a knot of ribbon from the girl, and the last thing he remembers is her voice singing the old familiar "Annie Laurie." He is wounded and taken to the house of a Southern girl who cares for him and sends for the Northern girl and her father. When they arrive he does not know them, until the girl, inspired by a sudden thought, kneels at his bedside and sings "Annie Laurie" to him. Then he remembers and they are soon in close embrace. At this point in his dream the old man awakens. The phonograph is still playing "Annie Laurie." The young lovers, in their dim corner, are oblivious to all but themselves. Remembering the days of his own romance, the father suggests to the rich suitor that they leave the young pair alone.
- While with the French Foreign Legion in Algeria, Lt. Dubois seduces the lovely Zora, leaving her with a child and his medal for bravery. Sheik Achmed generously befriends Zora, and when she is killed in an accident he raises her son, El Rabb, as his own, and soon El Rabb and Achmed's biological son Bel Khan become best friends. Years later Lt. Dubois, now a general, is dispatched to Algeria to crush a revolt led by El Rabb and Bel Khan--and he doesn't know that El Rabb is his son--who wears his father's medal around his neck.
- When the soldiers attacked the old home of the Von Hirschsprung family, the father buried his family treasure in the garden. In the fight that followed he was killed but his two sons survived. Having no money, and supposing their fortune stolen, the sons sell the old home to the Hellwig family. Cordula, daughter of old Hellwig, falls in love with Joseph, the younger Von Hirschsprung brother. He returns her affection, but her father will not permit the marriage because of Joseph's poverty. One day Cordula, digging in the garden, unearths the Hirschsprung treasure and tells her father, who makes her vow never to tell of the finding of the money chest. Joseph deprived of his sweetheart, dies in poverty. Broken-hearted Cordula removes her things to an upper apartment and vows she will never enjoy any of the ill-gotten wealth. Years later, the only surviving member of the Von Hirschsprungs marries a strolling player. Ten years later she is killed by accident during her act in the circus and her husband, to save his child from a similar fate, puts her in the care of Cordula's brother Nathan. The child, Fay, finds no welcome in her new home until she meets Cordula, now known as Old Mam'selle. She and Old Mam'selle have adjoining attic rooms and spend much time together. Everyone knows that Old Mam'selle has a secret, but no one knows what it is. The years pass. John, son of the Hellwigs, returns from the Medical University to fall in love with Fay. He is expected to marry Hortense, a rich widow with one child. Fay saves this child from an awful death by fire and wins John's admiration as well as his love. His mother refuses to accept Fay as a daughter. In the midst of all this confusion Old Mam'selle is taken ill. Before she dies she tells Fay that her diary contains her secret and it must die with her. Fay promises to destroy the little book. After Old Mam'selle's death, Fay finds the book and is about to destroy it when John enters the room and sees her. He demands that she give him the diary. She refuses at first but finally yields. Then she goes to her room to pack her things. Feeling herself very unwelcome at the Hellwigs she thinks she had better go away. John opens the little book and reads the whole story of the Hellwig wealth and how it all belongs to the Hirschsprung family. He rushes out of the room with the book and finds Fay ready to leave. She has her grip in her hands. He takes it from her and begs her to remain. As he takes the grip he notices the name Meta Von Hirschsprung, with a crest printed across it. He stares at Fay and asks her whose grip it is. She replies it belonged to her mother who took it with her when she ran away to he married. Then John knows that Fay is the sole remaining member of the once famous Von Hirschsprungs and that the money being enjoyed by the Hellwigs belongs to her. He tells her and she realizes that she is rich, feels free to accept his heart offered to her in the days when he did not know she had a single penny to her name.
- Carl Rogers has risen from the position of bookkeeper to that of a cashier in the small and only bank of Santa Paula. The president of the bank, John Blackwood, does not look with favor upon the affection which is shown by Rogers for his daughter Lolita. His prospects of marrying Lolita being small, encourages him to work harder than ever on his invention, an electrical device for melting steel. Rogers advertises his invention in the papers, and two crooks, Handsome Jack and Blue Beard, lay a scheme to get his invention and make use of it in their line of occupation. Rogers sees them in a room in the city set for the appearance of an office, and after receiving a receipt for his model, leaves it with them for supposed consideration. Returning to Santa Paula, Rogers goes on about his work at the bank. Handsome Jack and Blue Beard then round up two of their gang and plan a big robbery in Santa Paula. In the meantime, mostly at night, they look the bank over, planning entrances and exits. On the day planned for the robbery, Lolita visits her father and Rogers, at the bank, after taking a few camera pictures of her friends. She leaves the camera on a desk near the safe and forgets it when she leaves. Rogers and Blackwood close the safe and bank after she departs, and not noticing the camera, leave for the night. Near midnight Ryan and Stevens enter the bank from a rear entrance, and after covering the windows to keep out the flashes, set to work on the safe with Rogers' invention. The wires are connected and Ryan tests the device on the safe's door. The flashes are bright and the heat intense, causing Stevens to move back. His hand accidentally pushes the shutter release on the camera and exposes the plate as a tremendous flash comes from the safe. The touching of the release and the flash from the electrical device serve to produce a flash light picture, unknown to the crooks. The safe is easily opened with Rogers' device and the contents extracted. The crooks make their escape up an alley leading from the hotel. Unknown to them, the melting iron is dropped in their flight. The following morning they go to work as usual at the store where they contrived to get employment in order to stave off suspicion, Rogers and Blackwood arrive at the bank the next day, and are dumbfounded at the sight of the melted safe and the missing money. The sheriff is notified, and on his way to the scene, comes through the alley and finds the mysterious looking invention of Rogers. At the bank he looks the safe over and is sure that the iron he found has caused it. Rogers is taken back at the sight of his invention and tells of its use. Blackwood thinks the story weak and jumps at conclusions and orders Rogers arrested for the robbery. The sheriff is told of the invention being Rogers' and of Rogers' want of money to marry Lolita. Lolita comes to the bank to get the forgotten camera, and is amazed and heartbroken at the happenings told to her by her father. She goes home with the camera and attempts to ease her mind by developing the films. She finds the picture of Ryan at work on the safe. Rushing to her father, she shows him the needed evidence to free her lover. Together they race to the sheriff's office. Rogers is released, and the sheriff grabs the crooks at the store and locates the money in their room. What can Blackwood do? The papers in the city get bold of the story and some real promoters read it and buy Rogers' invention. So it is up to the stern old banker to turn his treasure, Lolita, over to Rogers.
- A circus clown promises his dying wife that their daughter will not grow up in a circus. The daughter is placed with guardians, and becomes infatuated with a worthless politician. She eventually realizes that she loves another man.
- U.S. Marshal Gridley, with his wife, Mary, child, and mother, reside on the United States border. He receives a letter from the man who gained him his appointment, asking him to take on as a Secret Service agent, Clarence Kirby. Gridley is forced to go away to look after opium smugglers. As soon as he is gone, Gridley's mother, who is jealous of Mary's influence on Gridley, vents her spite on her and makes the young woman's life very unhappy. Kirby arrives, meets Mary, falls in love with her, and tries to win her affection. Gridley's mother notices Kirby's attentions, and becomes greatly worried over them. Mary likes Kirby in an innocent manner, as he is the means of brightening her otherwise dismal existence, until one day she goes too far. Gridley's mother forms the worst suspicions from this and sends Gridley a letter by messenger, requesting him to return at once. He receives the message twenty-four hours later, and while at first scoffing at the mother's suspicions, he at last begins to worry over the situation and starts oft on his return. Next day Kirby calls again upon Mary and Gridley's mother being present, he writes and forces upon Mary a note, asking her to leave the front door open that night as he will call at midnight for he must see her alone. Mary is at first shocked and angry, then comes to a determination. Gridley's mother discovers the note and sets a watch upon Mary. Mary unlocks the door that night, and Mrs. Gridley slips out and waits for her son. When he arrives she tells him the painful news and shows him Kirby's note. Gridley, his trust in his wife utterly broken, lays in wait for Kirby, intending to kill him. Kirby arrives. Mary meets him with Gridley's deadly revolver trained upon him. As he is about to fire, Mary tells Kirby how much she despises him, and at the point of a revolver compels him to sign a confession of his evil intentions. Gridley then enters the scene and compels Kirby to drink to the health of "the best and truest wife a man ever had." Kirby slinks out. Gridley's mother, who overhears, enters and begs Mary's forgiveness, which is readily given.
- George Rankin is superintendent of a large factory. He is out walking with his wife when they see a crowd of boys attacking a young Italian newsboy. They rescue him, take him to a restaurant, and give him some money. A year later, the boy's grandmother dies. Being left alone, he remembers Rankin, and going to his factory, receives employment. He gains the enmity of two Italian workmen and later discovers them in a plot to blow up Rankin's home. Rankin discharges them. The two Italians return to their homes. That evening they see the boy talking to a young girl. They attack him, and he, in self-defense, draws his knife. An old peace-loving Italian jumps between them and receives a stab from one of the Italians By lying they fasten the crime upon the boy, who, half believing that he really struck the old man, takes to the hills. A crowd of Italians, together with the sheriff and his posse, search for him. While in hiding in the woods the boy again overbears the two Italians plotting to blow up Rankin's home that night. The boy is torn between conflicting emotions whether to save himself or his friend, Rankin. Looking down from a hill, which overlooks the back of Rankin's home, he sees the two Italians throw a lighted bomb through the cellar window of Rankin's home. Running madly down he enters the cellar through the window, gets the bomb and throws it out of the window, just as the two black hands, who saw him enter the cellar, rush up to restrain him. They are just in time to receive the full force of the bomb. This ends their lives and their plan of revenge. The explosion brings Rankin and his wife from the house. At this point the boy's sweetheart comes upon the scene. She was an unseen witness of the old Italian's death. Explanations follow and the boy is cleared and received into Rankin's home.
- Jasper engages vacation board by mail, and when he arrives at the house discovers a score of pretty girls longing for masculine company. Jasper is much smitten with Grace, and big-eyed, curly-headed, dimpled maid, but is unable to see his divinity alone for even a moment, as the other girls obtrude themselves about him. In despair he writes to a friend, a popular actor, to visit him for a few weeks, hoping the girls will transfer their attentions to the matinee idol. And they do. But, sad for Jasper, Grace flies to the actor and hugs and kisses him, for it develops that she is his wife. Jasper leaves the hotel in disgust, his exit being marked by frigid expressions from the girls.
- Theatrical manager Isaac Shuman has a reputation for "taking advantage" of young girls who want to become stars on Broadway. Reporter Tom Warder investigates these stories and exposes Shuman in his newspaper. Shuman threatens to kill Warder, then leaves town. He returns several years later, and hatches a scheme to frame Tom and have him sent to prison. He succeeds, but Tom hatches his own plan to get his revenge.
- The suffrage workers are vainly endeavoring to win over Senator Herman to their cause as his vote on a certain bill they favor means its passage. May Fillmore, one of the most ardent of the workers, discovers that the father of a little motherless tenement brood has died of tuberculosis, after having vainly importuned the owner. Senator Herman, to make building alterations that will remedy unsatisfactory conditions. She goes to the Senator's fiancée, Jane Wadsworth, and succeeds in securing her help. Jane accompanies May to the poor bereaved family, and she is shocked at the terrible lack of sanitation. They find three little girls and a baby left to fight the world alone. Elsie, the eldest, is doing embroidery sweat-shop work at home, and minding the baby, while Hester works in a department store. The other tot is a half-time scholar, and in the afternoons assists her sister working on corset covers for another shop. All these fearful conditions are pointed out by May and have their desired effect upon Jane. She is further shocked upon learning that her fiancé is the negligent owner. Jane goes to him and pleads that he do something in the matter. He waves her away and treats her like a child. Angered, she joins the suffragists and assists in bringing both her father and the Senator to terms. Hester is insulted by a floorwalker in her father's shop, which proves another shock to Jane, when her father does nothing in the matter. Later she is stricken with scarlet fever, which she contracted from the embroidery on one of her trousseau gowns, which came from her father's store. The father and Senator, upon learning that they were in part guilty, as the embroidery was made in the Senator's unsanitary tenement, gives in and most enthusiastically joins the suffrage movement. They are seen with the girls at suffrage headquarters, at the Men's League, and finally in the parade.
- Wilbur and Clinton, choirboys in an Episcopal church, have a falling out on account of Gladys, a pretty little girl, who has captured the youthful fancy of each. At a church picnic, however, Wilbur saves Clinton from drowning, and the rivals become as Damon and Pythias. Years later, Wilbur is ordained a minister, while Clinton has drifted into idleness and vice. Unknown to one another, the boyhood chums are living in the same city. Wilbur's long courtship of Gladys has ended in a happy marriage. Clinton, desperate from hunger and poverty, is drawn into a plot to rob a certain house. Not until the crooks are throttling Wilbur does Clinton discover that they have attacked the home of his old friend. He then flings himself upon the burglars and in a fierce struggle is fatally wounded. Clinton dies in Wilbur's arms, glad to sacrifice himself for the friend who, in boyhood, risked his own life for him.
- Jim Dodson, a poor workman, has been in the habit of begging a streetcar transfer in town, in order to ride home each night from work. Ford and Ransom, a couple of crooks, rob a store and among the things taken are a quantity of stamped envelopes with the name and address of the firm printed thereon. Helen, of the "Herald," tries to ferret out the robbery, but is unsuccessful, until one day Ford writes a letter and gives it to a passing little girl to mail, first scratching out the name on the stamped envelope. Helen bumps into the little girl, knocking the letter to the ground. Picking it up for her, Helen notes the scratched-out name and address, and follows the child to the crook's shack. There she discovers part of the loot, but is captured and tied up by one of them. Leaving her securely tied, Ford goes downtown to meet his pal, and on a streetcar they plan their getaway. Ford gives Ransom the address of the shack, and the hiding place of the loot, and writes it on a transfer slip, to be sure he doesn't forget it. Getting off the car at the transfer point, he drops the transfer and Jim hurriedly picks it up and gets on the car. The conductor is talking to Fields, a detective, also working on the case, and shows the transfer with its message to Fields. The latter, reading the message on it, leads a run to the rendezvous, rescues Helen and captures the crooks and the loot.
- On the night of a masque ball, Policeman Moriarty witnesses, silhouetted on the window curtain of a rear room in Frank Middleton's house, the murder of Middleton himself, by a tall figure costumed as the Devil. He had also just seen the shadows of Middleton and a young woman on the curtain, the latter struggling to defend herself from his embrace. Moriarty summons help, and the policemen, under the direction of Lee, the chief of the detective force, arrests all the guests. Lee also finds on the table of Middleton's room a diary, a woman's handkerchief, and a bunch of keys. Trying the keys in one door after another, he at last brings to light a beautiful girl who weeps but will tell nothing. He takes her to the police station, where already the other guests are awaiting examination. There Lee sets an electric lamp on the floor and with Moriarty at his elbow reviews in silhouette on the wall all the guests as they pass the lamp. Floyd Parker, who is dressed as Mephistopheles, is called aside, then Edwin Hurlburt, whose cupid bow, in silhouette, resembles a devil's horns. Lee brings out the "heart-throb machine" and tests by means of written words on a blackboard both the suspected men. Parker is tried first. The heart throb register runs evenly. "Hurlburt, you killed Middleton," writes Lee, and the machine registers wildly. Suddenly, at the detective's signal, a door is opened and the girl runs into the room. Seeing Hurlburt in an attitude of supplication, she exclaims, "It was not his fault. The scoundrel trapped me." Lee draws from his pocket the diary he has found on the table in Middleton's room. He reads to himself the last entry: "Wealth buys everything. Even little Janet, Hurlburt's fiancée, met me in my rooms tonight to save his business from my mortgage. She must pay my price." Then he tries the girl with the heart-throb machine and she bursts into a storm of weeping. Hurlburt springs forward and throwing his arms about her, confesses. He had killed Middleton to save her honor. Lee closes the machine. "It was justifiable homicide," he says.
- Marie is a very religious village girl. Her mother, fearing that some man will make her unhappy (as she had been made by a man) made her promise on her deathbed that she would enter a nunnery. Marie considers that promise sacred and will allow nothing to interfere with her keeping that promise. Her grandfather is charged with seeing that she keeps her word, and his advice having been refused by his own daughter, Marie's mother, he intends that this time it will be heeded. Meeting and loving a young man visiting her village (a nephew of the village priest), Marie rebels against giving him up and, sealing herself up in a nunnery for life. But her promise to her mother stands between and her grandfather chides her and tries to force her to a realization that breaking the promise she made would mean everlasting damnation. She is still undecided, however, and grandfather, to save her soul, falsely accuses the young man of being untrue to her and by a ruse proves it to her and she is forced to believe. The crafty old man also falsely proves to the young man, by a forged note, that she is untrue and is going into the nunnery to expiate her sin. Broken-hearted, the young man goes away and equally broken-hearted, Marie goes into the nunnery and is on probation until she is considered fit to become a full-fledged nun. Later, she becomes a nun in full orders, the youngest of the convent. The young man, a musician, writes a great opera and marries the star as a marriage of convenience, and lives not far from the convent. His wife does not love him. He realizes her motive for marrying him and is unhappy. He lives only in the dear, dead past and in dreams of Marie, whom he has never ceased to love. He has hidden away the forged letter the uncle wrote and often takes it out and weeps over it. Marie, too, even in full orders, cannot always forget him. At night in her cell she weeps and pours forth her agony of soul and heart and prays for peace from its suffering, and finally finds it completely in her religious life and affairs and puts the man out of her heart completely. One day the uncle dies and tells the priest of his act in separating Marie and the boy. The priest tells Mother Superior, who is afraid to tell Marie, but she has overheard and realizes the position she and the young man are in, but is content, although sorry for the young man. Later, the young man's wife lies ill and is dying. A nun is delegated to nurse her and Marie is sent. The young man and Marie meet face to face across the bedside of the dying wife. Marie tells the young man of the truth of the affair, and he urges on her that her vows were taken under a misapprehension. The wife dies; Dorothy refuses the love and happiness thus offered her, and finally renounces her love and goes back to the convent. Some years later, show Dorothy in the garden of the convent, telling her beads. Outside is the young man, alone, walking past the walls of the convent. He goes on and up upon a hill which looks down upon the convent. The garden can be seen from there. Dorothy can see the hill from her garden spot. She sees a figure on the hill; it holds out its arms to her; she gazes, then turns away; he, too, turns away. And so they live their lives apart.
- Although physically strong, Tom Fuller reflects the meekness of his mother, who has carefully sheltered him from contact with the world. He is taught that physical prowess is brutal. His father, a fighting westerner, who has made a million in the mines. suffers an injury while defending his property, from which he later dies. Mrs. Fuller, never in accord with the rough life of the western mining camp, moves to the city with her son. The death of his father is constantly cited to the boy as a result of "roughness." Later Tom marries Mildred Duncan, who consents to the marriage for financial reasons, urged on by her parents. She has little respect and no love for her husband, because of his meekness and domination by his mother. She later becomes interested in Hugh Gates, whom she believes exemplifies her ideal.. Gates improves his opportunities. Tom, learning of the affair, is about to interfere in a physical manner, when prevented by his mother, who urges that the better way would be to remove Mildred from the environment which permits contact with Gates. She suggests the seashore. Mildred, under protest, agrees, Tom. unknown to his mother decides in favor of the forests as compared with the artificiality of society resorts. Gates learning of their whereabouts follows. At their mountain camp, Mildred is petulant and desires to return to the city, but his father's spirit is strong within him and Tom heeds the call of the wild. The out-door life and lack of his mother domination, makes a man of him. During his absence Gates prevails upon Mildred to return to the city. Returning as they are about to leave, Tom orders Mildred to remain. She refuses. Gates sneeringly pushes Tom aside. Tom answers with a blow. They fight and Gates is severely whipped. Mildred, to whose wish Tom had heretofore always bowed, feels the iron grip without its velvet glove. She is ordered roughly into the canoe and Tom paddles away with her that night, as he sits by their campfire, a completely subdued Mildred slips from her blankets and puts her hand in his in token of submission.
- Mae is a girl of the slums. Her antecedents are unknown. She works as a dancing girl around a rough dive where her sweetheart Bob is a waiter. Graves, a cheap sport, takes a fancy to Mae and asks the bartender who she is. The bartender tells him that nobody knows where she came from. When Graves becomes fresh with Mae, Bob warns him off. On their day off, Bob and Mae go walking in the park. They see young couples with their babies and long for a decent married existence. Judge Lewis, in his courtroom, is sternly sentencing a criminal who is pleading for mercy. A second judge enters the room and is invited to the bench as a matter of courtesy. He whispers to Judge Lewis in favor of the criminal, but Lewis is firm and sends the prisoner away condemned to the limit. Court adjourns and the two judges depart. They go down the courthouse steps and walk away to the park, where they see Bob and Mae. The second judge recognizes Bob and stops him. The judge asks him questions and Bob replies that he is behaving himself. Bob is eager to get away. Alone with Mae, Bob explains that the judge is the one that paroled him after his last fight. Back at work in the dive. Graves becomes offensive to Mae. He follows her to her room and is followed by Bob. A fight occurs in which Mae shoots Graves. Bob disappears, fearing the result of his parole if he should not obey the judge. Mae is to be tried before Judge Lewis. She is assigned a young attorney to defend her. The attorney sees her in her cell and gets her story. He can find no trace of Bob, who, however, keeps himself posted in hiding. The young attorney has secured from Mae, however, a locket given to her by her dead mother when she was a little child. The locket has a photo of her mother with the address of a photographer in a country town. The attorney visits the town, finds the old photographer, and is directed to Old Man Aitken as one who can tell about the woman of the photo. Aitken shows great emotion when he sees the photo, and on being told of Mae's coming trial before Lewis, shows great eagerness to go with the attorney. The trial is commenced, and the attorney admits the killing, but pleads self-defense and the girl's irresponsibility. He places her on the stand, and she tells her story. The judge is cold and relentless. She is asked on cross examination, "Where is this man Bob?" She doesn't know. Bob, however, has crept into the back of the courtroom. He presents himself and is examined. He corroborates Mae, but the judge, recognizing him as the boy of the park, discredits his testimony by asking him, "Are you not a paroled prisoner?" Bob admits it, and the effect on the jury is obvious. Mae is found guilty, with a recommendation for mercy. On being brought up for sentence, the attorney calls Aitken to prove the girl's irresponsibility. The prosecuting attorney jumps to his feet and objects. The judge is about to rule out Aitken's testimony, when Mae's attorney interposes, "It will not be necessary to mention the name of the father of this defendant, but I will ask the witness to identify this photograph as the girl's mother." The portrait of the locket is passed to the judge. He conceals his emotion with difficulty. Mae's attorney proceeds, "I will prove by this witness that the defendant's birth and early life are responsible." Aitken then tells his story, fading back to Mary Alden and Lewis, their love, the locket, Lewis' desertion to follow his career, sending her a letter telling her of his decision, the baby's birth, and the disappearance of mother and child. After the story the judge faints, court is adjourned, and the judge is carried out. The next day another judge is on the bench: he who had paroled Bob. He suspends sentence on Mae and she and Bob go away free. Judge Lewis is convalescent at his home in the country. Aitken brings Mae and Bob to him and he expresses his interest in them and determination to devote his life to his daughter.
- Rosalind, a beautiful gypsy girl, is being halted by the town rowdies, and in trying to escape falls and injures her arm. Dick Waite, appearing upon the scene, thrashes the girl's tormentors and takes her home to his mother, where she is tenderly cared for. Dick falls in love with Rosalind and she marries him, his aged parents approving of their new daughter-in-law. Some time later Dick, dabbling in chemistry, loses his sight by an explosion. Rosalind's wonderful voice has caused widespread comment, and she is visited by an operatic impresario, who develops her talents and presents her to the public. She makes an instantaneous hit, and is soon besieged by admirers. Her triumph in the metropolis and the wealth and luxury of her surroundings work a revulsion of feeling against her simple-hearted, stricken husband and his humble home, and listening to the fervid wooing of a wealthy young man, she decides to divorce Dick, and writes him to this effect. The next day however, her accusing conscience brings a flood of memories, and she recoils in horror and remorse at her brutal action. Hoping to intercept the letter and prevent its receipt by Dick, she takes a fast train to the home town, to find that a mightier hand than the law has freed her from her bonds, for the shock of her perfidy has broken poor Dick's heart and his lifeless form awaits her. Realizing the loss of Dick and his true, loyal love, she falls at his feet in a storm of tears and anguish.