Harding has been elected mayor. The defeated party has retained enough aldermen to make them a power in local politics. They wish to put through a deal awarding the contract for a bridge across the river, which will mean millions of additional cost to the taxpayers and a big slice of graft for the party. In order to jam this contract through, it is necessary that the mayor be absent from the special meeting that has been called to consider the matter, for he is sure to oppose it. In order to understand the plan adopted by the politicians for Harding's capitulation, it is necessary to state that the first act of the new mayor was an order to rid the city of the army of fortune tellers, seers, prophets and the like. The action of the mayor has stirred up a feeling among this class of grafters that amounts to murderous fury, so the leader had no difficulty in getting a few of their number to act as his catspaw. The plan is this: A letter is sent to Harding, signed by a voter, stating that his orders regarding the fortune tellers is not being carried out, that his police force is taking graft and letting them continue business, that if he wants positive proof of this to call at a certain address at eight o'clock that night and see for himself. The special meeting of aldermen is called for nine o'clock the same night. They figure that Harding, being of an investigating turn of mind, will call at the appointed time. A beautiful seeress, Mme. Del Rae, is to receive him, charm him, and figuring Harding is not made of ice, to put him in a compromising position in which he is to be discovered by members of the political party. Their silence is to be the price of his absence from the meeting. Harding receives the letter at the same time that a citizen is making a complaint of Mme. Del Rae's establishment. He decides to personally investigate. Stanford Stone calls on on the madam, and finds her furious at having received a notice from the mayor to close up her establishment. Stone pays madam liberally and asks her to help him in his scheme to secure Dorothy Maxwell. Then he scribbles under the notice received by madam: "Call at Madam Del Rae's and get evidence against the place. Thanks in advance. (Signed) Harding." This note he dispatches at once. Dorothy receives it, and pleased to be of help to Harding, hurries to the place. The chloroform cap, which Madam Del Rae has ingeniously suspended from the ceiling, descends as she sits at madam's table and she is rendered unconscious. Stone is about to remove her when Harding arrives to investigate. Stone conceals himself in an inner room. Dorothy recovers and rushes to Harding for protection. in the light that follows. Stone escapes through a window. Harding arrives at the meeting of aldermen in time to prevent the jamming through of the bridge contract. On returning home that evening Harding meets an old friend, Tom Cross, who is down and out through his craze for liquor. Harding him to his apartment intending to put him on his feet again. During the night Cross way to his craving, steals Harding's clothes and money and proceeds to get drunk. Boss Mead and Stone are both angry at being outwitted by Harding. In the fight at madam's she was killed by falling into an electric chair trap fixed for Harding. Mead and Stone propose to swear out a warrant for Harding's arrest and accuse him of killing the woman. This warrant is to be sent just as Harding is about to review the Shriners' parade. As they walk past the city hall late that night, they see a workman building a temporary platform from Harding's window on which he may review the parade. They take the workman to an all-night saloon and bribe him to make the platform unsafe. Cross, lying drunk in the saloon, overhears the plot and tries to call up Harding to warn him, but the latter, angry at the man's weakness, will not listen. The next day just before the big parade, madam's assistant accuses Harding of her murder. Cross, who has come to his senses and has tried to warn Harding, only to be thrown out of the office, comes back at this juncture and declares he is the man wanted. Harding gave him a suit of clothes and those people took him for the mayor. He holds out his hands for the manacles. Boss Mead, seeing that his first plan is going to miscarry, calls to Harding to hurry out on the platform as the parade has started. Cross jumps between Harding and the window, accusing Mead of the plot to kill Harding by making the platform unsafe. Mead springs at Cross to try and stop his mouth. In the struggle both step on the platform and go crashing down to death. The leader of the political grafters has been removed.