Plot

Love found a way years ago in old New York just as it does today. Knippenkauser, the old Dutch doctor, is wrapped up in material medica, and incidentally keeps an eye on his pretty daughter, Marie, and her lover, Dolph, who is also the doctor's poor apprentice. Dolph is wise to the "Doc's" little game of referring to the "Pharmacopia Medica" whenever a patient calls for treatment, compounding all his prescriptions from the same box, and the apprentice becomes a valuable assistant to his employer; but he considers the young fellow impossible as a son-in-law. One day a tenant of "Knipp's" sends him a letter saying that the house he has rented from the doctor is haunted, and he cannot live in it. The doctor immediately posts a notice that he will give ten pounds to anybody who will sleep in the house overnight and rid it of the ghost. Everybody is afraid until Dolph comes along and decides to take a chance and win the money. The old doctor and the tenant agree to go to the haunted house with the apprentice, feeling confident that if he can stand it they can. The three watches crowd into the one bed and wait the coming of his spookship. At midnight he appears upon the scene, and one glance from the doctor and the tenant is enough. They hurriedly and squeamishly take a sneak, leaving Dolph to see it out in fear and trembling. The spook sits down to count the golden contents of a bag, then beckons Dolph to follow him, leading him to an old well which by gestures he intimates has something to do with his unrest in the spirit world, then he disappears. Disturbed in mind, Dolph hastens back to the laboratory and busies himself with his work and thoughts. While looking through an old book he discovers a picture which resembles the ghost, and inscribed with a note pertaining to his death. Dolph tells Marie all about his experiences, and together they go to the old well and unearth an iron-bound box, which, upon opening, they discover contains many jewels and great wealth. Carrying their treasure home, Dolph makes bold to ask the doctor for his daughter. The father is enraged, but calmly and blandly consents when he sees the well-stocked coffer which makes the poor apprentice a wealthy man.—Moving Picture World synopsis