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- Trixie believe the only way she can save her older sister from dying of tuberculosis is by preventing the autumn leaves from falling, so one night she steals into the garden in her nightie and fastens fallen leaves to branches with twine.
- An abused woman finds love in the arms of a famous novelist.
- Brendan O'Malley is a Robin Hood like bandit, who repeatedly escapes from jail, survives attempts to kill him, and eventually manages to sail to safety on a ship with the lady of his heart who helped him in his latest escape.
- In the eastern part of New Mexico is locate the little mining town of Gatlach. There, however, we find an active mining camp dependent largely upon the famous Gatlach mine for its existence. Living in the camp we find Florence, who is loved by Jake. Florence, too, loves Jake. A new superintendent arrives to take charge of the mining property. The new arrival meets Florence and the man and girl fall in love. Discontent among the Mexican and half-breed miners develops. They mutiny, coming to the office making demands which the super promptly refuses and orders them from the place. The ruffians withdraw to arm themselves and then plan an attack upon the office and the death of their boss. Jake overhears the plot, and while he has no love for Harry, determines for the sake of Florence to save them. He rushes to the office and warns them just as the mob appears. They are pursued and finally take refuge in a narrow pass. With only one horse, escape for the party is impossible. Jake forces Harry against his will to take the horse and Florence and escape. They depart seeking aid, which is found in the shape of a troop of cavalry out scouting. Thus reinforced, they rush back to Jake's aid, but too late, he has fought his last fight and given up his life for those dear to him.
- Algie Allmore has one year to prove he's a man in order to wed Harry Lyons' daughter.
- Norma, a dancer, receives many presents from admirers. Among them she finds a peculiar looking box, out of which spring several poisonous snakes. Nelson, a detective, is called upon to solve the mystery. On the box he finds a peculiar trademark, which he seizes as a clue. At his home he finds the same odd mark on an ashtray bought by his mother in a Hindu curio shop, and he learns that the box containing the snakes was purchased by a Hindu woman. Calling upon the woman, he is surprised to find himself in the home of a Priestess of Buddhism. The Priestess tries to fascinate him with her beauty and, not succeeding, drops a powder into an incense burner, the fumes of which begin to throw him into a stupor. He fights his way to a window, blows a police whistle, and is attacked by three giant Hindu attendants. But the police arrive in time to save his life, and the Priestess is arrested and thrown into prison. The dancer, Norma, is attracted to Nelson by his bravery, and they become friends. Meanwhile, the Priestess succeeds in working a psychic miracle in which she goes into a trance and, while her earthly form remains in prison, her soul is freed and appears before the horrified detective in his study. His nature is changed immediately by the Priestess's mystic influence, and his face becomes the face of a hardened criminal. Changing his clothes for one of the rough suits used in his detective work, he visits a den of crooks and aids them to rob a bank, the plans of which he has been entrusted with in his professional capacity. Later he is called to the bank to investigate the robbery and, not knowing of his dual personality, makes every effort to find the man who had committed the crime. He finds his own scarf among the scattered papers taken from the safe. A threatening letter, which he receives from the followers of the Priestess, is seen by Norma, who is so greatly concerned for his safety that when he asks her to marry him, she quickly consents to an engagement, so that she can do all in her power to protect him. His old mother is puzzled by seeing him leave his own house through the window, when he is again visited by the spirit of the Priestess and influenced to aid the same band of crooks in the robbery of his own home. When his real personality returns, he finds himself in his own office, where he has been discovered by his mother, sleeping in a chair, dressed in his old clothes. Upon discovery that his house has been robbed, he calls the chief of police and is seen by the companions of his criminal personality, who thinks that he is acting as an agent of the authorities merely to place them in the hands of the law. When he is again transformed toy the spirit of the Priestess and returns to the thieves' den, they regard him as a spy and plan to do away with him, leaving him bound and gagged in the care of an old hag, while they celebrate his capture. But Norma, who, with his mother has been watching him, follows him to the den of thieves and, overpowering the old woman, helps him to escape. Meanwhile, the followers of the Priestess succeed in rescuing her from her prison cell and are speeding away in an automobile when Nelson, who still retains his criminal personality, asks them to assist him to escape from the crooks, who are closely upon his trail. Thus, he unwittingly places himself and his fiancée in the power of the Priestess, who makes them prisoners in a temple of Buddha. Norma faints, and when Nelson's real personality returns, he finds himself bound hand and foot in the temple. Norma quickly explains the situation to him and, by burning the ropes that bind his wrists with the fire in the incense burner, he frees his companion and makes his way to the roof by the aid of a heavy chain from which a large oriental lamp is swung from the ceiling. He succeeds in helping Norma to the roof by the same method and they reach the ground with the aid of a large tree. The chief of police, who has been summoned by Nelson's mother, overtakes the crooks and arrests them after a desperate struggle. But the Priestess cheats the majesty of the law by the aid of a poisoned ring with which she does away with herself during one of her wild fanatical dances. Her death marks the end of her influence over Nelson, and he at last feels free to marry Norma.
- Frank Watson was spending a month in New York when one day he receives a letter from his father requesting him to come home and also that a surprise awaits him on his return. This aroused Frank's curiosity, so immediately he made preparations to leave at once. One arriving home he went at once to the drawing room and there to his surprise he saw a very attractive girl sitting by the fire-place seeming to be perfectly at home with her surroundings. Frank coughs. The girl turns around and then nods to him but leaves the room at once. Just then his mother and father come in and greet him. At once Frank begins to question them about the girl. For an answer Frank's father walks to the desk and brings Frank a letter. There he learns that this girl is the daughter of his father's best friend who has just died and has made his father guardian. The girl's name is Peggy and she has been left a large fortune. Frank does not approve of this and begins to offer his objections. At the same time Peggy is seen coming down the stairs at the back of the room and accidentally overhears what Frank is saying. She then comes into the room and they are introduced. Six months later we find Frank in bad company. He has started gambling and has hard times settling all his debts. At present he owes $500 to a very miserly Jew who has Frank's promissory note to pay in a week's time. Poor Frank is almost a nervous wreck, for he has no means by which he can lift this debt. The day has come and we now see Frank nervously awaiting the Jew's arrival. The Jew is ushered in and at once starts business. He then learns that Frank is unable to pay and then swears that he will go to Frank's father for payment. Frank pleads not to tell his father. The Jew looks around the room in order to find some plan with which to force Frank to pay. Suddenly he notices a small safe in the desk marked EMERGENCY SAFE. He calls Frank's attention to it. After much arguing the Jew has persuaded Frank to get his payment from this safe with the hope of winning it back and then replace the money before the father finds it out. Frank takes the money, gets a receipt from the Jew and orders him out. Frank leaves the room at once. Suddenly we see Peggy getting up out of the large chair by the fireplace. She has accidentally overheard all that has passed between them without their knowledge and she realizes Frank's position at once. She decides to help Frank out of his trouble and starts to think of a plan. Later we see her coming into the drawing room all ready for a journey, carrying a suitcase in her hand. She puts a letter on the table for Frank's father and then leaves the house. The girl makes a splendid sacrifice to save Frank and later, in an impressive scene Frank admits his guilt and asks for forgiveness of the girl he has grown to love.
- A man must marry by noon or lose his inheritance. It's 11:50 a.m. and he can't find his fiancée.
- A chance find of money makes the penniless Sam a good match for the nouveau riche Lindy. But Sam soon loses the money at cards - and with it the favor of the unfaithful Lindy.
- A recent immigrant learns several hard lessons about how husbands in America are expected to behave.
- A married couple decide to "live separately together."
- Dan Wellington objects to his daughter's marriage with Richard Darlington. The father finds the letter in the arms of his daughter and puts him out of the house. The much abused lover is followed out of the house by his sweetheart and maid. The latter conceives a brilliant idea whereby the lover is to assume the disguise of a tramp and rescue the sweetheart from being ground beneath the wheels of an automobile. While the plot is being consummated on one side of a hedge fence, two tramps are asleep on the other side. The excited voices awaken them and while the maid recites the proposed plan the tramps are working on one of their own. After leaving the two girls to go in search of a costume, Darlington is overpowered by the two tramps and hustled off to a lonely hut where he is detained. One of the tramps plans to go in Darlington's stead and do the hero work. Better see the film to cap the climax.
- The first story begins with a young and pretty girl named Isabelle sitting upon a hill. It is then that she is attacked by Pedro. And following the common thematic trajectory of the time, Isabelle is then rescued by the kind and brave medical student who spends his time as a minister for the poor, Alonzo. Pedro is insistent on revenge and applies to the local monastery where Alonzo works in order to frame him. He hopes to frame him for the mysterious and sudden disappearance of the church's jewels. The frame ends immediately after Pedro plants the jewels in Alonzo's home and the monks are quick to punish Alonzo and Isabelle.
- Clara, a pretty little school teacher, is courted by two young mountaineers. She favors Jim Mason, who is the postmaster of the village, and Harry Barford, his rival, determines to get Jim out of the way, so that he can win her. Jim and Clara decide to marry as soon as Jim has enough money. Harry sees his chance and offers Jim $500 to manage an illicit whiskey still during his absence. Clara's scruples are overcome by the thought of an early marriage and Jim reluctantly consents. Harry immediately informs the sheriff and a posse is sent to arrest Jim. But Billy, the village idiot, who has fallen asleep while playing his little tin flute, overhears the conversation between Harry and the sheriff and informs Clara of Jim's danger. Jim hides in the woods upon the approach of the posse and, meeting Clara, they flee, both riding on the same horse. A long chase through the snow-covered mountains in which they are closely pressed by the sheriff's posse, forces them to a spot among the jagged cliffs, where their only means of escaping their pursuers is a fifty-eight foot plunge into a raging torrent full of broken ice. They urge their horse over the edge of the cliff and plunge to the depths below miraculously escaping with their lives and safely reaching the shore. They take refuge in an Indian village and the chief, a giant Indian over seven feet tall, appoints himself a committee of one to compel the little fat parson to marry them. Clara returns to the village and Jim goes to New York to prepare a home for her. Barford is appointed postmaster and succeeds in intercepting Jim's mail, meanwhile forcing his attentions upon Jim's wife. Not hearing from Clara, Jim decides to take a desperate chance and return to the village by a dangerous route, which will enable him to elude the guardians of the law. In order to do this he is forced to walk hand over hand across a cable 250 feet long, placed by a lumber company over a deep ravine. Arriving at Clara's house he finds her in the arms of Barford, not knowing he has forcibly placed his arms around her. Jim leaves broken-hearted and is seen by Barford, who follows him at a distance. As Jim is re-crossing the 250 feet of cable, Barford shoots him in the arm, in spite of which he succeeds in escaping and returns to New York. A baby is born to Clara, and she determines to find Jim at all costs and tell him that he is a proud father. She goes to New York, and being in need of money, accepts the offer of a motion picture company to jump from the Brooklyn Bridge for $10,000. Jim, who is desperate and out of work, accepts the offer of the same company to also make the leap, and is horror-struck by recognizing his wife, just as she throws herself from the giant structure into the icy waters below. He leaps after her and succeeds in aiding her to reach a tug-boat, where she rests happily in her lost husband's arms. They make a new attempt to get possession of their baby, but are caught in their cabin by Barford and the posse, where a fierce fight is interrupted by a misdirected blow, which fells the poor village fool, Billy. He is revived and it is discovered that the blow has restored his sanity. He tells of Harford's villainy and produces evidence that brands him as the real criminal and leaves Jim and Clara free to enjoy each other's love.
- It is wartime. Fanny is seen conversing with her mother on a porch when Billy, as the "cullud pussen," comes to give the joyful news that her brother, Herbert, is coming home for a brief rest. Fanny, looking sweet sixteen, gets a field-glass and manages to discern her brother. Herbert arrives and embraces his family. Billy the "cullud pussen," indicates that there are Union troops in the neighborhood and is given Herbert's pistol to signal in case of danger. Billy goes into a field to stand guard, notes the approach of Federal troops, makes a tremulous effort to scare them away and finally manages to fire his pistol. The mounted squad in charge of the dashing cavalry officer is searching for a noted Confederate spy and is led to investigate Herbert's house by Billy's signal. They find his horse and capture it as Herbert escapes with his sister to the barn where her horse, the splendid "Don" is stabled. She fires from concealment while her brother saddles this superior mount, holding the Northern cavalry at bay until he is ready, then opens the door. Herbert dashes out so unexpectedly that he clears the bunch of bluecoats before they recover their senses. Now comes a spirited chase. It leads to a fence which Don leaps without an effort. When the pursuing squad appears their horses balk and they are forced to make a detour. Herbert manages to reach his company, but is sent out on scouting duty astride of Don and instructed to fire a beacon if the enemy is seen in force. The Union squad becomes lost in wild country, the men dismount, and they spread an army map upon a stump to study the situation. While they are so occupied the scout draws near, dismounts and crawls nearer to learn their plans. Those examining the map detect his presence and begin chase so abruptly that they leave the map. Herbert falls wounded, rolls over a hill, crawls into a hole and manages to escape observation until the troopers pass out of the danger zone. Meanwhile Don noses around, discovers the map, picks it up in his teeth and carries it to his wounded master. Herbert crawls painfully upon Don's back and is carried to a point only a short distance below the beacon constructed to signal the presence of the Federals in large numbers. Just below the little mound on which the beacon stands he falls off in a condition so weak that he can proceed no further. What shall he do? The beacon is ready; it is important that it should be fired; there is only Don to aid the scout in this emergency. Don has been trained to bring and carry, but will he carry a light from the wounded Confederate to the beacon and set it aflame? He does. He proceeds with some reluctance; advances to the pile of fagots with caution, and he even betrays timidity after lighting the fire, but this astonishing act is accomplished and Confederate headquarters is warned of impending danger. Matters go hard with the scout as a result. The smoke leads to his capture; the incriminating map is found in his pocket, and he is carried away to the Federal headquarters for examination and trial.
- Herbert Moore leads a gang of crooks by a sheer force of mentality, while his pal Burley Butts leads by brutal force. Between them they plan to rob noted philanthropist Mr. Stanhope, on whom Moore has been spying. For their ill purposes they use little Oliver, one of Butts' unwilling pupils. On a dark night they embark on their venture. Gripping events ensue in rapid succession: Oliver enters the house. He makes his way, with a bulls-eye lantern; here we have a remarkable light effect, a sudden flash, the lights go up, and little Oliver faces the muzzle of a revolver. Mr. Stanhope is surprised to see the youthful criminal. He quizzes him. But little Oliver cries and tells his story. Stanhope is moved by the boy's tale. In taking out his handkerchief to dry his eyes, Oliver drops a silver half-dollar. Mr. Stanhope attempts to return it to Oliver, who brushes it away and tells him to keep it, informing him that the silver half-dollar is the gang's insignia and it can open in the middle and be used in an emergency as a saw for cutting rope, wire, or glass. Stanhope's interest is aroused, and he places the little souvenir in his pocket. Later this piece of metal is one of the means of saving his life. Oliver then pleads to be let free, and Stanhope allows him to go, after taking an oath that he will not attempt to steal again. This attempt failing, the gang sets a trap for Stanhope, but little Oliver passes a note and key to his benefactor when the thugs lower him into a vault. When Stanhope finds himself in the narrow vault, he struggles hard to free himself from the bonds which almost cut to the bones. He frees himself sufficiently to get the silver half-dollar, which he now puts to good use. After hours of effort he breaks his bonds. He tries to straighten himself and then finds the heavy key and the note in his coat pocket. He is scarcely able to read the instructions. The greenish light gives him the appearance of a man risen from the dead. Gradually his dulled mind absorbs the portent of the note. He desperately feels for the secret keyhole. His search is not in vain. Presently, he swings back the granite door and he is confronted with a vista of the city's filth and slime. He crawls through the outlet and makes his way through the sewer channels. The stench from stagnant sewerage pools, cesspool waste, mud and dirt, nearly suffocates him. But on and on he struggles, up to his knees through this liquid filth. Even an attack by a horde of sewer rats does not swerve him from his path. He fights the rodents off and they scamper. At last, weary and exhausted, he finds his way to the sewerage main, a ladder leading to a manhole giving entrance to the street. Bespattered with mud and filth, disheveled and bedraggled, he rushes through the streets and to the police station. The gang is soon surprised by big Colt six-shooters and little Oliver and his brother find a home in Mr. Stanhope's happy household.
- Twenty minutes before press time the Herald has received no news from the front in Mexico, where the interest of the nation is centered, and the editor is desperate. He listens to the pleading of the ambitious cub reporter, Fred Newton, and orders him to Mexico, with instructions to send back real news, regardless of the censors. Accompanied by a telegraph operator assistant, Fred boards a steamer for Key West. He is fortunate enough to pass a battleship and transports bound for Vera Cruz, and communicating with them by wireless he gets some live news for his paper before he has reached the Mexican border. Flushed with success he pushes into Mexico by way of Eagle Pass, Texas, and succeeds in reaching the center of the Constitutionalist activities at Monclova, where he builds a shack and runs a wire of his own to the nearest telegraph line. While delivering supplies to the shack, Dolores, the adopted daughter of a Mexican storekeeper, is set upon by outlaws and her rescue by Fred makes her his devoted friend, but also causes him to be hated by the men he opposed. Prevented from accompanying the main body of the army, Fred and his telegrapher go on a scouting trip. They hear firing and, climbing a tree, witness the great battle of Monclova through field glasses. When the defeat of the Federals by the Constitutionalists is assured, they ride back to the shack and wire the important news direct to their paper. At the Herald office all of the machinery of the issuing of a great daily paper is set in motion as the news of the battle is received from Fred. The story is edited at the copy desk, set up by linotypes, made up in the forms, and stereotyped and placed on the presses. As the papers are distributed and the bulletin boards announce the scoop of the "young reporter on the firing line," Fred's future as a newspaper man is assured. But, as the dispatch is being received and published in New York, the outlaws, reinforced by Mexican irregular troops who have been told that the Americans are spies, attack the shack which is vigorously defended. Dolores attempts to stop the bandits and, failing, rides to the border to summon assistance. She enlists the aid of a large band of cowboys who arrive at the shack in time to engage the bandits in a fierce battle and rescue the now-wounded Fred and his companion and make a dash for safety over the American line. A wild chase, in which many shots are exchanged, is about to end disastrously for the Americans just as they begin to cross the Rio Grande to United States soil, but the American regulars appear upon the scene and fire a volley across the river which sweeps a score of Mexicans from their horses and drives the rest to cover. As Dolores dare not return, Fred persuades her to accompany him to New York and an enthusiastic welcome by his newspaper friends is quickly followed by his marriage to the beautiful little maiden, who is received with open arms by his mother and sister.
- A woman sold as a bride to the local Rajah is saved by her lover and his loyal tiger.
- A Parisian doctor, infatuated with the wife of his benefactor, drugs and kidnaps her, and tries to convince the husband that she is dead.
- A young boy hears wondrous tales of London, where the streets are paced with gold. He leaves his country home to see his fortune in London.
- The four-masted schooner "Caroline," a valuable seagoing vessel engaged in a peaceful legitimate trade along the rough coast of New England, is the central point around which this interesting drama revolves. Her owner has been forced by misfortune to borrow money from a wealthy merchant who is the secret head of a band of smugglers engaged in bringing Chinamen into the United States by landing them secretly upon a dangerous stretch of the seacoast. The merchant wants the "Caroline" for his illegal traffic, and has also made up his mind to obtain her captain-owner's daughter for his bride. The girl, however, is in love with a stalwart coast guard and is seconded in her dislike for the merchant by her brother who, besides being the first mate of the "Caroline," has rigged a wireless apparatus upon the vessel and upon the roof of their home, and has taught his sister how to communicate with him while he is at sea. The merchant succeeds in secreting a number of his desperate band in the hold of the "Caroline" when she sails upon one of her cruises, and thus gains possession of the vessel and places her crew in irons. She is immediately forced into the "yellow traffic" and used to pick up a cargo of Chinamen who are packed in barrels and loaded upon her deck. Meanwhile the activities of the merchant, the girl and the coast guard upon the land combined with the government's efforts to stop the operations of the smugglers add double interest to the story which reaches a splendid climax when the brother succeeds in communicating with his sister by wireless, is made to walk the plank, swims 140 feet under water, finally clinging to a rudder chain and reaching shore in time to lead a large force against the smugglers on land. He pursues the "Caroline" out to sea and leads an attack upon her ruffian crew, which ends in a hand-to-hand conflict and a triumph for the guardians of the law.
- Charles marries an actress against the wishes of his parents, and breaks with his family. His son eventually sees to the reconciliation of his father and grandfather.
- Mr. August Jones writes his wife that he is bringing home Prince Seika, a Hindu hypnotist. At the entrance of the Jones' household the Prince becomes infatuated with Mrs. Jones. It falls to the hypnotist's lot to put Mrs. Jones under the influence of hypnotism, and plans to poison her husband. After the husband becomes insane the Prince advises Mrs. Jones that he be placed in an asylum. He arranges with a clergyman to marry them, the ceremony is about to be performed, but is interrupted by the return of the husband who has been cured after remaining in the sanitarium for several months. Upon entering the room Mr. Jones discovers that his wife is in a strange mood, and realizing that the Prince has her under the hypnotic influence, he commands the Prince to release her from the terrible spell. The Prince refuses. Struggle ensues. Mr. Jones chokes the Prince into submission and compels him to bring Mrs. Jones out of it, which he does.
- "Wild Bill" Gray is a renegade and a wife-beater. He is about to start on some expedition of crime and his wife implores him to stay at home. She receives a beating for her trouble. Jim, a cowboy, rides past the shack, hears Mrs. Gray's screams and interferes, and takes Mrs. Gray over to his friend, the postmaster, so that she may have a good home. "Wild Bill" plans vengeance. Paxton, the postmaster, starts for the station with money and gold, and is accompanied a short way by Jim. Gray sneaks after them. After going with Paxton a short distance, Jim takes a turn in the road and Paxton rides on alone. Gray closes up on the postmaster, gets the drop on him, but Paxton is quick and there's a hand-to-hand struggle. Bill, however, worsts Paxton, and finally sends him over a precipice. But in falling, Paxton falls into a tree and thus is saved from sure death. In the meanwhile Paxton's horse comes back to his general store. When the riderless horse arrives there is naturally considerable excitement. Gray arrives on the scene and he makes things look pretty black for Jim, the man who was last seen with the postmaster. Jim is placed under arrest, but the boys, as well as the postmaster's young daughters, May and Gladys, do not believe Jim to be guilty. May and Gladys ride the trail and finally find their father after he calls to them. Gray stoutly asserts his innocence and manufactures evidence incriminating Jim. May and Gladys, the "two little rangers," however, untangle the evidence and their father's story cinches things. When things begin to look pretty black for Gray he retreats to his shack. The girls, however, are determined to get him and, after seeing their volleys of bullets have no effect, discharge a firebrand from a bow. The firebrand sets the shack on fire and Gray perishes in his own tomb.
- Two old fishermen sitting outside of their cabin see a boat at sea on fire. They rush to the life-saving station and report what they have seen. The ship is destroyed and the passengers are lost with the exception of a little boy. One of the old fishermen, who has a little girl the boy's age, decides to adopt him. The children become very fond of each other. Ten years later a New York lawyer comes to the fishing town and wants to adopt the child, but the boy is old enough to decide for himself, and does not want to go. The case is brought to court and it is decided that the child remain with his adopted parents, but that they place the money in the hands of a banker and the guardianship of the lawyer. Not very long afterward the banker is on the verge of bankruptcy and borrows from the boy's money. He has no means of returning it and decides to sell the boy some worthless stock in an unformed corporation. On his visit the banker falls in love with the young girl, now grown to be a beautiful young lady. The boy becomes jealous and seeing the banker kiss the girl fights with him on the edge of a cliff, from which the banker, who is not badly injured, falls. The boy, repentant, helps the banker to his father's house. The girl falls in love with the banker and elopes with him, but he soon neglects her for his gay companions and she returns to her father's home. The banker plans a robbery upon his own bank and is aided by crooks, who dig a tunnel under the bank and enter through the floor of the office. But the banker has already taken the money his confederates seek and flees to the fishing village where his wife is living with her parents. He is followed by the crooks, who trap him into giving them the stolen money. Having been seen by his wife's people, he takes the clothes from a body which is cast up by the sea, placing his own suit upon the unfortunate victim of the waves and placing a suicide note in the coat pocket. He tracks the crooks to a dive in the city and attempts to recover his stolen wealth, in a spectacular fight he follows one of his assailants down a fire rope from the window of a tall building, grappling with him in mid-air. The terrific struggle which ensues ends by the banker plunging headlong to the street below, thus ending his miserable career. The boy and girl live and love, as in their childhood, down by the sea.
- Mr. Newlywed will not allow his wife to have a dog. Her uncle, taking pity on her, goes out to buy one. Meanwhile, Wilkens and his wife, butler and maid to the Newlyweds are informed they must retrieve their "secret" child from friends who were watching her. Uncle comes home with the dog, a cute puppy, and shows his niece. He hides it in the sideboard. Mr. Newlywed shows the uncle an article in the paper about a mad dog running wild in Passaic (Solax Film Co. was located in Ft. Lee, NJ). Quickly, Uncle sneaks the puppy out in his coat. The Wilkens' bring their baby in and hide him/her in the same sideboard! Mrs. Newlywed feels guilty and writes Mr. a note telling him to look in the sideboard and not to be to angry for she will never deceive him again. He looks and, seeing the baby, screams, bring everyone into the room, including Uncle with the puppy. Soon, all is straightened out and all ends happily.
- Mr. and Mrs. Brown, going out for the evening, leave their daughter, Vinnie, alone in the house. Later, her brother, Darwin, comes home unexpectedly. Having no door key, and ringing in vain (as Vinnie is afraid to answer the bell), he climbs in the window. Hearing noises downstairs, Mary thinks it is a burglar. Very much frightened, she locks her door and prepares to let herself down out of the window on bedclothes tied together. Tom comes upstairs and finds the door locked. Then, hearing her open the window, he in turn thinks her a burglar, and goes out of another window in pursuit. Mr. and Mrs. Brown return, and all kind of complications ensue, and they all finish up in the prison cell, charged with being burglars.
- A great number of prognosticators often terrify us with visions of what will be when women shall rule the earth, and the time when men shall be subordinates and adjuncts. It is rather a fine question to decide, for chivalrous men, anyway. Today, with the multiplicity of feminine activities and the constant broadening of feminine spheres, it is difficult to predict to what height women will ascend. In the Solax production of "In the Year 2000," the release of Friday, May 17th, a serio-comic prognostication is unreeled on the screen with such magnetic force, charm and rich imaginative detail that one is compelled to accept the theories advanced on their face value. The conditions are reversed. Women in this film are supreme, and man's destiny is presided over by woman. No attempt is made at burlesque, but the very seriousness of the purpose of the theme makes the situations ludicrous.
- The story revolves about a young woman who is forced to enter the Russian Secret Service on the threat that if she did not do so her father, an active Nihilist, would be put to death. Before her own eyes he is tortured in the prison and to stop these inhuman tortures, she falls in with the plan to rout out the Nihilist organization. In the furtherance of their designs, the Secret Service authorities introduce her into the home of Prince Cyril, who is suspected of being in sympathy with the Revolutionists. She unwillingly does her task, which is made very easy by Prince Cyril's admiration for her personally and his sympathy with her father's plight. He introduces her into his circle of radicals, but before very long a dramatic scene develops that places her under suspicion. During a meeting of the radicals, she disappears in the secret recesses of their subterranean meeting-place and the most vigorous search for her proves of no avail. After the meeting breaks up and the conspirators leave in a spirit of unrest, she emerges from her hiding-place in a well and guided by an image of her father suffering in his prison, she purloins evidence for the Government. In the meantime, Prince Cyril, guided by traces she had left, follows her to her home and persuades her to return the incriminating papers. However, when Government officials arrive and are told that she had been unsuccessful in her attempt to aid them, her servant, who is spying on her, betrays Prince Cyril's visit. They bind her and leave her in charge of two soldiers, while the others in haste gallop off after the Prince. In the meantime, one of the soldiers, who is secretly in league with the Revolutionists, aids her in making escape. Prince Cyril, after a very sensational chase, is captured and imprisoned. With the aid of this soldier she is able later on to meet the Government General, who, completely disarmed by her innocent charms, falls a victim to her scheme to liberate her father and the Prince. However, before she succeeds in this plan, she undergoes considerable suffering and agonizing suspense. The Cossacks trace her and those whom she had liberated from prison to their subterranean hiding-place, but by vigilance and careful planning they make their escape to America after blowing up their former abode with bombs planted by the Russian soldiers.
- In this story the hero is haunted by a beautiful young woman who tries to stab him to death with a knife. This fantasy recurs on each of his birthdays, becoming more and more real as the years go on. He leaves home to secure a place as groom, but arrives at his destination too late. Forced to retrace his steps, he seeks shelter in a little inn, forgetting that the hour of his birth is approaching. In the middle of the night he awakens, terrified with fright. Standing by his bed with a deadly knife in her hand is "The Dream Woman." She plunges the blade into the mattress as he squirms out of the way. Twice she attempts to reach him. He yells for help. The innkeeper and his family are aroused. Seeing nothing, they drive him away for disturbing them. As he is escaping the apparition appears once more. Fear lends speed to his quaking legs and he runs until he falls exhausted in his mother's arms. Francis Raven, the young man, is home from his hair-raising adventure. His mother is sick and he goes to the druggist for medicine. While there, Alicia Warlock, a very pretty girl, enters. It is easily discerned that she has been wayward; that she is tired of life. She asks the druggist to sell her laudanum. He refuses. As she goes out, she attracts Raven's attention. He is fascinated and follows. When he introduces Alicia to his mother, that good but very superstitious woman receives her with askance. But the son is infatuated and when the mother orders the girl away he goes with her and the two are married. They settle down in a home of their own, but when Raven is absent his wife associates with questionable companions. She drinks and is frequently under the influence of liquor. He finds her in this state and scolds her, but she is defiant. Not willing to give her up, he summons his mother, who promises to use her influence toward reforming the girl. But the mother sees her daughter-in-law cutting bread with the same knife that has always been a part of her son's dream and runs away. Not long afterward, Raven finds his wife stupefied with whiskey. He handles her roughly and finally strikes her. She falls to the floor completely sobered by the blow. In a second the husband regrets his hasty temper, but his wife, beside herself with rage, declares she will murder him with the very knife that has tortured him in his dreams. He gets the knife and vows to put it where his wife cannot find it, but while traveling a lonely road he is attacked, the knife is stolen from him and he is thrown into a well, from which he escapes. A few years elapse and Raven is engaged in the care of horses. Upon the anniversary of his birth two strangers, a man and his wife, employ him to drive them to their station. Having heard his cries they ask for an explanation and he tells his weird story. They pity and employ him as a second groom. To protect him over his birthday the first groom is instructed to watch him constantly during the night. But the first groom while in the village flirts with a woman who readily accepts an invitation to visit his lodgings. Just as she is about to partake of food and refreshments there are groans and cries of distress in an adjoining room. The first groom, not wishing to be disturbed, goes to the frightened man, ties him hand and foot, places a gag in his mouth and returns to the woman he picked up in the street. He does not have much time to revel in her society, however, because his mistress calls him. While he is gone, Alicia steals into the adjoining apartment, recognized the helpless occupant of the bed, draws a knife from the folds of her skirt and plunges it into his heart. The story ends in the fascinating atmosphere of the spirit world with the "Dream Woman" enveloped in soul stirring mystery.
- The good people of the Solax community realize that they have cause to make merry before the New Year because the Almighty has guided their breadwinning footsteps toward the Solax Studio's happy atmosphere, bank together like the big happy family they are, to give expression to their happiness in the form of a gift to the immediate cause of their good fortune and sunshine. The scenes present a people full of enthusiasm and good cheer. The plot is not thick, but the execution progresses smoothly and with "spirit." The events take the leading figure entirely by surprise, and her emotion and her gratitude bring a lump to her throat. Scene One. The Surprise. Morning. The good people gathered in the studio and unveiled a pedestal and a bronze figure, a copy from Rodin. The Megaphone then visited the office of The Cause and waylaid her in the Studio. Then Magda Foy, the Solax Kid, revealed the secret, and then the Megaphone makes it more explicit by expressing the sentiments of the Merrymakers and all concerned. (Loud applause.) Madame, overcome with the flattering tribute, is unable to speak. Then up spoke Kid Pirate and threatened that she, The Cause, must herself carry the 200-pound statue home. Scene Two. "Good Spirits." Afternoon. A suspicious noise is heard. Sounds like the sizzling and popping of corks from bottles. The Master of Ceremonies, at the head of the mob, attacks the Studio. The mob finds the tables set and glasses filled. Sounds of sizzling and bubbling proceed. Telltale tears soon begin to appear in many eyes, and lids show an abnormal tendency to droop. Some chuckle and some laugh. All are happy and contented. More speechmaking and applause. (Speech indistinct and incoherent.) Scene Three. Later. Jealousy. A near relative to The Cause and a neighbor of us all was jealous of the aforesaid tribute paid to his kin, so, in order that he may not be outdone in hospitality, invited the mob to invade the sanctified quarters of the Gaumont Company, where he showed some wonderful Gaumont productions.
- Charlotte Baker is drugged and taken to a brothel by Paul, her fiance, who in reality is a pimp. To find her, Charlotte's family contacts the celebrated detective Bob Macauley whose sweetheart Sylvia is a struggling salesgirl and the sole support of her ailing mother. When she is turned down for promotion by her boss, Sylvia applies for a position with a kindly woman who has offered her help. To her horror, Sylvia soon discovers that the woman is a madame and has lured her to the same house of ill repute in which Charlotte is being held captive. Meanwhile, searching for Charlotte, Bob visits the brothel disguised as a gasman and discovers that Sylvia is a resident. Thinking that she is there willingly, Bob upbraids her, but upon discovering the truth he rescues her as well as Charlotte and delivers Paul to the authorities.
- Billy Quirk is an eccentric inventor who muddles up his existence with thoughts of an automatic arrangement which could send a bathtub to any part of a house. Billy writes to his corpulent uncle and skeptical friends to come and view the marvel of his creation. The uncle comes and is invited by his inventive nephew to take a bath in the marvelous tub. The uncle consents. When the switch is turned on the bathtub becomes fractiously active. The uncle loses his control, and before he knows it he is carried to every part of the house, breaking furniture and scaring visitors out of their wits. Billy makes a frantic effort to help his unwary uncle, and in his attempt he lands headlong with clothes on and all into the bathtub full of water.
- Bob Burton, a confirmed woman-hater, meets his chum Harry. On their way from New York Harry asks him to come to his home and introduces him to his sister. She teases the woman-hater, pins a rose in his button-hole and gets him to sit down on a sofa beside her. Harry says joshingly, "You are not such a woman-hater after all." Harry arrives at the club and tells his friends what a joke he has played on Bob. Thinking of a scheme, he makes his friend still more uncomfortable. He writes a newspaper ad saying that Bob wants a wife. Harry inserts the ad in the newspaper and two of his chums go to Bob's house to watch this out to the end. The first arrival in answer to the ad is an old maid. Harry directs her to the house, while he and his friends arrange a board so that they can look into the window and watch the proceedings. Bob Burton is very much surprised when the old maid shows him the ad in the newspaper. She tries to make him marry her but he protests. The old maid goes out and discovers the boys looking In the window, hits one of them with an umbrella, and they all fall over the bench. The second arrival is a tough girl who gets into a wrangle with Bob, and he throws her out of the window, and she falls on top of the boys who are seated on the plank. She has her scraps with them and exits. The third arrival is a very buxom middle-aged lady, who on refusal of Bob to marry her, exits angrily, discovers Harry and chum outside and gives Harry a thrashing. The fourth arrival is a young eccentric girl, who has sworn that she will never marry a man unless she falls in love with him at sight. Bob Burton has read this eccentric remark in the paper, and has seen the picture, so instead of refusing her he proposes and is accepted much to the chagrin of the boys outside. He exits from the house with the young lady and discovers the boys in the act of sneaking away. Finally he turns the tables on them. He sends Harry and Bob a note inviting them to his wedding.
- The leading character, nicknamed "Hook and Hand," is a crook who operates with a hook which he had substituted for a lost left hand. "Hook" is associated in crime with Philip Sleek, a stepson of William Hartman, a banker. Hartman, the old millionaire, does not know of Philip's existence, his wife, for personal reasons, having omitted to mention him. He is a good for nothing, and for a time lives on his mother's generosity. She meets the boy secretly and does whatever she can to give him new starts in life, but all her efforts are of no avail. After "Hook" robs Hartman's establishment, at Philip's instigation, the mother, not knowing where her son had secured a big sum of money, prevails upon her husband to take his stepson into partnership, telling him that he is a cousin returned from abroad. In the meantime the crime is cleverly fastened upon Mr. Hartman's confidential secretary. This upsets the household arrangements because the secretary was to have married Mr. Hartman's adopted daughter. The story is still further complicated by "Hook and Hand's" refusal to enter into a conspiracy that would lead to the destruction of Miss Hartman. Here the clever operations of William Fox, a very crafty detective, who is engaged by Miss Hartman to unravel the mystery surrounding the accusations against her sweetheart, are productive of sensational results. A good many encounters take place between the gang and the police. The young detective finds himself in many tight places. The hero, not knowing at the last moment that he had been vindicated by a deathbed confession by "Hook and Hand," makes a spectacular escape from the officers in charge of his removal from the court to the State Penitentiary. The young man jumps from the window of a very fast moving train into the river, and thus makes on unnecessary getaway. The final scenes are full of thrill, showing the round-up of the gang and the burning of their dive, in which Miss Hartman is imprisoned and from which she is rescued by the police and Detective Fox.
- Two Newark policemen go undercover disguised as women. Officer Henderson attracts unwanted attention from an amorous man and suspicion from his wife.
- Slowly and painfully a long line of suffering political prisoners were being brutally driven through the blinding snow to the barren wastes of Siberia, where they were destined to spend the balance of their lives in toil and sorrow. At the rear of the line patiently trudged a feeble old man, who in spite of his advanced years had brought the cruel vengeance of Russia down upon his head by daring to speak his mind in the interests of freedom. In the distance could be seen a small sleigh driven by an aged woman at whose side sat a strikingly beautiful girl. They were the wife and daughter of the exile, who were sharing his sad lot. In the camp of the prisoners they were allowed to live in a small hut, where they tried in vain to make the father comfortable, and soon realized that unless he could be taken back to civilization he would surely die. They sawed a hole in the floor of their hut and placed a trunk with a movable bottom over it. Then placing the old man beneath the floor they put some of his clothes and a note telling of his suicide on the riverbank and waited. For weeks they fed and cared for him secretly while the officials thought him dead. Finally they were given passports and told to return to Russia. The trunk was searched and found to contain clothes, but it was no sooner locked than the exile dropped the clothes into the cellar, and taking their place, was safely on his way across the border. In Russia, General Romanoff had ordered a massacre and his son had been stripped of his uniform for refusing to carry out the general's orders to slay the innocent. Sadly he left his father's house resolved never to return. On the road he met the exile, whose sleigh had been overturned and while helping him, fell under the spell of the large serious eyes of his beautiful daughter. Together they joined a revolutionary society, and when lots were drawn to destroy General Romanoff, the girl found herself called upon to do the dangerous work. Not knowing that the general was the father of her gallant lover, and embittered by her own father's death she consented. A bronze statue was presented to the general, who received it as a token of appreciation of his work, little dreaming that it contained the girl who was bent upon his destruction. But her lover had decided to save his father and the girl at all costs, and the deed was prevented at the very last moment with the general still innocent of his near approach to death. Mourning his son, the general wrote him a letter of forgiveness, but tore it to bits when he learned of his application to the revolutionists. Likewise the son wrote his father begging forgiveness, but destroyed the letter when the general ordered a new massacre. A terrific battle was fought in the streets, the father leading his troops in person against the forces of his sun. In the thick of the fight the general, seriously wounded, experienced a strange realization of the equality of man as he gave his last drink of water to a common revolutionary soldier and clasped his hand in brotherly love ere his soul had fled. So the general's son and the exile's daughter found the two old soldiers peacefully sleeping in each other's arms and their grief was tempered by the mute evidence of the general's change of heart as they smiled tenderly through their tears.
- An heiress is saved from the predations of a gang of gentleman crooks by a female detective and her father.
- Falsely accused of the theft of a million dollars in securities from the safe of his wealthy employer, an honest young private secretary finds himself powerless to prove his innocence because of the perjury of an unprincipled butler who has been bribed to testify against him. The daughter of his employer is the innocent cause of the activity of his powerful enemy, who is an influential banker and the rival of the secretary for the hand of the girl. One of the secretary's cufflinks found near the looted safe suggests to the banker the possibility of fixing the crime upon him. The butler accepts a large sum of money from the banker in return for bearing witness, but is suspected of dishonesty by the maid because of his sudden show of wealth. Detectives are put upon his track, but he learns of his danger and succeeds in effecting his escape, thus making it appear that he himself is guilty of the theft. As a hunted criminal with the police instructed to arrest him on sight he becomes a desperate character and selects the banker as a likely subject for a successful scheme to obtain money. By a clever ruse be obtains an audience with the banker, leaving him bound and gagged several thousand dollars poorer. But his bold move leads to his discovery by the police, who follow him successfully in spite of a spectacular flight in which Broadway, the Bowery, the Brooklyn Bridge and Flushing, Long Island play an important part. The opening of a large cantilever bridge at the psychological moment places the butler in the clutches of the law, but the banker is afraid to identify him as his assailant and there is no direct proof of his connection with the million dollar robbery. Experts find only the safe owner's fingerprints upon the combination of the safe, and a famous detective becomes interested in the peculiar case. He looks up the life history of the victim of the robbery and finds that the old capitalist suffers from a common but little understood affliction. By substituting a hypnotist for the old gentleman's barber he succeeds in obtaining a statement which proves that the capitalist removed the money box from the safe with his own hands and hid it in a fireplace while walking in his sleep. The butler is immediately accused of perjury, but fights desperately against arrest and when finally cornered leaps from the top of a high building to his death. The capitalist carefully follows the instructions given by himself while hypnotized and finding his lost wealth intact, begs the forgiveness of his falsely accused secretary and welcomes him as the husband of his daughter.
- A New York detective solves the kidnapping of a rich banker by a gang of criminals, and clears the daughter's fiancé from being involved.
- A father who is obsessed with music won't let his daughter marry anyone who isn't a musician, so the girl's fiancé poses as a violin player
- A priceless diamond stolen by a British attaché from a statue of Buddha brings bad luck to all who possess it.
- Mrs. Reggie Jellybone has her husband completely under control. She places a reflector on her sewing table in such a position that every movement and expression and manifest desire of her husband become known to her. She is, therefore, able to anticipate his movements and interfere in his plans. He seldom gets a chance to go to the club on the pretense of sitting up with a sick member. One night the boys at the club need a fifth hand very badly, and when they call up Jellybone, Mrs. Jellybone answers the phone, but they are not daunted. Mr. Resourceful is sent to get Jellybone in spite of his wife. A scheme is concocted and Jellybone goes to the club leaving a dummy on his side of the bed. When Mrs. Jellybone comes up to the room to retire, she finds blood-stains on the bed-clothes and grows excited. She shakes the dummy and the head is severed from the body and rolls under the bed. She excitedly concludes that her husband had been murdered, and immediately she calls for Burstup Homes, the renowned private detective. Burstup Homes arrives puffed up with importance, makes a very ceremonious investigation and deduces that the man is really dead. Furthermore, he deduces that a man wearing a ten size shoe is the criminal. In the examination Burstup Homes forgets essentials and takes up his time with details. He follows the blood-stain clue and a foot print clue. The visible stains on the improvised bed-sheet ladder which Jellybone used as a means to effect his escape also attracts the detective's attention and gives him strong evidence of an entrance and an exit from the house through the window. In fact, there are clues galore and Burstup Homes feverishly goes to work. Everyone he meets is a suspect. Deacon Stronghead, whom he meets on the way from the knife grinder where he had a knife sharpened for his wife, offers the strongest causes for suspicion, because he carries a concealed weapon, and the story is more complicated when Mrs. Jellybones plays a trick on her husband. Off she goes to the club, and here comes the big surprise, she does not pounce on her husband, as one would expect, but is so delighted that he is alive that she embraces him most rapturously. Jellybone begins to think that his wife will soon be stricken with an attack from over-indulgence and suffer untold agony. The farce ends up in the police station where Burstup Homes' failure is provocative of much laughter, but he is not at all dismayed and retorts that the police are jealous of him.
- Lord Kilgore, seated one day in his ancestral home with his best friend, Betsy, at his feet, is called upon by an attorney, who shows him a copy of his uncle's will, containing the remarkable provision that his entire fortune is left to Lord Kilgore, provided he will immediately proceed to American and marry his cousin, Alice Wetstone, whom his lordship has never seen. Lord Kilgore, after mature deliberation, decides to comply with his uncle's wishes, and departs with his four-footed friend, Betsy, for the United States. On the ship he meets Villiers, a New York crook, to whom he confides the purpose of his trip. Villiers conceives the idea of detaining Lord Kilgore and of impersonating him at the home of the girl whom he is going to see. Bribing the wireless operator aboard the ship, he sends a message to his gang in New York to have one of their number disguised as a coachman meet the vessel upon its arrival and prevents Lord Kilgore from sending a message to have his friends meet him. When the ship reaches New York, Villiers secures Lord Kilgore, and leaving him bound in a room at the headquarters of the gang, proceeds to the house of Alice, who has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Lord Kilgore. Villiers reckoned, however, without the trusty friend of Lord Kilgore, his dog Betsy. The wonderful dog takes advantage of Villiers' absence from the room to give her master a pencil and paper, upon which he scribbles a note acquainting Alice of his plight. The dog, with human intelligence, then hides herself in one of Lord Kilgore's suit cases, and delivers the note to Alice, having been carried there by the villain himself. The "best friend" then leads Alice and a rescuing party to the place where Kilgore is detained. His lordship is liberated and the villain arrested, and all ends happily.
- During a party to watch Haley's comet, a father sees his daughter in the arms of a "strange young man" through the group's telescope. He breaks up the couple, dragging his daughter inside by the hair, but the young man returns to woo the girl from the garden below. He tries to climb to the window, but the father appears again to breakup the romance. The father banishes his daughter to bed and, to be sure she does not escape, confiscates her clothes and takes them to bed with him. Never at a loss, the daughter steals her father's only pair of clothes and sneaks away to elope with her lover. Discovering her departure, the father is forced to don her clothes in order to chase after her. Meanwhile, the young couple go to the home of an inexplicably effeminate priest, who is reluctant to marry the two 'boys' but concedes when one of them removes her cap to reveal she is a girl. The ceremony is performed and the father arrives too late, only to be lectured by the priest about both is rage and his odd dressing habits.
- Ben wins the hand of a prosperous merchant's daughter by finding the father's lost trading ship, but not before a rival suitor lays several traps along the way.
- A parson arrives in the midst of a bunch of wild cowboys. Expecting a male parson, the boys set out in full force to receive him, but on the road when they suddenly run into the one-horse shay of a female parson, they keel over in surprise. Right after her arrival the boys begin to lay plans to get in right, while the parson loses no time in starting a campaign for the defeat of Satan. She begins by posting a sign near the town horse trough to the effect that "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." Of course the boys see the sign and immediately there is a sudden disposition among them to make use of soap, water and brush. One cowboy in particular is very much in love with the parson. He shows his affection only too plainly, and so the boys decide to play a trick on him. Their practical joke unintentionally is not only the means of frustrating a plot against the parson, but it brings the parson and her lover together.
- A wealthy old scientist is preyed upon by a fortune hunter who wants to marry his granddaughter, even though she is in love with a hydroplane pilot.
- A naturally-told story of the 8-year-old daughter of a workman who is on strike. The mother falls sick and has no money in the house to buy medicine prescribed by the visiting doctor. The little girl, discovering this, starts out to sell her doll, and by a strange coincidence meets the owner of the factory where her father is on strike. She finally sells the doll to a storekeeper, but the employer, seeing her sad face and winsome way, immediately purchases the doll and returns it to her. The closing scenes of the strike and the intervention of the little girl preventing bloodshed bring about a happy sequel to a pathetic story.