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- A married diplomat falls hopelessly under the spell of a predatory woman.
- The cartoonist, Winsor McCay, brings the Dinosaurs back to life in the figure of his latest creation, Gertie the Dinosaur.
- Having committed murder in Belgium, Fantomas is sentenced to life imprisonment. Two crimes committed in France suggest to inspector Juve that the Fantomas gang is still at work. He conceives the idea that if Fantomas is set free it will be possible to follow him and capture him and the remaining members of the gang. The villain escapes from prison and makes his way to the railroad station and boards a train where he is tracked by private detectives. When the train stops at a country station, Fantomas alights with the intention of making good his escape, but he finds that he is being followed by two detectives, whom he recognizes. He goes back to his carriage, which leads the detectives to think he is quite safe, but he crosses the train and leaves by the opposite door, jumping into the baggage wagon of the train on the opposite rail. Just at that moment the train moves and a magistrate who happens to have nearly missed the train also jumps into the baggage wagon. Fantomas was who hiding, attacks the magistrate, and after a severe struggle in which he is victorious assumes the disguise of the magistrate and takes his clothes and papers. He continues the journey as the magistrate, successfully rescues certain criminals, who are brought before him to be tried, and manages to blackmail several members of society, with whom he is brought in contact. While here he is recognized by Fandor, the young and clever journalist who happens to come into the district and who has suspicions as to the authenticity of the magistrate. He decides to keep watch upon him. His suspicions are well founded and he identifies the magistrate as none other than Fantomas. After much trouble, he is able to get papers committing Fantomas to prison, but Fantomas' suspecting his immediate arrest, issues an order to the head warden, and tells him that it is Detective Juve's intention to be arrested disguised as Fantomas. The warden is not to tell a soul of the detective's intentional disguise, but is to let him remain in prison until 12 o'clock midnight, when the head warden is to personally release him. The police, not suspecting anything of this, feel quite safe when Fantomas is put in the cell and securely barred and locked. His scheme works favorably and once more Fantomas is at large.
- After a love triangle results death, St. Elmo falls from grace and is eventually redeemed in this now lost silent film based on the best selling novel by Augusta Jane Wilson.
- A Parisian doctor, infatuated with the wife of his benefactor, drugs and kidnaps her, and tries to convince the husband that she is dead.
- The gift of seeing into the hearts of others is given to a young artist by Brandis. He now looks at the people he comes into contact with and realizes they are not what they appear.
- 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.
- Jack Frobisher, a sheep farmer in Queensland, has returned to England a millionaire, bought his way into the inner circle of Vanity Fair, married the daughter of a marquis, and settled in Mayfair, with a country house outside, a shooting box in Scotland, and a yacht on the "Solent." Having accepted the patronage of a titled family, he is forced to lend money to his father-in-law, and having fallen in love with a society woman, he becomes a witness of the vacuous amusements of the smart set. He settles her score when she is a very heavy loser at bridge and watches her flirtations with fashionable idlers in general and with a contemptible rake, Harry Dallas, in particular. The return of Hanky Bannister, one of his Australian pals, and a millionaire like himself, opens the way for a patrician intrigue for the enrichment of the marquis' family by the marriage of Lady Lucy Derenham. Frobisher is unable to interest Eva, his wife, or her relations in his schemes for making a good use of his money in the erection of sanitary dwellings in the East End, and he is disgusted with the tendencies of fashionable life and anxious to keep his friend, Bannister, out of a marriage similar to his own. A sympathetic friend Lady Westerby, tells him that she is disappointed in finding him so tame a bear, and assures him that he has only to shout and the walls of Jericho will fall flat. At the marquis' house during a ball, and a game of bridge in Lady Alethea Frobisher's boudoir, during which one of her titled players cheats, wins a lot of money and suddenly discovers that he has an engagement and must go. The most serious flirtation of the smart wife ends in a declaration of love by Harry Dallas, which is interrupted by the gloomy, serious husband. The trumpets of rams' horns are blown, and the Australian shouts before the Jericho of smartness. The battle opens when Frobisher insists upon helping the titled brother-in-law to marry a girl whose honor his been compromised and to make a fresh start in the colonies. The Marquis is angry over the Australian interference with family coat of honor, and Lady Alethea attempts to reduce the rebel to submission by sarcastic flings at his tiresome virtue. The trumpets sound again when Frobisher attempts to prevent a marriage between his sister-in-law and the infatuated Bannister by telling him how heartless and mercenary she is, and there is another blast when the rake, Harry Dallas, is compelled to read to the indignant husband a love letter written to the wife. The Walls of Jericho are rent asunder and thrown down when Frobisher announces that he will sell his property in England and go back to Queensland with his wife and child. The welkin rings when this social Joshua guarding the ark of the covenant of manhood shouts in trumpet tones, "I have enough of these companions of yours, these wretched sexless women who do nothing but flirt and gamble. I've had enough of their brainless, indecent talk, where everything good is turned into ridicule and each word has a double meaning. I've had enough of this existence of ours, in town and country, where all the men make love to their neighbors' wives. I'm done with it. done with it all." Furious as is the onslaught, Lady Alethea offers stubborn resistance and refuses to surrender. Later, with the mediation of Lady Westerby, before a reconciliation can be effected and Frobisher enabled to carry her off to Queensland. By that time the Walls of Jericho are indeed fallen flat.
- At a lonely army post in the West, a dance marking the engagement announcement of the general's daughter to Lieutenant Hawkesworth is interrupted when word arrives that the hostile Blackfoot tribe is on the warpath. Hawkesworth and the rival for his fiancee's affection, Lieutenant Parlow, are sent with the regiment to repress the uprising. Parlow turns out to be a coward at a critical moment, and after the regiment is routed, he blames Hawkesworth for the defeat. The general then orders his daughter to break her engagement and become Parlow's fiancee. The Blackfeet surround the fort, and Hawkesworth makes a daring ride through them to a neighboring fort. He brings the U.S. 6th Cavalry, who subdue the Blackfeet. Parlow's cowardice is then learned, and it is also revealed that earlier he eloped with the wife of an officer and then abandoned her. Hawkesworth and the general's daughter become married.
- The secret marriage of a farmer and servant girl in an English household leads to a child born that is not believed to be legitimate.
- Old Reb Shemuel, clinging in the midst of modern conditions to the God of His Fathers, bears blow after blow with unflinching resignation. His son is killed in a cabaret brawl; his daughter contracts a marriage that estranges her from him. His beloved wife dies. But in the end his gray hairs are comforted by the return of his daughter, and his simple and unwavering faith is rewarded in the sunset of his days.
- Betty, an orphan girl of sixteen, is abused at an orphanage, and one evening after an unusually trying episode, she escapes. She rides a freight car to a distant city. There she wanders cold and hungry, and at last falls fainting in a park. Francis Seeman, a Raffles, driving by in his limousine, rescues her. He adopts and educates Betty. At the school she meets Gladys, the daughter of a wealthy man, and the girls become very good chums. At the end of the four years Betty returns to Seeman, and then he discloses his purpose in adopting her. She is horror-stricken, but forced by threats to follow instructions. He and Betty go to another city to begin their operations. Seeman forges a letter of introduction to one of the wealthiest men of the town, and thereby gains social recognition. He and Betty are invited to a fashionable function, Betty posing as Seeman's daughter. There she meets Gladys, her school chum and a niece of the hostess. Seeman forces Betty to steal the latter's diamond necklace. A few days later Gladys calls on Betty, and incidentally shows her a beautiful rope of pearls. Just as she is showing them to Betty, Seeman enters. After Gladys has gone, Seeman commands Betty to get the pearls. Betty refuses, and Seeman, enraged, tries to choke her. Betty, frightened, seizes a hat pin and stabs Seeman with it. He falls to the floor. She then goes to the safe and takes some money, and finds Mrs. Mills' necklace. Deliberately she takes the jewels and strews them across Seeman's body, so the public may know who stole them. Betty retires to the country, posing as a widow, and takes a little cottage, as it happens next to the young clergyman, Roger Neville. She and Roger become very good friends, but the villagers disapprove. One day a little boy comes for Roger to go to the bedside of a dying woman. Betty goes along. The woman they find already dead, leaving a boy of four. Roger suggests one of the villagers adopt the orphan, but all the women answer that they already have too many mouths of their own to feed, and to send the child to the orphanage. The picture of what she had suffered at the orphanage rises before Betty, and she begs to take the boy. The villagers sniff and turn up their noses, declaring Betty did this only to make an impression. In the meantime Seeman is taken to the hospital. He lies between life and death, held for the robberies. Seeman at last is on the road to recovery, and determined not to go to prison alone, he tells the detectives Betty is his accomplice, and gives them a picture of her. They begin their search. One day when the papers are delivered to the villagers, they see a picture of Betty on the front page, telling why she is wanted. The minister receives the paper, and reads the article. Upon his persuasion, Betty tells her story. In the meantime the detectives arrive, and the village people are only too eager to show them where Betty is. At the trial Betty tells her story to the judge and jury, and it wins her case, the judge giving Seeman a long term in the penitentiary. Gladys is at the trial, and shows her loyalty toward Betty.
- "The Idler" is Mark Cross, a young man of good family, who in a wild fit of daredeviltry has emigrated from London to the far west. John Harding, also well-born of wealthy parents, but disinherited, and a poor clerk, is also seeking his fortune in the gold fields. One day Harding receives a letter from a firm of London solicitors informing him that his father has died and that he is now Sir John Harding, Bart. He sets out at once to make his preparations for his return to civilization and to take up the station in life that is rightfully his. But that very day he becomes involved in a quarrel with Felix Strong, the young brother of a miner named Simeon Strong, and Felix is shot accidentally during the dispute. Harding is accused of murder, but flees to England in time to escape the vengeance of a posse, headed by Simeon Strong, who is determined to avenge his brother. Years after in London, Harding, who has married the girl both he and Cross were in love with before they emigrated, comes face to face with Cross and Strong, who have become partners and have "struck it rich." In order to win Lady Harding for his own Cross allows the evil side of his nature to get the upper hand of him and plots to have Strong kill Sir John in a duel. Strong slaps Harding in the face in the foyer of the opera house in order that he may involve him in "an affair of honor" and avenge his brother's death by killing Harding. Cross in the meantime lures Lady Harding to his rooms where Sir John comes to seek her. She hides in Mark Cross's bedroom, but reveals herself at a dramatic moment when Harding, shouting "Curse you, I'll kill you," springs at Cross's throat. Her splendid nature, as shown in her denunciation of both men, one as a husband without faith in his wife and the other as the would-be destroyer of a home, overcomes them with shame. They shake hands and Mark, parting forever with Lady Harding, orders his valet to pack his things for he is off "on a long trail."
- Their eyes heavy with grief, Edith and Violet, dancers, return from the funeral of their sister, Grace. They find a letter marked, "To be opened after my burial," which encloses a photograph. This, the dead sister identifies as the man who has wronged her and through his falseness has brought her to her death. Her request is that her sisters seek him out and avenge her. Strangely enough, she omits to mention his name and address. Conjuring before them the image of the beloved departed, Edith and Violet swear to find the unknown and wreak their worst upon him. Assuming new names to aid their search, the sisters are engaged to dance in a music hall. Here comes Viscount Henry, and a party of friends. This count is peculiarly attracted by the mysterious masked sisters. He asks the manager to introduce him. Violet's beauty is the source of particular attraction. The other sister fears danger and recalls to her her sister's fate. This count persists, although a likeness to the dead Grace, to whom he once promised marriage, causes him uneasiness. Edith, calling upon the viscount to learn the purpose of his attentions, accidentally finds her late sister's portrait. Returning with the portrait of the viscount the sisters compare the one which the sister had enclosed in her last letter. They are identical. Edith reminds Violet of their oath of vengeance. It falls to Edith's lot to execute the oath. She goes to the viscount's house and confronts him with his guilt. He orders his servants to arrest her. She escapes. Keenly anxious, the other sister, Violet, comes to the house about this time. She is daunted by the onrush of the pursuers who are chasing her sister. Mistaking Violet for Edith, they pursue the former, and a stern and exciting chase it is. Edith, in the meantime, returns to the house, where she meets the Viscount, now unprotected by his servants. A shot from Edith's revolver, and a long fall down a secret passage ends his evil life.
- 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.
- The story is laid in Palestine, sixty years after the destruction of the last temple by Titus. The lot of the Jews was not a happy one during the succeeding reigns, but they were a fairly contented people until Hadrian ascended the throne. It is at this point that the opening scene of the picture begins, and leads the spectator back to the magnificent scenery of the Holy Land. It pictures Hadrian who decrees that Jerusalem be rebuilt as a Roman city. The temple is turned into an arena, where lions are roaring over the prey that is cast them, and bloody gladiatorial contests are presented. The oppression now becomes so terrible that the people can bear it no longer, and the vigorous younger party, under the leadership of Bar-Kochba, the noblest of the Jews, begins to sow the seeds of rebellion throughout the land. Now a flowery garden is presented to the sight, and the Oriental tribes that collect there to crown Bar-Kochba in secret are to offer their lives for the sake of a common cause. But it is through Paphos, a Phoenician cripple, disappointed in his mad passion for Dinah. Bar-Kochba's beloved, that destruction descends upon everyone. With his insidious plots, he works upon Rufus to such an extent that he casts Dinah into a cell after accusing her father, Eleazar, the leader of the Council of Elders, of inciting the rebellion. Not content with all this mischief, Paphos informs Bar-Kochba of Dinah's imprisonment Bar-Kochba hastens to the rescue and is seen just after the first chariot race entering the great arena, where a multitude of Romans are celebrating the downfall of Jerusalem. He defies Rufus and demands that Dinah be set free. Rufus commands Horatius to slay him. Defenseless as he is. Bar-Kochba sweeps him aside with one thrust of his mighty arm, but spares his life. Rufus now orders him cast to the lions. Bar-Kochba advances upon the raging beasts, quells them with his glance, and drives them into the crowned seats. Terrified, the Romans fly from the arena. Bar-Kochba has been successful all along the line, and has driven the Romans into Magdala. Within the fortress Paphos makes a final effort to win Dinah, is repulsed again, and determines to cause her death. He watches Rufus staggering drunkenly into a cell. Dinah lures him, and is about to dispatch him when his wife, summoned by Paphos, saves him. A messenger excitedly announces that the Jews are attacking the town. On the advice of Paphos, Dinah is exposed on the battlements and threatened with death unless Bar-Kochba withdraws his army. Bar-Kochba is before the walls of Magdala. Dinah appears on the tower, but rather than hinder her people, dashes herself to pieces on the rocks below. Infuriated by the death of Dinah, the Jews storm the town and set it on fire. The enemy perish in the ruins. Three years of bloody warfare have swept the Romans from the land. Bar-Kochba, king of Judea, welcomes all the people to his realm, irrespective of race, creed or color. He would have kept the Romans at bay. In spite of the fact that Hadrian sent his best generals and the pick of his legionaries against him, were it not for the despicable treachery of Paphos, the Phoenician. Bar-Kochba trusts him blindly, and believes his accusation that Eleazar had surrendered Dinah to the Romans. Maddened by the terrible misfortunes that had befallen him, Bar-Kochba calls Eleazar traitor before the Elders and plunges a dagger into his breast. Just then news comes that the war has recommenced, and Bar-Kochba hastens to defend the frontier. But Bar-Kochba is beaten everywhere and driven into Bethar. Hope flickers for a moment, but Paphos commits his most stupendous piece of treachery. He leads the Romans by a secret passageway into the fortress, and the Jewish cause is lost. Bar-Kochba fights his way through the enemies' lines and tries to lead his reserves to the attack. But seeing all his efforts useless, he falls on his sword as Eleazar's spirit towers above him.
- Judge Livingston, a wealthy jurist, lives happily in a mansion with his young wife, Josephine, and his daughter, Eleanor, child of the judge's first wife. Dick Winthrop, the judge's private secretary, is in love with Eleanor, and she returns his affection. They become betrothed, and the judge approves their engagement. Mrs. Livingston, Eleanor's step-mother, buys goods extravagantly at fashionable shopping places, and has the goods charged to her account. Dick receives a letter from a bank, saying that Mrs. Livingston has overdrawn her account $1,100, and requesting settlement without disturbing Judge Livingston. Dick tries to persuade Mrs. Livingston to attend to the overdrawn account, but she becomes angry and resolves to break Dick's engagement to Eleanor. Mrs. Livingston then tells the judge that Dick is not a proper fiancé for Eleanor. Eleanor finds recreation in doing settlement work, attracting the attention of several men engaged in white slavery acts. These evildoers forge a note purporting to be from a poor woman, asking Eleanor to come to her aid in the tenements. Leaving the note on a desk in her home, Eleanor goes to render the aid asked, and when she arrives at the address given, the white slavers seize her and make her a prisoner. Dick accidentally finds the note and rushes to rescue Eleanor, as he feels that the note was forged. Dick arrives at the house where Eleanor is held captive, and, after a desperate fight with the plotters, the men are taken prisoners. Eleanor and Dick manage to return home. The debts Mrs. Livingston owes become pressing; she tries at night to steal funds from her husband's safe, and Dick finds her near the safe. To escape accusation, Mrs. Livingston charges Dick with the theft, and he, to shield her, shoulders the blame in the presence of the judge and Eleanor. The judge believes his wife, and tells Dick he must leave the house forever. Mrs. Livingston then repents, tells her husband she alone is to blame, begs his forgiveness.
- Chauncey Short, an orphan, takes a job as a clerk in a village grocery store. One day a letter arrives informing him that his uncle has died and has left him $5,000,000. Chauncey recklessly starts spending the money until he meets a banker's daughter, who has a positive influence on him. Chauncey then helps the banker through a financial crisis.
- The Princess Lestorys, beautiful and brilliant, is much sought by London's men of affairs. Arthur Gerald, wealthy oil operator, casually remarks that he would give $100,000 for an introduction to the princess. This remark is repeated to the princess, who writes to Gerald, and suggests that in return for an invitation to her reception he forward a donation for a philanthropic institution in which she is interested. Gerald assents and sends his check for the amount. At the reception is also John Holton, a young civil engineer, deeply enamored of the princess. She declines his proposal of marriage, saying that his financial inability to provide the luxuries she demands outweighs her regard for him. Holton leaves for America, swearing to return with the necessary money. Gerald falls desperately in love with the princess. His daughter, Lena, who distrusts the adventuress, learns of her father's danger upon reading through the society columns of a newspaper. Suspicious, she obtains information from a detective agency, which brands the princess unmistakably as a peculiarly dangerous woman. Convinced by his daughter of the princess's sinister character, Gerald leaves with Lena for his oil wells in America. Meeting Holton he engages him as manager. The princess, foiled, determines upon revenge. Following Gerald to his oil lands, she hires several desperadoes to aid her in her diabolical doings. John and Lena are ambushed, the former shot and severely wounded, and the girl kidnapped. Writing to Gerald, Madam Satan, the princess, threatens dire happenings to Lena if Gerald does not fulfill his promise of marriage. Holton, revived, springs from a rock as Madam Satan's messenger passes and falls with him to the rocky ground. The messenger is subdued. The two hours elapse. No answer from Gerald. Madam Satan with her accomplices drag a cannon into the fields some distance from the petroleum tanks. The first shot penetrates the main reservoir, the fluid pouring outward upon the surface of the nearby river. A second shell explodes the works. The fire spreads to the oily fluid. In an instant the stream is ablaze from bank to bank. Her revenge incomplete, Madam Satan returns to her cabin and prepares for flight. Lashing Lena against the upright post, she ignites the cabin. In dashes Holton, weak from his wound. He moves toward releasing Lena. Madam Satan's pointed revolver halts him. Then within her stirs the old affection for the only man she had ever loved, from whom she was separated only because of his lack of money. Her revolver drops. Holton creeps forward and cuts Lena's bonds. Out from the stifling smoke and the stabbing flames he darts, carrying the insensible Lena. Madam Satan, saddened, sickened by the cumulative remorse of her wickedness, sinks upon the burning pyre.
- The first scenes take us to a temple beside the shores of a sacred river where virgins, clad in white, directed by solemn gray-bearded priests, go through the ritual of the worship of the lotus flower. While the sweet rites of worship are being observed in the temple, a troop of English soldiers, led by Sir Percy Grenville, their commander, approaches the temple. The English party is in pursuit of native hostiles, who have taken a trail leading to the temple. The worship is rudely interrupted by the coming of the English soldiers. Their commander, attracted by a glittering sacred jewel in the head of Buddha, ignores the protests of the priestess and wails of the priest, tears the precious stone from the sockets of the eyeball. Metta, the priestess, and Kassapa, a rich Brahmin, resolve, before the altar of Buddha to recover the diamond of their God at all costs. Sir Percy is recalled to England, and Metta and Kassapa embark on the same vessel. A silent but determined struggle for the possession of the diamond ensues. Sir Percy keeps the sacred jewel in spite of all, and landing in England, promises to give it to his bride on their wedding day. Metta and Kassapa, in various disguises, try to get possession of the diamond, but the precious stone is safely stowed away in the safe of Sir Percy's father-in-law. Metta has now fallen in love with the handsome English officer, and opposes the plan of Kassapa to kill him in order to obtain the diamond. Just as the goblet is taken up by the British officer, and he is about to touch his lips to the rim of the cup, Metta dashes it from his hands. She still however, is determined to recover the diamond, and when on a sailing trip with Sir Percy and his fiancée, the former falls overboard and cannot swim. Forgetful of her love and devotion to the cause of Buddha and at the risk of her life, she jumps overboard and brings Sir Percy safely to the shore. The last attempt is made to get possession of the sacred jewel. Metta and Kassapa, in the dead of night, steal into the room of Sir Percy, and are about to open the safe when Ethel, fiancée of Sir Percy, surprises them. The whole truth now comes out. Metta and Kassapa declare that they have come to recover their god's jewel, and point to the ill-luck that it has so far brought to Sir Percy. Ethel and her father decide to restore the jewel to the possession of the priestess and her companion. Metta, however, bears back with her to far off India, not only the sacred jewel, but a deathly wound in her heart. She cannot forget Sir Percy, and when she is once more within the hollow shades of the temple, she dances with a devotion and fervor which she has never displayed before, for her beating heart tells her that this is to be her last dance before the altar of her God. As she completes the dance her heart fails and she dies.
- 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.
- The story tells of a woman who to hold her husband's love becomes a thief. Marie, the erring wife, pressed by debts, begins thievery in a small way at first. She grows bolder and bolder and carries on her peculations even under the noses of her husband's detectives. A young fool who loves her allows suspicion to fall upon him. But at last the truth is wrung from her.
- Larry Thorn, a novelist and man of wealth, loves and is engaged to Miss Julie Rider. While at a fashionable ball, Larry discovers Julia encouraging the attention of Baron Von Keller. Some nights later at the club the Baron insults Larry and an arrangement to fight a duel is made between them. The Baron, really afraid of meeting Larry, sends word of the challenge, living time and place, anonymously to Julia. Julia arrives in time to stop the duel, returns the engagement ring to Larry, and shows her preference for the Baron. Larry becomes piqued and discouraged with women and society in general and decides to go away and forget. He takes up a sort of hermitage in a river bottom section of the country, where he builds a shelter in a tree. In this vicinity there lives a blind old miser with an only daughter, very pretty, but a wild, uneducated, impulsive creature who has never known a mother's love or care. In fact, has seen few people outside of her association with the blind father. Larry chances by the old man's house and sees this odd little creature, answering to the name of Hazel. He only gives her a passing thought, but later when alone in the forest the thought of her comes back and she becomes an inspiration to him for a great novel. Allen, a wealthy farmer in the vicinity, sees Hazel and because of her odd manner and wonderful beauty, desires her for himself. He calls on her father and with a big sum of gold and whiskey buys her from the old man. Hazel, from her attic room, overhears the bargain and that night escapes to the woods. After hours of flight she walks into a bed of quicksand. Larry is startled from his sleep by her cries for help and arrives in time to save the girl from a certain death. He carries her to his camp, recognizes her and offers to take her back home. She tells him why she ran away and begs him to help her. Larry finds a home for her with an old farmer's widow, who soon brings out the good qualities in the girl, dresses her neatly and when Larry calls to see her he can hardly believe Hazel the same girl. He continues his novel with Hazel as the central figure and unconsciously falls deeply in love with her. The heavy rains set in; the rivers break their banks and the entire country is flooded. Farmer Allen, unable to get his purse back from the old, blind father of Hazel, finds his chance for revenge when he sees the old man's little farm flooded. He calls at the house, tells the old miser of the rising waters and offers to lead him to safety. The old man gets his treasure box from its hiding place. Allen wrests it from him. locks the old man in the room to die like a rat in a trap, escapes with the treasure box and rows up the river, but meets with disaster and Allen and the miser's hoard are swallowed by the whirlpool of muddy waters. Hazel, hearing of the rising water, calls upon Larry to go to the rescue of her blind father. The old man's house has been washed into the river bed, but the old man has managed to get on the roof where Larry, after some daring feats, finally rescues him and brings him to Hazel. Larry takes Hazel and her father back to his home, marries Hazel and gets a specialist to restore the old man's sight. His novel, inspired by Hazel, becomes a big success and he takes Hazel to a ball given in his honor where, in a beautiful gown, she does honor and credit to his standing, and becomes the social favorite of the season.
- "Black Nissen" is one of the "boys" of a western mining camp. He is known as "Black Nissen" because of his surly and disagreeable character. As usual, when pay day arrives he has nothing coming to him, as his bad habits keep him constantly in debt. The rest of the boys, enriched by the dollars handed to them by their chief, make off for the saloon to gamble and make merry. "Black Nissen" cannot join them as he is absolutely broke. While slouching away, an attractive woman, named Margaret, crosses his path. She is under his influence and he forces her to give up all the money in her possession. He saunters off to the saloon to be with the rest. At the table a heated argument comes up and guns are quickly drawn. "Black Nissen" recognizing discretion as the better part of valor, beats a hasty retreat. Still faced with the need for money, he plans to rob the chief, whom he has seen hide some cans in a box beneath the bed of his cabin. He awaits a favorable opportunity, and then forces Margaret, his unwilling slave, to climb through the cabin window to secure the box. The chief, with his Chinese servant, returns just at this moment and captures Margaret. Because she is a woman, the rough justice meted out to the thief in the west is tempered by mercy. She is set upon a horse and expelled from camp. From fear of "Black Nissen," Margaret keeps her actions secret and does not expose the bully. When the hubbub is quieted down, "Black Nissen" endeavors to rob the chief himself.With the stolen plans he goes to Europe, and by constant study succeeds in perfecting the dynamite motor which is destined to revolutionize motor boat propulsion. He carries off a valuable trophy at a big regatta, winning at the same time large sums in wages. Subsequently he ingratiates himself in the favor of Col. von Wentheim, President of the Motor Boat Club, and immediately lays siege to the affections of his charming daughter Ellen. One day while out sailing with Ellen, a sudden squall overturns their yacht, and the pair are soon struggling for life in the water. "Black Nissen" swims ashore and gives the alarm. A search party is organized, but they find no trace of the girl. Ellen is rescued, however, by William, son of an old barger. His sweetheart is a charming girl, who happens to be none other than Margaret. This being one of those coincidences which everyday life reveals as stranger than fiction. Margaret discovers that a reward of $5,000 is offered by von Wentheim for news of his daughter, and is fortunate enough to be the lucky recipient of same. After giving the colonel the information he desires, to her surprise she finds that "Black Nissen" is commissioned to bring Ellen home. Under the name of Evinrude, he has outwardly acquired the semblance of a gentleman, but his innate brutality is once again betrayed. Incensed by Margaret's slow progress with the oars, he strikes her viciously. Reaching the barge and finding no one on deck. In a fit of rage he thrusts an oar through the bottom of the tiny craft and with a push of the foot sends the rapidly foundering boat adrift. Ellen, much against her will, returns home under the escort of "Black Nissen."
- At an early age Rose O'Brien loses her mother, which leaves her without a relative in the world. She goes to live with some neighbors, during which time a typical Fagan discovers her plight, and through promises of pretty dresses, induces her to steal. She is arrested, found guilty, and placed in the charge of a probation officer. This officer finds a good position for her in a wealthy family. The son later falls in love with her. They are secretly married, and the following day Rose finds another woman in her husband's arms. Not knowing that he merely picked up the woman from a faint, Rose leaves her husband, and being a good dancer goes to the city, where she secures an engagement in a theatrical company. In the meantime, her husband, who loves her and who does not understand her flight, is taken abroad for his health, and rapidly declines. At the end of the year, however, he returns home, and a dinner is given in his honor. Rose, now a famous dancer, is engaged to dance at the dinner, where she and her husband are mutually surprised in their recognition. Reconciliation follows, and everything ends happily.
- "Shark" Manning, a brawny, brutal crook, is chief of the Mudflats gang of robbers, and has for his leading aide a sallow, slim youth, Dick Brackett, the latter residing with his father, Silas, his mother, Luck Brackett, and Dick's sister, Stella. The home of the Bracketts is a café and boathouse at the edge of the mudflats. The gang robs some railway freight cars, and Detective David Dale is sent to get evidence against the robber band. "Shark," Dick and two other thieves steal a $10,000 necklace from a mansion. Dale happens to see Dick crossing the fiats, chase him, and Dick, fearing capture, drops the diamond necklace into one of the sloughs in the mudflats. "Shark" and Dick later try to recover the gems with grappling hooks, but fail. Dale, disguised as a stevedore, visits the Brackett café, and falls in love with Stella. Dick hears a street preacher denouncing thievery and resolves to reform his law-breaking ways and have nothing more to do with Manning's acts. Manning tries to kiss Stella, and Dale bests him in a fight. "Shark" is maddened by hatred for Dick, and has Dick shanghaied on to a ship almost ready to depart for South Africa. "Shark" then learns that a gigantic hydraulic dredger has begun work dredging the slough where Dick dropped the necklace. Dale meets one of "Shark's" pals, makes him confess the whereabouts of Dick, the confessor telling Dale that Dick is a prisoner in the hold of a vessel at San Pedro, and that the ship will sail within an hour. Dale and Stella then try to catch a train for San Pedro, to rescue her brother, but just miss the train. Dale and Stella then climb on a railroad handcar and speed away down the track for the wharves. "Shark," who has learned Dale's plans, follows them on a horse, and manages to overtake them while they are speeding the handcar across a railroad bridge, one end of which can be raised 200 feet high to allow vessels to pass. "Shark" fells the bridge-tender with his fists, operates the machinery and the handcar is caught on the bridge end, raising Dale and Stella to a lofty height. After many thrilling scenes Dale and Stella resume their race, rescue Dick and return home. "Shark," hunting for the diamonds, gets near the suction part of the dredger and is drawn to an awful death. Dick recovers the gems, and Dale returns them to their owner. Dick becomes an honest mechanic, and Dale and Stella agree to marry.
- Paul, raised by gypsies, is sent to college and falls in love with the co-ed Daisy.
- 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.
- The president of an Australian detective agency offers the services of their best man Henry King to the southwest coast police of California, who have been baffled by the many daring crimes committed by a gang of the underworld. Mr. King arrives in America, and upon the day of his arrival the most daring crime ever heard of is committed. Miss Dorothy Stevens is kidnapped in broad daylight in her automobile. The chauffeur was found drugged in an alley. Mr. King decides not to report this crime to the police, as to be seen with them might hinder him in his work, so he starts on the case alone. He spots his man, "Smiley Randel," holds him up, and thereby gaining his confidence, joins the gang as a first-class hold-up man. When he has located Miss Stevens, and about to get her away, Madge Burke does a clever piece of work and upsets his plans. He is bound and thrown into a room but upon rolling toward the door overhears the plans of the gang, namely, to leave the port on the schooner Blanche that night. He finds a mirror, and by throwing a mirror into a policeman's eyes, attracts his attention and gets him to come to the window. Writes a note, drops it down to him, thereby telling him of their plans, and to have a police-boat at the end of pier 21 and to watch out for the Blanche. That night he succeeds in freeing himself out of the room. He swims across the bay secrets himself on the Blanche before the gang arrive. As the Blanche is making her way out of the harbor the police boat starts in pursuit and a battle ensues. Detective King takes Miss Stevens in his arms and jumps overboard. They are in turn picked up by the police boat and capture the fugitives. Miss Stevens is greatly surprised the next day by receiving a call from Detective King, of Australia, who proves to be the man who aided her in her escape and whom she thought was a member of the gang. After a short conversation with Miss Stevens, Mr. King decides to cancel his passage back to Australia, and remains in America indefinitely.
- 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.
- George Lloyd, land owner, orders the fishermen in a coast village to vacate the property. Lloyd quarrels with his son Fred, an art student, and the latter leaves home and embarks on a steamer, from which he falls and is rescued by a fisherman known as Captain Jack. Fred's memory is lost by the fall. In the village he woos Nan, a fisher girl, thereby incurring the enmity of Joe Porter. Nan accepts Fred's love. Fred's father wages war on the fisherman. A battle over possession of the land takes place, and in the fight Porter shoots Fred in the back. Nan nurses Fred to recovery, and they are married, Fred still unaware of his identity. Porter becomes a desperado, and joins a gang of smugglers. Fred paints a picture of Nan, and an artist takes the portrait to a city, where it wins high praise. The painting is purchased by Blanche Dexter a former fiancée of Fred, and she, with Fred's mother, visit the fishing village to see the man who painted the portrait. Blanche and Fred's mother see Fred, and the sight of his parent restores Fred's memory. Porter about this time abducts Nan in a boat but Fred rescues her. His mother pleads with him to return home. Fred learns that his father is dead and that he has inherited the estate. Blanche, meanwhile, falls under the wiles of Porter, and meets him secretly. Fred leaves his wife, Nan, their baby having died and goes home with his mother. Fred indulges himself at cafés and forgets Nan, who is pining away in the village. Porter follows Blanche to the city, but later he returns to Nan and asks her to accept his love. She spurns him and, believing Fred lost to her forever, she rows a boat far out to sea and fails to return. Fred sees a vision of Nan, and prepares to return to her. He goes to the village and learns that Nan's body was washed ashore. He finds her grave beside the place where their child was buried, the two crosses bearing silent witness to the entanglements in the web of fate.
- Jack Banks and Tex Reeves are friendly rivals for the hand of Bess Harper, daughter of a rancher and horse dealer. Jack is line rider on an outlying ranch. Tex is Harper's corral boss. Harper favors Tex's attentions to his daughter, regarding Jack a drunken loafer. Jack protects a half-breed from a severe beating at the hands of Tex, during a dispute over a poker hand. The same evening in a drunken stupor, he loans his new boots to Tex to attend a dance. Tex, while saddling his horse, accidentally steps in the mud by the water trough, leaving a distinct impression of Jack's boot heels, which later gets that gentleman in bad. The following morning Jack's horse, after an impatient night of pawing at the hitch rail, enters the saloon, and by pulling off Jack's hat, dumping his whiskey bottle over, coaxes his master out and kneels for him to mount. As he is about to ride away, the stage drives up. He waits for the mail, receives a letter from his mother, saying she is in poor health and in need of a little money. Ashamed of his prodigality and too proud to borrow from his friends, he sells his prize horse to Harper, and sends the proceeds home. That night the horse breaks out of Harper's corral and beats it for Jack's lonely cabin. Tex, aroused at the noise, rushes into the empty corral. The half-breed, who has been laying there for Tex, seeing an opportunity in the deserted corral for vengeance, takes a shot at Tex. Suspicion naturally points to Jack. Jack is captured and jailed. Tex slowly recovers, but the wound in his head has clouded his memory. The half-breed, hearing of Jack's capture, induces Bess to help plan his escape. They accomplish a clever stunt, and Jack stays hidden in the back country for a month. Bess, at her father's instigation, has become engaged to Tex. Jack, while rustling grub one day, wanders too far from his hiding place, and is recaptured after a running fight by one of the deputies. The same day the mail brings a letter from the half-breed in Australia, confessing to the shooting of Tex. Later Tex recovers his memory, and entirely clears Jack of the attempted murder and horse stealing. Later, seeing Bess' preference, he nobly gives up the girl to Jack, after exacting a promise from his rival to "cut out all booze." Harper relents and turns Jack's horse over to him, resplendent in a new lady's silver-mounted saddle, remarking, "Wedding present, Jack, but he's still in my family."
- Refusing to give his consent to the marriage of his son, Count George, to Helen Holt, a poor miller's daughter, Baron Rothschild orders his son to Paris at once. Some time later a child is born to Helen Holt, and the Baron, promising to provide for it, persuades the miller to have someone adopt it, and tell the mother that it died immediately after birth. Count George forgetting his old love, receives his father's consent to marry Princess Louise Turner. A year later, the Baron having died, the Count and his wife return to take possession of the estate. On the verge of war, two spies, Lieutenant Berloff and Captain Klink, are instructed to leave Paris at once for the enemy's country. Arriving at their destination, Captain Klink secures lodgings with the fisherman, Larson, and Lieutenant Berloff, posing as an artist, finds the old mill well suited to his plans and they immediately set to work to bring the mill and the fisherman's home into telegraphic communication, and extend the wires to an abandoned vessel, in which they have stored a quantity of explosives. The Countess, out riding one day, meets Lieutenant Berloff and recognizes him as one of the most ardent admirers before her marriage. They hold clandestine meetings, and one day, while in the mill, the ticking of the telegraph instrument puts Lieutenant Berloff in a dilemma, and he confesses to the Countess that he is a spy. In loyalty to her country she promises to help him. Disguised as a gypsy she secures the plans of the enemy's movements from Capt. Berry, whom she has drugged, and takes them to Lieutenant Berloff. Helen, the miller's daughter, overhears the spy informing his confederate of the enemy's movements, and notifies Captain Berry. Berry, arriving at the Countess' home, fires at what he believes to be the Countess' figure, but which turns out to be her reflection in the mirror, behind which is a secret vault. The Count, arriving home, sees the vault open, and finds a letter addressed to him in which his father confesses that the child of Helen Holt still lives and is adopted by John Larson, the fisherman. The Count and Helen immediately set out to claim their child. Berry, on his way to the mill, meets the Countess and Berloff. Following them, they take refuge in the ship. Proving their rights to the child, the Count and Helen return to the mill, where the child accidentally pulls the lever which causes the explosion of the ship. The miller, in the excitement, overturns a candle which sets fire to the mill. After a miraculous escape, the Count returns to his home, where he is informed by Capt. Berry that the Countess was found on the beach dead. All obstacles removed, Helen and the Count are married.
- Armand Delcroix receives a visit from a fellow-artist, who invites him to a fair, where they meet Mabel, a fashionable artist's model. They, in company with a gay crowd of students and models, go and see a sensational performance, a young girl, Clarice, performing in an animal lioness's cage. At first all goes well, but suddenly the crowd is horrified to see the lioness make a vicious attack on her. Delcroix rushes into the cage and rescues Clarice. A week after this event Delcroix calls at the menagerie. He finds Clarice none the worse for her ordeal and offers to paint her portrait. The inevitable happens; they fall in love with each other. The artists' annual ball takes place shortly afterwards. Delcroix is invited, and he takes Clarice with him in the supper room, Clarice comes upon her lover, Delcroix, with Mabel in his arms. She rushes home, broken-hearted. Scalieri, a friend of Mabel's, picks a quarrel with Delcroix. A duel is fought, in which Delcroix is seriously wounded. Clarice forgets her anger and goes to nurse him. A few months later Delcroix meets Mabel in the park. She persuades him to accompany her. Clarice sees the pair drive off. In despair she rushes to the river, but when she contemplates its murky depths, her gentle soul revolts at the idea of suicide, and she drags herself home to pine and die; her last thoughts being for the man who has brought her to an untimely grave. Meanwhile, Mabel reigns supreme in Delcroix's affections, and poor, unfortunate Clarice is forgotten. Years roll by and Delcroix prospers. He has a daughter named Vyvienne. Barthos, Clarice's father, is still alive and comes to the Neuilly fair with his lions. There he chances upon Delcroix. He plans a horrible revenge. One night he and his men drag the heavy cages with the roaring lions to Delcroix's country house. The doors are opened and the lions let loose in the grounds, Madame Delcroix happens to have a social engagement that evening and Delcroix stays at home with Vyvienne. She goes to bed, and Delcroix retires to his study. Suddenly the roar of the famished lions reached his ears. Horrified, he rushes upstairs and sees the lions entering his daughter's room. He dashes quickly into the room and rescues Vyvienne, just as one of the lions is in the act of springing into her cot. But the infuriated beasts do not intend to be so easily balked of their prey. They give chase and there is a fearful race for life. Barthus, waiting and listening outside, sees a vision of his daughter imploring his mercy. He relents and enters the villa, mastering the lions just as Delcroix collapses with his daughter in his arms.
- The president of an Australian detective agency offers the services of their best man Henry King to the southwest coast police of California, who have been baffled by the many daring crimes committed by a gang of the underworld. Mr. King arrives in America, and upon the day of his arrival the most daring crime ever heard of is committed. Miss Dorothy Stevens is kidnapped in broad daylight in her automobile. The chauffeur was found drugged in an alley. Mr. King decides not to report this crime to the police, as to be seen with them might hinder him in his work, so he starts on the case alone. He spots his man, "Smiley Randel," holds him up, and thereby gaining his confidence, joins the gang as a first-class hold-up man. When he has located Miss Stevens, and about to get her away, Madge Burke does a clever piece of work and upsets his plans. He is bound and thrown into a room but upon rolling toward the door overhears the plans of the gang, namely, to leave the port on the schooner Blanche that night. He finds a mirror, and by throwing a mirror into a policeman's eyes, attracts his attention and gets him to come to the window. Writes a note, drops it down to him, thereby telling him of their plans, and to have a police-boat at the end of pier 21 and to watch out for the Blanche. That night he succeeds in freeing himself out of the room. He swims across the bay, secrets himself on the Blanche before the gang arrive. As the Blanche is making her way out of the harbor the police boat starts in pursuit and a battle ensues. Detective King takes Miss Stevens in his arms and jumps overboard. They are in turn picked up by the police boat and capture the fugitives. Miss Stevens is greatly surprised the next day by receiving a call from Detective King, of Australia, who proves to be the man who aided her in her escape and whom she thought was a member of the gang. After a short conversation with Miss Stevens, Mr. King decides to cancel his passage back to Australia, and remains in America indefinitely.
- Murice Brachard, a dock laborer, rises to be a "Samson" of finance with terrific power and a primordial ferocity, which he needs when his wife spurns his devotion, and people he trusts try to pull down the structure of wealth he has erected.
- George Reed, a gay young rounder from the city, visits the fishing village where Ethel lives with her brother John, a fisherman. He makes love to her. She is fascinated with his manners, and consents to marry him. He seals their engagement with a bracelet of very odd and antique design, which he places on Ethel's wrist. John disapproves of Reed, and warns Ethel against him, but she will not listen, and when John becomes angry and denounces her engagement, she elopes and goes to the city with Reed. At the end of six months he deserts her. Overcome with shame and torture she goes back to her village home, and falls dying upon the porch. John finds her there. She tells him of her betrayal and desertion, and over her dead body swears vengeance. Reed meets Mary Clarke, and becomes engaged to her. John happens to see a newspaper account of the ball to be given in honor of the engagement. This is the first clue as to the whereabouts of Reed, and he at once goes to the city. Seeks out the house in which the ball is to be given and finds Reed alone on the balcony outside of the conservatory, where he has just had a quarrel with Mary for dancing with her former sweetheart. Reed is found dead with a revolver lying beside him. Suicide is suspected, and Mary takes the blame to herself. Declaring that Reed killed himself on account of their quarrel. Overcome with grief and remorse, she later seeks the quietude of the fishing village. In a fit of despondence she attempts to commit suicide by throwing herself into the water, but is rescued by John. He falls in love with her, and proposes, but she tells him that the memory of the man who gave her the bracelet that she wears must ever stand between her and any other man. John recognizes the bracelet as the same one that Reed had given to Ethel, and he tells Mary of Reed's real character and his betrayal of Ethel. In the light of this revelation Mary accepts the love of John, and the bracelet, the cause of sorrow, is cast into the sea.
- Dorothy Madison, a secret service operative, is sent into the West Virginia mountains to locate a still, after male operatives failed. She carries a sketching outfit and a carrier pigeon into the moonshine country, and hides the pigeon in the woods near a mountain cabin, where she hopes to make headquarters. She walks along the road until she sees Dave Parks coming, falls, feigns a sprained ankle, and is taken home by Dave, who is a young, good-looking moonshiner. Dave's mother is a sour-faced, pipe-smoking, suspicious old mountain woman, and only tolerates Dorothy. Nell Oatsey, typical mountain girl of bold beauty, hears of Dorothy's plight and goes to see her. She carries her rifle. Dorothy is in the woods near the road sketching and looking about for signs of a still. Nell sees her and approaches. Dorothy is sitting on a log back of which is a big rattlesnake ready to spring. Nell shoots the snake and saves Dorothy from being bitten, but nearly scares her to death. Dave Parks, who is Nell's sweetheart, is smitten with Dorothy and grows cold toward Nell, which increases his mother's antipathy for Dorothy. By climbing a tree and using a spyglass Dorothy discovers the still and how it is guarded. She sends the information by her carrier pigeon and arranges for a signal to raid. At the appointed time she takes Dave to the woods to sketch him, and he is her unconscious tool in arranging the signal, which is seen from a nearby hill by the secret service men. The moonshine plant is raided and Dave, who is on his way to the place, runs afoul of a secret service guard and both shoot and both are wounded. Dorothy, who has followed Dave, desires to save him from prison and goes to his aid, helping him home. He is not badly hurt and is hidden in a woodshed. After dark Dorothy helps him away and takes him home. Nest day Nell Oatsey on her way to market learns that Dave and Dorothy have disappeared. She believes Dorothy has stolen Dave from her and starts on a mission to kill Dorothy. She reaches Dorothy's home the next day and enters the library, where Dorothy and Dave are talking. She tries to shoot Dorothy, but Dave spoils her aim. She accuses Dorothy, who for the first time is found to be the wife of an operative and the mother of a beautiful three-year-old child. Dorothy's husband appears, the child follows and all is explained. Dorothy making it plain that she saves Dave because Nell had killed the snake that menaced her. She reunites Dave and Nell.