Jane Ray, a very clever reporter of crimes of passion, or "sob sister," for a New York tabloid, begins to feel depressed by the sordidness of her latest assignment, the investigation of a young woman's murder by her husband. Despite her growing distaste for her profession, Jane gets her story and,...
After the Civil War, an ex-soldier and his family settle in the Dakota Territory. The son quarrels with the father and leaves home. Riding in the hills, he spots a band of Indians attacking a neighboring homestead, and he races back to warn his family as the Indians chase him.
Two students at college were friends until a girl appeared and by the workings of fate was beloved by both. The girl has given her heart to one of the classmates, unknown to the other. The youth confesses his love, and is plunged into despair when told that her heart is another's. Coldly the...
In China, before leaving for America, Charlie Lee promises that he will never dishonour his family by cutting his pigtail. Later, as a laundryman in a California mining town, Charlie is tormented by local men but is finally befriended by a young woman and her cowboy sweetheart. One of Charlie’s...
A thug accosts a girl as she leaves her workplace but a man rescues her. The thug vows revenge and, with the help of two friends, attacks the girl and her rescuer again as they're going for a walk. This time they succeed in kidnapping the rescuer. The girl runs home and gets help from several...
Josh doesn't like the way things go at home and decides to quit and get out. Later, his wife gets what purports to be his farewell letter, which is intended to lead her to believe he has committed suicide. He, however, goes to New York to have a good time, and he does, "by gosh." The wife,...
Papa becomes so miserable over his bad luck as a fisherman, it causes him to reject Harry, his daughter's sweetheart, who tease him about it. The next day he starts out with the hope of better luck, and the young couple sees a chance of getting back at him. Their scheme succeeds to such an extent,...
This is quite like "Helen's Marriage" which came out a few months earlier in 1912. Once again, Edward Dillon is trying to elope with Mabel Normand, but papa interferes. The big joke is when Ford Sterling and Elmer Booth kidnap the minister in order to marry Dillon and Normand. They mistakingly get...
Edith enters a convent after losing her fiancé to someone else. Years later, Edith finds him again, now poverty-stricken, and secretly helps his family.
An elderly carpenter is told by a doctor that his wife is seriously ill. Soon afterwards, an insensitive shop foreman lays him off from his job because of his age. Unable to find work, and with his wife's condition getting worse, he soon becomes desperate.
At a political club, the members debate whose bust will replace that of Theodore Roosevelt. Unable to agree, each goes to a sculptor's studio and bribes him to sculpt a bust of the individual favorite. Instead, the sculptor spends their fees on a dinner with his model during which he becomes so...
A father, anxious for his son's financial well being, develops a special soda pop called Dopokoke which is laced with cocaine. Dopokoke is advertised as relief "for that tired feeling." The drink is a success, but the son becomes addicted to it, much to his father's regret. Loosely based on the...
A girl from the New York slums falls in with crooks. After her love is arrested following a barfight turned deadly, her life seems directionless-- that is, until she's saved from the streets by a band of Salvationists. She enrolls, and soon afterward encounters her former love in the same bar. Her...
Two Johns, a Confederate and an Union soldier, leave their families to go to the front. After a skirmish they end up separated from their respective sides, the Union soldier shoots the Confederate, but he has to escape and look for refuge in the house of his enemy.