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- When the Civil War begins, young Billy runs away from home to enlist in the Northern Army as a drummer; he's wounded in battle and taken prisoner. He manages to escape and deliver an important message to his commanding officer, but loses his life in the process.
- "Bat" Peters, reformed gunfighter turned prospector, travels to Chicago to collect on a business deal with a mine promoter who turns out to be crooked.
- An Easterner wins his battles in the West by using his fists.
- Jim Warren, a lieutenant in the Confederate Army, is given to drinking and gambling with other officers and losing all his money, gives another officer, William Ford, notes to cover the amount. Robert Tole, in the secret service of the Union, who has made his headquarters at the hotel where most of the gambling is done, watches Jim closely, asks him to his room, tells him that if he will give him certain information regarding the movements of the Confederate Army, he will give him money enough to pay up the notes. At first Jim is indignant, but realizing that he will be disgraced if he does not pay the notes, accepts Tole's proposition. As a result of his treachery, the South meets a disastrous defeat. The Confederate general in command, knowing that the defeat is due to someone giving out information, orders a thorough investigation and all strangers arrested. Robert Tole is among those arrested, and in trying to make his escape, is mortally wounded. He confesses that Jim Warren is the man who had given him the information. In the meantime, Jack Warren, the older brother of Jim, and who has been a guardian of Jim all his life, has been arrested for the crime. A note has been found on Tole, which bears the same watermark as the note paper found in Jack's room. Jim goes to the general and confesses that he is the man who is the traitor, but the general will not believe, having a written confession from Jack. Jim, filled with remorse, commits suicide and Jack tells his mother and father that Jim died fighting for his country. Ethel Wade, who is loved by both the boys, received a letter from Jim confessing the crime, and she realizes the wonderful sacrifice Jack has made.
- Tucson, a gun fighter, is the terror of the town. Rhita, the gun fighter's girl, is extremely fond of their baby, whom Tucson detests and considers an unwelcome intrusion. Tucson commands Rhita to get rid of the baby, and she, afraid to disobey him, leaves it on the bank of a stream, where it is found by Ada Lawson. Ada takes the baby home and she and her husband become very fond of it. The Lawsons are homesteaders and decide to settle on grazing ground just outside the village. They establish themselves and soon afterward are ordered by Santro, a Mexican rancher, to vacate. Lawson refuses to do so and Santro hires Tucson to kill him. Tucson horsewhips Lawson in the village store and orders him never again to enter the village. A few weeks later, however, exhausted supplies make it imperative that Lawson return to town. Tucson is informed of Lawson's presence in town and prepares to carry out his agreement with Santro. Rhita, determined that her baby shall not be deprived of a good man's care, resolves to sacrifice the gun fighter. She fastens his pistol in its holster by means of a rawhide thong, thus making it impossible for Tucson to draw his gun. Tucson proceeds to the village store, where he confronts Lawson. Lawson pulls his gun and shoots Tucson, who is unable to draw his gun.
- Judge Breckenridge and his wife, his daughter, Alma, and his son Robert are living together in 1861. Robert is expelled from a military academy on account of his intemperance and comes home to a very angry father. Robert's habits do not improve; he falls in with bad companions. The war breaks out and the town grows mad, waving flags and marching around. Recruits are called for, and Judge Breckenridge is elected an officer. Robert attempts to enlist, but his application is refused, as he is slightly inebriated at the time. Sullen and angry, Robert goes to a saloon where he meets Lieut. Burr, a Federal secret-service man, in disguise. Burr makes himself agreeable and the two become friends. Late at night Robert goes home and endeavors to sneak into the house. The judge awakens and, finding Robert in an intoxicated condition, again orders him away and disowns him. The next day Burr meets Robert and persuades him to accept a commission in the government secret service, and following the plan outlined, Robert goes to another Confederate post and enlists. Scenes of battle are shown, with thrilling encounters between the two armies. Robert manages to keep in communication with Burr, and it is arranged to lure the Confederates into an ambush. Robert receives a letter from his mother, as follows: "My Dear Son, Was so thankful to hear from you. Your father joined the Fifth Virginia and is somewhere in your locality. He will be proud when he knows that you are fighting for the cause. God guard you and bring you safely back to me. With greatest love. Mother." The darkies are singing "My Old Kentucky Home," and as the strains of the music from the banjos come to his ears Robert's thoughts are wafted back to his home. In a tremendous conflict of emotions he has a revulsion of feeling and decides not to betray the South. Accordingly he sends a false dispatch to Burr, telling him that the rebels will attack Benton Bridge that night, but to disregard it, as it is a ruse to distract attention from the enemy's left, which they intend to storm in full force. Burr therefore protects the left wing of the Union army, and the Confederates attack in full force, sweeping away the right wing and falling on the left and defeating it. During the thrilling battle Robert is wounded, and in undressing him the messages from Burr are found. He is arrested as a spy, and a dramatic scene takes place as his father, in charge of the court martial, finds that he is to judge his own son. Robert is convicted and sentenced to be shot, meeting his death without fear. The war ends. Some years afterward Judge Breckenridge and his wife are seen in their home. While reading the paper the judge comes to the following item: "Supposed Southern Traitor Really a Hero." "A remarkable instance of wartime has just come to light through a statement made by Lieut. Burr, U.S.A. Secret Service, during the war. It seems that Robert Breckenridge, the son of Judge Breckenridge of Blairsville, Kentucky was not the traitor he has been pictured, but was really a Southern hero, as it was through his loyalty and strategy that the South won the battle of Blairsville."
- Two-Gun Hicks, a particularly deadly type of gun fighter, with an absolute disregard of human life, arrives a stranger at Moose Gulch, where he calmly shoots Bad Ike, the bully, who has tried to make him drink with him. Hicks is not interested in the dance hall girls, but when he sees the "decent" woman, the wife of the town drunkard, he determines to secure her, she repulses him. Hicks, unable to understand her loyalty to her husband, finally concludes that she must love the drunkard, and this belief alone prevents him from killing Jenks. Hayes, a gambler, also desirous of securing Jenks' wife, incites the drunkard against Hicks believing the latter will kill him. Jenks, crazed by drink, gives Hicks until five o'clock the following afternoon to get out of town, threatening to shoot him if he is not gone by that time. Hicks, seeing his chance to win the woman, decides to kill Jenks. That night Mrs. Jenks visits him and exacts a promise from him to spare her husband. He gives in to her because the only true love he has ever known is for her. The next afternoon at five o'clock Jenks and the villagers wait for Hicks to either crawl or fight, but despite the temptation, the two-gun man leaves the town quietly, and Jenks is congratulated as a hero. In the Jenks cabin the grateful woman offers up a prayer for the two-gun man as he slowly rides over the hills He has passed out of the life of Moose Gulch forever.
- Pinto Ben is a pink-nosed cow-pony. A hundred head of cattle are rounded up for beef to be shipped alive to Chicago. Ben and his master, with Segundo Jim, are put in charge. In the Chicago stockyards, men who don't know range-bred cattle from a herd of mountain goats, calmly inform Jim and Ben's master that the steers are to be driven into the big pen. At the same instant two or three stock hands run behind the herd and begin shouting and waving their arms to start the cattle. The beasts, a thousand strong, with horns and hoofs beating the air, bellowing their rage, glaring with bloodshot eyes, thunder into the chute. The two men in front prepare for their death ride. Suddenly Pinto Ben flattens himself before a high, iron-bound gate, and leaps. The pony cleans the gate. The great wave of scorching breath falls back on the other side. Ben's master finds himself sitting on the ground, the head of his dying horse in his lap. Once the pony tries to pull himself up on his broken legs. But be falls back and breathes his last.
- The Widow Boden abuses her stepdaughter Mary while lavishing every kindness on her own daughter Martha. A robber chieftain who happens along is much enamored of Mary and buys her from her stepmother with a bag of gold. Then the girl disappears. The fact is, she has been transported to fairyland by way of the well, where she is closely observed by wise old fairy Mother Hulda, who decides that Mary is just the wife for Prince Charming. The Prince loves Mary and they are betrothed, but Mary longs to let her stepmother know that she is still alive, and this is granted. The Widow Boden treats her cruelly, and this time she is handed over to the robber chieftain. Martha, meanwhile, has put on Mary's clothes and come to fairyland. But Mother Hulda discovers her deception in time to prevent her from marrying the Prince. Mary calls on her fairy lover for aid by means of a locket he has given her. He arrives, turns the trees into soldiers, and defeats the robber chieftain. Mother Hulda finishes up matters by changing Widow Boden and Martha into stone. Then the Prince and Mary return to fairyland where they reign together happily forever after.
- A young man refuses the call to arms in order that he may stand by his mother. He bears abuse of the community, but after her death, he fights bravely for the South.
- Frank Sloan, the best reporter on the "Daily Metropolitan," is detailed to work in Chinatown to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Chinese slave girl Woo. Sloan's nerves become unstrung from overwork and he forms the opium habit. He loses his position on the newspaper and is jilted by his fiancee. He quickly goes to the dogs. Sometime later there is a big murder mystery in Chinatown and Sloan, while in the opium den, overhears Yo Hong confessing to the murder to another Chinaman. Sloan tells Captain Wells that he has located the murderer and will deliver him over to the authorities if the captain will promise to keep the arrest a secret for an hour, in order to allow Sloan to secure a "scoop" for his old paper. Wells promises this, and Sloan affects the capture of Yo Hong, and also gets the big story for his paper. That night, as a last resort to save Sloan and cure him of his habit, his friends resolve to shanghai him aboard a schooner bound for a long voyage. This is done, and, after much suffering, Sloan is cured. On his return to the home port he is met by Grace (his former fiancee) and her brother Jimmy, and they reconcile happily.
- Jack Krone, a blacksmith, lives with his father and sister, Edna. The squire's son, George Burns, lives in ease and idleness. There are mutterings of war, and the local militia is in frequent ride practice. George stops to have his horse shod, and takes advantage of the opportunity to force his attentions on Edna. As he is attempting to forcibly kiss her he is knocked down by Jack, who reports the incident to his friends and George is expelled from the militia. The war breaks out and Jack goes to the front. Bitter at the southern boys, George secures a commission in the northern army, as he is the crack rifle shot of the locality, and sharpshooters are in great demand. As the fighting progresses and time goes on, little Bud Krone, Jack's brother, enlists as a drummer boy, and one day during an engagement, George is up in a tree picking off officers and sees him. Taking careful aim George brings the boy down. Jack looks at his dead brother for a moment, and then leaps towards the clump of trees from whence the firing had come. He sees George and shoots him through the shoulder, and when he discovers the identity of the man he has shot he attempts to kill him, but is captured by a squad of Union soldiers. Wounded, George goes home on a furlough, while Jack languishes in prison. Poverty has forced old man Krone to mortgage his property to Squire Burns, and the latter demands payment. George makes ardent love to Edna, and to save her old father she consents to marry him, not knowing that he is the slayer of her brother. Jack finally secures his release from prison and comes home, learning of the marriage of his sister. He sends her a note to meet him, and Burns sees them together, away in the distance and shoots Jack. Edna manages to support her brother to a negro's cabin, where he is hidden, and determines to ride to the nearest Confederate encampment for assistance. She dons Jack's coat and hat and mounts his horse. Burns sees her, and thinking she is Jack he lifts his rifle to his shoulder and takes careful aim. A storm is approaching. With a sacrilegious boast Bums says, "With my eye upon the sight, not even God can save him." And as he goes to press the trigger a blinding flash of lightning destroys his eyesight. Groping along in terror, he is harassed by visions of his foul deeds, and finally falls over a cliff. Edna reaches the soldiers and saves her brother.
- James Brandon, sexton of Grace Church, and his daughter, Ethel, live together, the daughter being the organist of the church. The congregation, in appreciation of her services, offer to send her away to Boston to complete her musical education. She goes with a letter of introduction to Bishop Neal. The Bishop asks her to stay in his home until she can be located in a boarding school. She accepts the invitation and meets his son, also John's college chum, Aaron Bront. At a fraternity gathering Bront insults Ethel, and John fights with him. As the result of this all dances are forbidden. John and Ethel are married secretly. The college boys attempt to give a Halloween dance in the dormitory, but are discovered on account of Bront sending a letter to the president of the college. Ethel, the only one of the girls who succeeds in gaining the dormitory, is disgraced and expelled from the school. The Bishop and John, who is studying for the ministry, refuse to hear explanation and she returns home. The war breaks out and John joins the Northern army and is sent as a spy into the enemy's country. He is discovered and wounded. He finds his way to Grace Church, where he hides. Ethel discovers him, is touched by the remorse of his treatment of her and his present plight and gives him a horse and assists him to escape.
- Shores is a miner, wealthy, young and yet a confirmed woman-hater. He is impervious to the attractions of the local dance-hall girls. However when the fascinating adventures made Maude Dunbar and her husband come to the settlement he falls in love with Maude. She, scheming to get the property of the young miner, leads him to believe Dunbar is her brother and engages herself in marriage to Shores. He, thoroughly under her influence, sells his mine and the day before the marriage gives Maude a check for $30,000, the proceeds of the sale. She and her husband leave during the night. When Shores arrives at the hotel next day he discovers her perfidy, and his mind receives a terrible shock. Years afterwards Maude Dunbar and her husband are conducting a mining office in Denver. Dunbar, advised of the rich leads in the district along the river, sets out with his wife, Maude, and arrives at the same town where Shores, now bereft of his reason and terribly changed, has located himself. Shores has made a rich find in a mine which he has dug near the river. A recognition takes place on the part of Shores and he lays a scheme of revenge against the Dunbars. He represents the richness of his find and Dunbar and his wife go out to examine the mine with a view to its purchase. Previously he had planted dynamite in it. At the opportune moment, having imprisoned the two in the mine, he sets the dynamite off and the river coming into the mine, drowns the Dunbars, while outside Shores laughs in utter insanity.
- Mildred loves her grandfather, Civil War veteran Jabez Burr, but her new stepmother wants her to be rid of his influence, because of his drinking.
- Because of wine, women, and song, young prizefighter Johnny Firth is knocked out. He leaves for the West with his manager, who is broke because of Johnny's defeat. They arrive in Arizona and Johnny beats up a big bully there named Mason because he has stolen from an old character called Nutty Ike, his bag of nuggets. Nutty Ike introduces the two men to his daughter and makes them his partners in a gold mine he has discovered in the desert. Mason trails them and there is a big fight at the mine, also in the interior. The girl rides for the sheriff and he arrives in the nick of time to subdue the claim jumpers. Later the young prizefighter and the girl are discovered in a love meeting by Nutty Ike and the prize promoter and Ike tells the promoter that with Johnny's money he will never have to fight again and that love has conquered him.
- The crew of the tramp brig "Annabelle" fish up from the sea a sealed bottle and take it to their captain, John Gordon. The bottle contains a letter from Frederick Keyes, who has been shipwrecked with his daughter Grace on a small circular island. Keyes offers to divide a vast fortune in gold, found in a cave on the island with his rescuer, whoever he may be. Gordon shows the letter to First Mate Merrill who is a cold-blooded schemer. Merrill, who cares nothing about reining the castaways, only for the gold, thinks if he were in charge of the ship the gold would be his and immediately thinks up a plan to rid himself of John. He bribes the crew to mutiny and John is put in a sealed cask and the Annabelle is wrecked. The crew is rescued by a freighter after a terrible storm and fitting up another boat, Merrill and his crew return in search of the island. In the meantime the cask containing John is washed upon the shore of the island on which Keyes and Grace are stranded and John is saved from a terrible death. After a few days the castaways see a ship under full sail making for their island. They are jubilant until John, through the glasses, discovers that the commander of the ship is Merrill. He tells Keyes and Grace that if Merrill finds him it will mean death to them all and decides to conceal himself for the time being and wait for an opportunity. Merrill and his crew land and Merrill instructs his men to take the chest of gold and Grace to the boat, saying that the old man will stay on the island. That night the ship prepares to sail and John forms a desperate plan to board it secretly. He and Keyes take an old tree trunk, and with rough-hewn oars, paddle out to the boat, catch hold of the anchor and chains, and standing on the log, pull themselves up. As John appears on deck he presents a weird sight, covered with seaweed and when Merrill sees him he thinks he is John's ghost and in an agony of fear jumps overboard. John proceeds to the ship's bridge. The steersman is alone and gives a wild shriek as he sees John. He runs to the men's quarters screaming, "Captain Cordon has come back." John follows him, and looking sternly at the men says he will shoot the first one who does not give his word to obey him. The men see that John means what he says, and shaken and awed, they are completely cowed. John assumes command of the ship and they sail away, homeward bound.
- Most mothers are more or less mistaken in their sons. Mrs. Reed loved so blindly her younger boy, Edward, who was a clever scamp, that her elder son, Jim, a bighearted but rather stupid chap, failed to come in for his deserved share of mother affection. Jim was always down on his luck, while Edward was never lacking for good clothes and plenty of money to jingle in his pockets. And Jim knew where his brother got his money and his clothes, too, but would never have thought of "squealing" on him. The fact was, Edward belonged to a gang of "Wharf Rats," who pillaged freight boxes and robbed anybody whom they could hold up around the piers. With gangsters, it is but a step from robbery to blacker crimes. A certain old man who had sold a boat and had the cash in his pockets was assaulted and killed. Edward Reed escaped but was run down by the police, and Jim, to save his mother from a broken heart, offered himself up as the murderer. On the way to jail, however, he makes his getaway. Several months later, in a western city, Jim happened to see in a newspaper, "a personal" addressed to him. It was the dying wish of his mother to see once more the son who had disgraced her. He beat his way east on a freight train, and though, on arrival, he was recognized by the police, he managed to evade arrest and went to his mother's bedside. She must have ceased breathing but a few minutes before he entered, for the withered old face was still faintly warm, and her hand was convulsively closed upon a crumpled bit of paper. Jim drew the letter gently from the lifeless fingers. It was from Edward, confessing his past, promising to live straight for the future. As Jim is sitting in a trance of grief, the letter on his knee, the desolate stillness is broken by voices and the tramp of feet. Rising, he quickly draws the sheet over the face on the pillow, and stepping into the adjoining room, faces the officers of the law. For her sake, Edward shall have his chance. For himself, nothing matters now.
- Widow Dolan and her son, Tom, fall for the scheme of a real estate dealer and trade the old homestead for 1,000 acres of barren country in Paradise, Cal. Upon arrival they find they have been swindled, but being very poor, they determine to make the best of it. They strike oil on the premises and become wealthy. Marley has the section adjoining. The widow Dolan dams up the creek to seek revenge on Marley and his cattle die. A battle ensues between the ranchers of Marley and the widow's men, in which the latter are repulsed and Tom Dolan is wounded. The dam is released and the cattle are saved. Meanwhile Alice Madley returns to Paradise from boarding school. She picks up the wounded Tom. A love affair ensues and they are married in spite of the opposition of their parents. Years elapse. The couple have a child. The old people, grieving tor their children, return to the cottage where they live and a reunion takes place between them.
- Newly-elected State Senator John Zeldon has pledged to fight for the Miners' Bill, requiring the installation of new safety devices in the coal mines. In his speech to the miners the night before his departure, he assures them that they can count on him to the end. On his arrival in the capital he is taken up by Mr. Whalen, the brains of the lobby and secretly its chief, who flatters John and invites him out with a brilliant set of men and women who make a lion of him in order to gain his vote against the proposed bill. John's head is turned by their flattery and when Hazel Flemming, his fiancée and star reporter on his home paper, comes to the capitol for an interview with John, she is amazed to find him wavering and realizes the fight is lost unless she can make him realize the mistake he is making. To do this she has a phantom extra printed telling in thrilling headlines of a horrible accident in the coal mines, wherein 200 miners have lost their lives. She hires a newsboy to throw this under the Senator's door and when John reads of the horrible accident he is awakened to the realization that he has been about to betray those who trusted him and when the vote is cast he surprised Whalen and his coterie by voting "Aye." When he returns to his office, Hazel goes to him and confesses she had the phantom extra printed in order to gain his vote for the bill. John is at first greatly angered at the thought that he has been outwitted by a girl, but as his anger passes away his better nature wins.
- Nat Boyd, a telegraph operator, deeply morns the death of his father, recently shot in the Civil War. He makes application for a position in the U.S. Secret Service and is accepted. He remembers a college chum, John Stilton, who is now a captain in the Confederate army, and whose father is a retired colonel. He manages to secure an invitation to visit the Stiltons, claiming that his health is affected by the northern climate, and he goes to work as a spy. General Lee makes his headquarters at the Stilton home, and Nat taps the telegraph wires, but is unable to discover the secret code until one day General Lee, suspicious of a click in the wires, has the code changed and it is blown out of the window. Nat copies it before the telegraph operator misses it and looks for it. Nat has feigned such ill health that the Stiltons invite his mother down to nurse him. She is a handsome woman and Col. Stilton falls in love with her and proposes marriage. She has become fond of the Colonel and accepts him, and she tries to dissuade her son from the contemptible work he is doing. John Stilton discovers the duplicity of his friend, and does not wish to expose him, as it would ruin his father's life and of Mrs. Stilton, for whom he has a deep affection, so he arranges false messages, which Nat intercepts and sends to the enemy. Mrs. Stilton learns of this and commands him to stop John Stilton, who has started for the front, threatening to expose her son if he does not comply, Nat goes after John, and is stopped by Southern sentries. In attempting to gallop past them he is mortally wounded. A terrible battle takes place, the Union army acting on the false information and being badly defeated. John Stilton conceals the actions of Nat, and tells his father that Nat died carrying false messages for John to the enemy.
- In love with her father's chief vaquero, Pedro, Nell Worth, fearing that her father will discharge her lover, meets him clandestinely. John Benton, superintendent for the railroad, visits Job Worth, hoping with his influence to persuade the Indians to sell a right-of-way through their land. Benton meets Nell and falls in love with her; he tries to make love to her and proposes, but she refuses. Pedro, who is on his way to meet Nell, sees this action and, thinking that this is the reason Nell will not meet him openly, decides to leave the ranch. The Indians refuse to sell their land or give a right-of-way and Benton attempts to put the road through, notwithstanding. The Indians attack the railroad men, killing most of them. Benton is taken a prisoner, but Pedro saves him by throwing his lariat over him and pulling him over the cliff. Pedro is wounded and is nursed back to health by Nell and her mother. It is through the aid of Benton that Job Worth is made to see his mistake and allows Nell to marry Pedro.
- Mrs. Colby, widow of a poor Arizona ranchman, her son, Tom, and baby daughter Edith, live on a poor ranch. Edith reads a great many fairy tales and believes in fairies. One day while she is reading in the garden she indulges in incantations and follows instructions in the Fairy Tale book, asking the good fairy to appear to her. Ruth Hart, daughter of the settlement banker, wanders into the garden and hears the child. She decides to play the Fairy for the little girl, and tells her she will grant her wish if it be good. Edith tells her how poor they are and wishes for a goose that will lay golden eggs. Ruth and Tom paint a goose and some eggs with gold paint and place same by the well, where Edith finds them. The crops on the ranch fail and Banker Hart ejects the Colbys on the advice of his cashier, who wants to marry Ruth, and who tells Mr. Hart that Tom Colby is after Ruth for her money. Tom and his mother and Edith go into the hills, where Tom searches for gold. They are without food and have to kill the golden goose. In cleaning it Mrs. Colby finds what appears to be grains of gold in the gall of the goose. Tom goes to the place where the goose has been feeding and locates a rich strike. In the meantime Ruth discovers that Paul Goelet, the cashier, has lied to her father regarding Tom Colby, and insists upon his dismissal. Goelet. in revenge, starts a run on the bank. Tom happens along, stakes his golden Goose Mine against the integrity of the bank and thus averts disaster. Mr. Hart, recognizing Tom's worth, consents to his marriage with Ruth.