A blind violinist's sight is restored by an operation paid for by a young woman who loves him, but the fickleness of fate strikes them further tragic blows.
Old man Suggs was feeling Kippy one day, so his son Joel, a little short of pocket money, persuades him to sign over all his property to him, and relieve the old gent of all the worry, he said. Shortly after, Joel got a hunch that the old Duffer was a nuisance, so sent him to the home for the destitute.
Having declared himself in on a jolly college dinner, Mr. Dubley, member of the class of '88, counted on having a Hot Old Time. Now at a College Dinner the main idea is to get a flying start. It was to be a Dry dinner, so most of the sons of Bohunkus were doing what a Camel does just before crossing a Desert. At 8:15 the Crowd was herded into the banquet hall. Dr. Dubley found himself marooned between two pious elders. The Oysters had been warming up since 6:30. Fortunately, the soup was not warm enough to scald the thumb of a willing longshoreman who had been brought in as an extra waiter.
Andy Brannigan was a good-natured policeman, large of frame, but limited in nerve. He has, however, been very successful in posing as a hero, and deceives all but his wife, who laughs at him when he tells her that he has been awarded a medal for bravery.
Percival, a master-mind in the army of the deliberately unemployed, visits a fashionable restaurant and piles up a large meal by impertinent orders, but, before he gets a chance to eat he is detected and thrown out. He breaks a store window and so loudly proclaims his guilt that the police do not believe him.
Edna Dusenberry, the charming twenty-year old daughter of Senator Dusenberry, is in love with handsome young Walter Force. John Cartwright, a corrupt politician and candidate for mayor, makes a deal with the Senator whereby he is to receive the hand of Edna in marriage.
The sensational crux of jealous revenge in "The False Order" is a head-on collision of two enormous locomotives. A realistic effect that heavily discounts any stage device ever materialized to thrill.
Stella Le Vere, an ambitious but struggling actress, is abandoned by her husband and is forced to leave her baby girl, Grace, in the care of an orphan asylum. Later, the child is adopted by a well-to-do and kindly family named Thornton, who bring Grace up in ignorance of her identity.
The story concerns the difficulties of a clerk in the war department, betrothed to the daughter of an ambassador, who loses his position by the change of administration.
Pauline Cushman leaves the theater to become a Federal spy. Working with Henry Holmes of the Secret Service, she escapes execution twice and helps Gen. Rosencrans in battle against Confederate generals Bragg, Forrest, and Morgan.
Two boys, Dan Woods, son of a poor widow, and Bert Ainslie, the scion of a rich one, are introduced in college. The scene opens at the tennis court on the college campus, then comes the girl, Nellie Wilson, beloved of both, but favoring the poor youth, Dan.
The Todd family had no success in finding a suitable cook, and after firing the thirteenth one that month, they went to an employment agency and secured the services of Nellie, the prize cook. Nellie was there like a duck when it came to cooking, and they didn't understand how they got along without her before.
The political bosses knew it was an off year and they needed a Goat to run for City Clerk. They didn't want a regular guy to get "stepped on," so they started out to find a Fish. They found a nice man who ran a feed store and had lots of coin, so they pounced on him. Mr. Bolivar was his name and he drank malted milk and said "whom" and did everything that was nice. They jollied him until he really thought that he was the man for the position, and when his wife tried to save the poor simp, he only said he must answer the call of duty, that the Peepul wanted him. He sometimes wondered if the other fellow would get any votes at all. Little by little the bosses were drawing on his bank account, and on the night of election he was broke. He lost the fight by 20,000 votes, and when he looked for his pushers, they had skipped.
They loved each other when they were young. They were about to elope when Frank met with an accident which caused the loss of his memory. She pined for a while and then married. He forgot about her. Years later, Margaret lost her husband and Frank lost his wife. Business brought the two of them together and they married.
James Ward, a prosperous young lawyer, falls in love with a pretty girl he sees passing in a limousine. Later, he meets her quite accidentally and is surprised when she enlists his aid in securing a letter for her from the home of a wealthy broker, that necessitates his burglarizing the place at midnight.
Zelda Dunbar, a detective, on the trail of two notorious blackmailers, offers herself as their accomplice and is accepted by Eldridge and Mortimer. Zelda wins the heart of Kendrick, a rich bachelor. Zelda slips Kendrick a note saying her father is going to force her to marry a man she does not love. Kendrick takes the girl into another state.
Great-grandfather Huxley, an old soldier, is neglected by his grandson and wife. He feels he is in the way and seriously contemplates suicide. One night while the grandson's wife is giving a party, the house catches fire and the old man rescues their children from the burning building.
Bill Grogan, a happy hobo, having successfully eluded all sorts of allurements to go to work and having discharged himself from several easy jobs after numerous attempts to get painlessly injured, frightens a chauffeur into believing that he had been injured by a baby carriage. Eventually he reaches the limit of his restful ambition by getting a cot in a hospital.
Wilbur Stone is falsely accused of a crime, convicted on circumstantial evidence and "railroaded" to the penitentiary. As an odd coincidence. Frank Fink, a hardened degenerate, is sent up at the same time and he becomes a prison parasite on Stone. Both men are released about the same time.
A clerk in a broker's office is accused of stealing a million dollars' worth of railroad bonds, but they are later found to be worthless, his innocence is proven, and he is given a promotion for his efforts.
Pierre, a trapper in the great northwest, catches a season's prize, a silver fox. Rene Bennett is fortunate in catching the mate. The two men are explaining to a trader, when Pierre discovers that his silver fox has disappeared from his sled. The trapper accuses Bennett and the latter is shot. Pierre flees and is seen later in the home of Mrs. Bennett, where she secretes him from the Northwest Mounted Police. Pierre later saves Mrs. Bennett from death, by carrying her to town, where he faces the man he had shot, her husband. The climax comes when a half-breed tries to sell Pierre's prize.
Gilbert and Lawrence Carthage are in love with Peggy Lorraine. George Duncan, a wealthy and unscrupulous bachelor, insults Peggy in Gilbert's presence. Being timid and retiring, he does nothing.
Robert Strickland, the self-confessed murderer of Gerald Trask, refuses to defend himself on the witness stand. His attorney, however, cross-examines Strickland's wife.
SILAS WILSON realizes that his business is being run to the ground, and that he cannot longer compete with the newer foundries unless he makes radical changes in his methods and employees. His workmen have grown old and antiquated in his employ. Through the influence of his daughter, the general managership is passed over to her fiance,—one Jack Berry —a young man, well trained in the school of modern methods.
While traveling by train from Denver to Washington, DC, wealthy young Grenfall Lorry meets a beautiful young girl. When they are accidentally left behind in a mining town, they race through the mountains and finally catch it. They travel to Washington and have a great time, but they soon part. They meet again later in the small European country of Graustark, where Grenfall and his friend Harry rescue her from kidnappers, and they then discover that she is actually the country's Princess Yetiva. She is engaged to Prinze Lorenz of Asphan in order to pay off Graustark's enormous debt from the war, but Lorenz is murdered and Grenfall is framed for the crime. Complications ensue.
Ethel Vandiver and her friend, Marie Le Farve, arrive at the former's country home. Ethel's father objects to her seeing Douglas, whom he thinks is a sweetheart. But, unknown to her parent, Ethel has married Douglas a year before. The day on which she arrives she receives a letter from her husband stating that he would rather see her dead than be separated from her any longer. A few hours later Marie is found dead in Ethel's room.