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- A. Wall Nut and his wife, Hazel, are a happy young people, but the specter of gray hair threatens to mar their happiness. The young husband is sent to Europe by his firm and cautions his wife not to dye her hair in his absence or he will divorce her. But the sight of fresh gray hairs is too much for her and she goes to the hairdresser to have her locks retouched. Falling asleep, she is frantic to find on awakening that her hair has been dyed a deep and lasting black, and decides to go to California with her sister until the dye wears off. A Wall Nut is recalled by his firm and wires his wife that he is returning. The Swedish servant receives the message and answers it, cutting down the cable until it reads: "Your wife died. It was terrible. Her sister has taken her to California." Wall Nut receives the message and is overcome. He writes a letter enclosing some money and gives it to a loiterer in the hotel lobby to mail. The latter is a thief and is run down while making off with the letter and money and mistaken for A. Wall Nut. Word is sent to Hazel that her husband has been killed. On the way home Nut tells Mrs. Winslow, a friend, of his wife's death. In the meantime Hazel, waiting at the dock to receive her husband's body, meets Mr. Winslow. Through glasses they see Nut and Mrs. Winslow apparently in close embrace. The boat docks, mutual explanations follow and the reunited Nuts wend their way home.
- Pokes is quite a pool shark, and at the club gives a demonstration of his skill to the amazement of the other members. Jabs, the newly appointed Chief of Police, puts his wife and two daughters into an auto and starts them off on a motoring tour. Before going Mrs. Jabs leaves her valuable pearl necklace with her husband for safe keeping. During the pool game, Billy Berlin, one of the members, rushes in with a copy of the daily paper and shows the members, including Pokes, the defy the new chief has published for the benefit of honest people and the downfall of the crooks. Pokes takes it as a joke, and discounts the ability of Jabs to do what he has promised. Pokes writes Jabs a note stating that he can get anything, any time, any place. Jabs goes at once to the club, where he meets Pokes. Producing the pearl necklace, Jabs wagers that he will place the necklace in a certain house, and defies Pokes to find it and bring it to the club. The necklace is placed, and Pokes starts out to get it. After thrilling experience and hair-breadth escapes Pokes is cornered in the cellar of the house by the chief and a squad of officers. They search him, but fail to find the necklace. Pokes, with a smile, leads the chief back to the club followed by the others. There Pokes takes off a wig, which no one knew he wore, produces the necklace, and claims the reward. But to Pokes' surprise the "chief" removes a false mustache, and remarks calmly, "I am not Jabs." Pokes, nonplussed, tries to sneak away when Jabs appears from behind a chair, where he has watched the whole affair, and meets Pokes. The laugh is on Pokes, and while he stands there ashamed and thinking that honesty is the best policy, Jabs, with the necklace in his hand, gives him the laugh. A great metamorphosis takes place, which causes Jabs to remark, "Darwin was right."
- Haddie suddenly inherits his aunt's cloak and suit business, which they conduct in an amusing way.
- Mrs. Runt takes in washing to provide a living for herself and daughter and a lazy husband who devotes himself to the beer can. Finally Kate throws Bill out of the house and he joins a circus, driving a trick ostrich. The circus goes broke and Bill takes the ostrich in payment for his salary. Meantime Kate falls heir to a fortune. She and her daughter arrive at a hotel just as Bill is trying to register for himself and ostrich. They are thrown out and land at Kate's feet, but she doesn't recognize him. Kate's trunk is dropped and, the lid bursting open, Bill smuggles in the ostrich. Bill's room proves to be opposite Kate's, and during her absence Bill goes to release the ostrich and is caught. Kate chases him over roofs, finally down a flag pole which brings Bill upon a hydro-plane, Kate close at his heels. Bill catches hold of the rope to the plane and up he goes. Kate secures a motorcycle and a race ensues. Kate goes headlong over an embankment, is thrown into a passing auto and rushed back to the hotel. Just as she is seated in her room Bill comes crashing through the skylight. Kate takes another shot at him and he dives out the window onto the back of the ostrich and rides away, saying, "Back to the circus for mine."
- Pokes and Jabs, clerks in the brokerage office of Adam Fossil, are both smitten with the charms of Edna, the stenographer. Fossil also indulges in an occasional flirtation with her. The baseball season is about to begin and the enthusiasm of Pokes and Jabs is aroused to concert pitch by announcements of the opening game. Old Fossil catches them playing an imaginary game and fires Jabs and puts Pokes to work posting the ledger. Pokes resorts to a little liquid refreshment to brighten his spirits. Edna has a headache and is excused for the afternoon. Pokes writes himself a letter stating his grandma is seriously ill, and is also excused. He meets Edna and they go to the ball game. In the midst of an exciting play Edna discovers the boss is directly behind them, and Pokes sneaks off to another section. Meantime Jabs has entered into a plot with Bill Blutch to rob Fossil's safe. The game is at its height. The last inning score tie and two men out, three men on bases, when the heaviest hitter has an argument with the umpire and is ordered out of the game. Pokes offers to take his place and hits the first ball so hard that it flies into Fossil's window, hitting Jabs on the head just as he has lit the fuse to blow up the safe. Pokes scores a home run and the stands go wild with delight. The safe explodes and the noise arouses Pokes from his slumber. Rushing through the offices, he finds everything going on as usual. Returning to the counting room he throws the bottle of rye out the window, repeating to himself, "never again."
- The Jabs and Jenks farms adjoin each other and Jennie Jenks and Jabs are sweethearts, much against the wishes of their fathers. However, it takes a lot of watching to keep the lovers apart. Pokes, rudely tossed from his side-door Pullman, arrives on the Jabs farm as old man Jabs, who is stuffing a scarecrow, has goon to the barn for more hay. He takes the scarecrow's place and nearly scares the old man into fits. From then on the place is in an uproar. An article in the paper concerning spooks convinces the villages that devils infest the Jabs and Jenks farms. The police force is summoned and a lively chase follows, but Pokes gets away by converting one of the farm implements into a motorcycle. Jabs and Jennie get married and all live happily ever after.
- Pokes runs a clothing store but business is dull, Jabs come by. Showing Pokes the war news in the day's paper, Jabs suggests that he (Pokes) lay in a profitable stock of munitions. Pokes is further inspired by conscripts full of the war spirit coming to him to ask for uniforms. He lays in a supply and business becomes brisk. Suddenly Pokes is called to the front as their commanding officer. In many thrilling skirmishes at the front Pokes is singled out by the enemy. A new invention, a chasing bomb overtakes Pokes, and blows him into the enemy's camp, where he fights a hand to hand battle with the champion of the foe. His troops, witnessing the conflict from afar, decide to rescue him. A lasso is thrown to snare the foe, but Pokes is caught instead and dragged over rock and rill - until he awakes and finds Jabs pulling his necktie to rouse him to another war bulletin. Pokes, after his dream, is through with war, and decides that Sherman was right.
- Bill and Leola, old sweethearts, meet in the park and talk over old times. That evening in their respective homes they are preoccupied and at last the suspicions of Bill's wife and Leola's husband are aroused. They visit Prof. Chiro the next day and the husband is told to beware of a dark young man, while Bill's wife is warned that a blonde is trying to alienate her husband's affections. Each determines to pursue the cause of the trouble and an exciting search follows. Finally, wearied of the chase, they call on Prof. Chiro again for advice, and he tells them to see Jingse, the detective, who occupies the next room to his. They do so, but do not recognize the detective, who is the professor in disguise. Each gives him a portrait to be used in tracing the parties. While visiting the two homes in the discharge of his duties the detective recognizes the originals of the pictures and comprehends the situation. He tells Bill and Leola to be in his fortune telling parlors at a certain hour, and also tells the husband and wife, respectively, to be at his detective's rooms at the same time. He first interviews the husband and wife in his role of detective, collects his money, and then tells them that the professor next door will fix them up. The detective makes a quick change and slides through a door into the house next door, where, as the professor, he again collects. Then bringing the two couples together, an explanation follows.
- Kate, a maid in the household of Mr. and Mrs. Trude, is in love with Billy, the iceman. One morning, while serving breakfast, Billy appears, and Kate entirely neglects the family, giving all her attention to the little iceman. Their love-making disgusts Mr. Trude, and he leaves for the office without his breakfast. Later in the day he is induced by a friend to have a drink. Meanwhile Kate and Billy continue to make violent love, and finally Kate escorts him out to the ice wagon. Still unable to separate, they sit on a cake of ice, and the horse starts carrying through the busy streets and finally returns them to their starting point without either of them knowing it. At length Billy succeeds in tearing himself away, promising to return in the afternoon and take Kate to the movies. He enters a saloon with a cake of ice, and clumsily drops it on the foot of a man at the bar who proves to be Mr. Trude, who is not exactly sober. A quarrel ensues, but Billy buys the drinks, and they become friends. An organ grinder enters with an educated gorilla, which creates so much amusement that Mr. Trude and Billy buy the animal, and Mr. Trude decides to take it home. Cautiously approaching the house they see Kate all dressed waiting to be taken to the movies, and Mrs. Trude awaiting her husband's return to dinner. The men stealthily go upstairs to a bedroom. The gorilla's actions cause such a commotion that the women downstairs start to investigate, and entering the bedroom find Billy and Mr. Trude in the arms of the gorilla. Horrified, they rush to a nearby police station, and a squad of policemen are sent out. They rush into the house expecting to find a burglar, and, when they behold the gorilla, make a swift retreat. Finally the owner of the gorilla appears and buys it back. As he leaves the women rush upstairs, and, discovering their dear ones unhurt, all is forgiven. Moving Picture World, December 8, 1917
- Kate and Bill, living on a farm, dream of the joys of high life. Finally Kate answers an advertisement for a maid to attend a wealthy foreigner and secures the position. Kate soon sees a chance to realize her dream. Miss Adair receives an invitation to a weekend party, and is obliged to send her regrets, giving the letter to Kate to mail. Kate re-writes it, sending an acceptance, and, after her mistress has left town, Kate goes to the party as Miss Adair. Meantime Bill also gets a job with the De Nice family, which is giving the party. He is ordered to take a drink to the baron's room, and spills the liquor on the baron, who promptly hits him. Bill wallops the baron and puts him out of business; then, donning the baron's clothes, he joins the guests and, in the boisterous festivities, gets by. Kate, meanwhile, has made a great hit with a Russian count. Bill insults Kate before the count, who demands satisfaction. Bill has to be dragged out to the field of honor. When the swords clash, Bill gets scared and flees. A long chase follows, and finally Bill is caught in the middle of the big ball room. The count drags Bill over to Kate, demanding an apology, when in comes the real Miss Adair, and with a dramatic gesture says, "She is my maid." At this point the real baron enters and exposes Bill. Both Kate and Bill are thrown out bodily, and the Russian count says, "never again." When they recover their faculties, Bill and Kate admit they have had enough of high life and embrace. Moving Picture World, November 17, 1917
- Stephen Wilstack, a young designer of ladies' costumes, is sent by his firm to a quiet town to work out a series of fashion designs. A fort is located in the town, and Stephen chooses a spot overlooking the fortifications for his sketching. Zeb Hunger, a wise village constable, jumps to the conclusion that the young fellow is a spy. One night Zeb follows Stephen to his cottage and the young man, surprised at seeing him peeking in the window, points a gun at the constable who, badly frightened, disappears. Stephen laughs while Zeb tells his companions that the city fellow was about to fire when he saw his badge and dropped the gun. One day Stephen sends a message to his firm saying that he is working hard on the fortification grounds. Zeb makes the boy give up the message. His suspicions being confirmed, he rushes madly to the fort and tells the commander that a spy is making sketches. Stephen is arrested. Zeb seizes the drawings and thrusts them in front of the commander's face. The latter drops back bewildered as he finds himself looking at a sketch of a new corset. Stephen explains the situation and the constable is ejected from the house.
- Jennie Million, in town on a shopping trip, is kidnapped along with her chauffeur, coming out of a department store. The chauffeur is kicked out with a note to Jennie's father, a wealthy banker, demanding one hundred thousand dollars for the return of his daughter. The police are notified, and Will Huntem, the world-famous detective, is put on the case. He advises the banker to place a bundle of fake money in the appointed place. He catches one of the gang in the act of taking the money, but in the mix-up his man disappears through a manhole. He follows through the sewers and arrives at a door leading to their den where the girl is tied up. The gun-men get into a row among themselves and Bill, the detective, dashes in. A fight ensues and he is tied to a keg of gunpowder. They light the fuse and then start in pursuit of the girl who has freed herself. Left to his fate, the detective weeps copiously and discovers a way out by means of his tears. Holding his streaming face over the fuse he sees the fatal spark go out under the flood of salty tears and, tearing his bonds asunder, he grabs a bomb and dashes after the gang. Meantime the girl takes refuge up the ladder of a water tank, the gang following. Taking in the situation at a glance the relentless detective calls to the fair one to jump into his waiting arms, which she does, while the detective hurls the bomb into the midst of the ruffians. The tank is shattered and the gang fall to earth only to renew the chase with renewed vigor. The father and chauffeur, having witnessed the chase, now dash after the gang and a race ensues, ending in the crooks being precipitated into a raging stream, while the father clasps his daughter in his arms.
- The family livestock are pawned to buy a fast automobile, which destroys most every landmark in the country.
- Jennie, maid of all work in the home of a railroad president, hears the strains of her sweetheart's hand organ outside her window. Tony sends her a note beseeching her to go to a "wop" dance that afternoon, entrusting the note to the monkey, who promptly delivers it to Mr. Barker and his wife who are sitting on the lawn. The note is finally delivered to Jennie and that afternoon they hie themselves to the dance. Here Tony is given a "high sign" by a fierce looking "wop" informing him that his presence is desired at a meeting of the secret society in the basement. He rushes off and Jennie follows and from an adjoining rooms overhears them draw lots to see who shall blow up the railroad bridge that afternoon as President Barker passes over it. Tony feels highly honored when he draws the lucky number, but Jennie, hearing that Tony was "framed," springs a trap in the floor and down go several of the "wops." She tries to escape but is captured and made a member of the secret society. She is instructed to blow up Mr. Barker's home, but instead mounts a horse and gallops after Tony who has found a hand car on the track. Then follows an exciting chase, the "wops" having mysteriously appeared on the scene in a carriage. Jennie, seeing they are gaining on her, throws her bomb and blows up the carriage. Mounted police are called out and take up the chase in a patrol, while the "wops" continue on to the bridge in a row boat. Jennie arrives just in time to flag the train and taking the infernal machine from Tony throws it into the boatload of "wops," incidentally pushing Tony off the bridge. She dives over after him and drags him ashore and tells him that blowing up railroad presidents is a "bum job." Moving Picture World, January 5, 1918
- Episode One: Jessie Emerson, a young American society belle with a serious turn of mind, has adopted wireless telegraphy as a hobby. While experimenting she is visited by Von Prague, a social adventurer, who is really the chief of America's enemies within, although posing as a loyal citizen of his adopted country. A code message picked up by the young woman operator attracts his attention and he suggests that she copy it and turn it over to Lieutenant Blake, an inventor who has been working upon a marvelous invention which promises to overthrow the traditional methods of warfare. Securing the confidence of Jessie, Von Prague copies the message and then directs one of his agents to steal the secret code used by the government. That night a group of plotters meet at the Von Prague home and, with the aid of a map, enter into a detailed discussion of spy and intrigue activities in the United States, such as I.W.W. agitations in the West, the destruction of munitions factories in the East and the inauguration of pro-German propaganda in the Middle West. The code message stolen by Von Prague proves to be from the War Department ordering Captain Taylor to begin the work of hunting down spies and plotters. In the meantime one of the plotters, disguised as a workman, plants a bomb which destroys a factory with loss of life, and escapes. Captain Taylor meets Jessie, who offers her aid in tracking down the enemies of her country. Captain Taylor obtains for her a position in a private wireless station where she will be able to intercept suspicious messages. She reports for duty at a time when the air is filled with mysterious code messages flashing across the seas and over the continent. Episode Two: Lieutenant Blake, having completed the model of his theoscope, invites his cousin, Jessie, to witness the initial test. This remarkable invention enables its user to pry into secrets hidden by walls and distances. Word of its completion is speedily carried to Von Prague by Blake's assistant, a spy. Looking through the theoscope, Jessie observes a battleship sailing for action in foreign waters, and in the air a government aeroplane performing unusual stunts. She also finds that she can peer through the walls of an apartment house, and is so enthused over the invention that she urges her cousin to give it to the government at once. The following day Blake meets General Norton, who becomes interested in the theoscope and arranges to send Blake to Washington with it that night. Von Prague hears of these plans and determines to learn the secret of the invention which would make secret military operations, night raids and aeroplane bombardments impossible. Two false bluejackets meet Blake at the pier. He finds too late he is not being taken to his ship. The sailors overpower him and take him to the den of the plotters, where he is offered the choice of giving up the secret of his invention or death. He chooses the latter, and then the spies offer him money. This, too, is refused, and in the fight that follows Blake knocks down Von Prague and is about to escape when he is set upon from behind and knocked out. He is dropped through a trap into the river. Jessie, with the aid of the theoscope, locates Blake in the den of spies, and immediately rushes to the river to rescue him. [Plot summaries for episodes 3-12 were not published.]
- Billie, the chauffeur, has won the heart, but not the hand, of Sussie, the daughter of his employer. Bibbs, a prude, has the parental approbation of his struggle for Sussie's hand. When Sussie shows that she has something to say in the matter, the parents decide it is time to send their daughter to a discipline school. Billie is on the scene at the moment of her departure and receives a note from Sussie telling him she is being packed off to school and begging him not to desert her. While Sussie is introduced into the school, Billie is trying to find an escape for her. He hits upon the plan of getting all the girls out by inviting them to a show. The girls climb out of the windows in their pajamas, dress on the lawn, and leave for the show. When they get to the box office, Billie and Sussie sneak away to get married. In the meantime, Miss Prim discovers their absence and notifies the police, apprising them of the clue left by the program which had been found. Billie and Sussie arrive on the scene just before the police, and Billie manages to fool them while they are seeking the other runaways. Billie then tells Sussie's father that they are married and Dad makes the best of a bad bargain.