Acting
Texas Ranger Chic Shelby is sent to capture James Trammel and his son, John--two outlaws hiding in the mountains who are victims of a cattle war. Shelby tricks John, who has killed a cattleman, into believing he is an itinerant preacher by delivering a sermon on eternal love. John comes forward to be arrested, obviously moved by Shelby's sermon. Meanwhile, Sam Hervey betrays John's sister, Susie. Fearing her father's wrath, Hervey seeks out James Trammel, shoots him, and blames the crime on Shelby. Shelby clears himself by capturing Hervey, John is acquitted, and Susie ends her own life by drowning.
Gerrit Ammidon, despairing of any chance to marry his love, Nettie Vollar, because of a bitter feud between his father and her grandfather, sails to China to "get away from it all". While in Shanghai he rescues a beautiful young woman being attacked by a gang of street toughs. She turns out to be Taou Yuen, a Manchu princess. Gerrit discovers that, unless she finds a husband, she will be put to death, and he agrees to marry her. They return to Java Head, the Ammidon family home in Salem, Massachusetts, but Gerrit's "homecoming" has some unexpected consequences.
Forced to theft when in dire straits, family man John Howard is arrested for stealing food from a grocery store and is put in jail. The shock kills his wife, and his children are sent to an orphanage. Ella is adopted by a wealthy widow, and May finds a place on the farm of George Stuart, where she attracts the attentions of farmhand Billy Bender.
Played mostly for laughs, this silent Western featured the"The Mediator," a drifter who manages to restore peace both within a family and between miners and their powerful employer.
The King of Illyris marries a neighboring princess, who finds out he has a mistress, Sephora. Revolted, she turns to Prince Alexei for friendship. Turmoil increases as a revolution demands the abdication of the King and the Queen opposes this decision.
When retired New England skipper Captain Purcell finds Kit as a baby in a storm, he adopts the child, who grows up to be an adventurous youngster of the docks.
When Harlan Carr inherited his Uncle Ebenezer's "Jack-O Lantern" house and too his bride there to live, he found himself the unwilling host of a score of hungry relatives within a week. Soon, strange things began to happen. A black cat made the house his headquarters, unexplained sounds could be heard and a shadowy figure floated through the halls at night.
