The Light That Failed (1912)
Mrs. Harding, wife of the President of the City Electric Company, insists upon her husband buying a chateau in France, where she and her daughter can spend the European season. Harding pleads a lack of means, and his wife suggests that he cut down the wages of his employees 10 per cent, and secure the purchase price of the chateau. The men object to this reduction when this notice is posted and Ben Quinn, foreman of the power house, as a representative of the workmen, calls upon Mr. Harding at his home, and protests. Mrs. Harding arrogantly denounces him as presumptuous to question their right and privilege. Ben Quinn's little daughter Nell, playing on the streets, has her skull fractured by a lineman of the City Electric Company dropping a hammer upon her head. Ben is notified of the accident. He hastens there from the meeting of his fellow-mechanics and carries his daughter home, where the doctor discovers she is not dead, but it will be necessary to take her to a hospital and perform the operation of trephining to remove a small bone pressing upon her brain. Alice Harding, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harding, hears of the accident and offers to pay the expense of the operation out of her own pocket. Ben accepts her offer as a loan. During the delicate surgical performance, the employees of the City Electric Company are holding a consultation and bitterly denounce their employer as unjust and unreasonable. Ben, whose bitterness is more intense, owing to the accident to his daughter, decides upon extreme measures, to cut the wires and shut off the electric lights of the city. Ben, with his own hands, commits the act. As he does so, the doctor is at the most critical point of the operation upon his little girl, and when the lights go out, the operating room is left in complete darkness and he cannot complete it. The child dies, a victim of irrational obstinacy.
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GenresDrama
Short
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