Thieves (1913)
While out walking with his beautiful young ward Myrtle, Millionaire Hastings allows her to give some money to a poor, miserable-looking fellow who arouses her sympathy. Before returning to his palatial house, the aged man is taken ill and must go to bed when he reaches home. Living with him are his brother and sister-in-law, George and Anna Hastings, who don't seem sorry that Hastings is ill; in fact, they seem glad. Some weeks later when they're standing by his bedside, Anna stealthily opens the writing-desk, takes a paper from it, and signals to George; they leave the room together and go to the library below. By means of the paper, which contains the combination, they open the family safe and take out a number of papers. Among them are two wills, one leaving all to George, and a later one deeding the great wealth to Myrtle. They exchange the wills in their respective envelopes, placing the one favorable to George in the envelope marked "Last Will," and the other in the envelope marked "Void." They do not know that they are being detected: a thief is behind the window curtains, listening to and watching them. He is the man Myrtle befriended, but he doesn't know that he is in her house. He is greatly surprised when she comes into the room to usher George and Anna to Hasting's deathbed. George, in his haste, did not have time to lock the safe. The thief now uses his pocket flashlight, and locating the safe, takes the papers out and changes back the wills in their right envelopes. He jumps to his place of concealment as Anna comes back and goes to the safe, taking out the envelope which she believes contains the Myrtle will and burns it in the grate. The thief jumps towards her after she has burned the paper; at revolver-point he takes the paper with the combination from her and locks the rightful will in the safe. Then he sneaks away, happy that he has made his benefactress an heiress.
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Domestic
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International
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Worldwide
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GenresDrama
Short
IMDbPro
See more details at IMDbPro
| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| William J. Bauman | Director |
| Mary H. O'Connor | Writer |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| George Holt | |
| Myrtle Gonzalez | |
| George Stanley | |
| Anne Schaefer |
