The Child of the Prairies (1913)
Fred Watson and his wife, Alice, attend a dance given on a neighboring ranch. The exertion of the dance is so thirstful that Watson goes out with a friend and irrigates for fair. During his absence, Dillon, a gambler, smooth as the cards he deals, engages Alice in conversation and invites her for a stroll. They meet Watson returning, and be remonstrates with her in bitterness and at length. A few days later Dillon visits the Watson ranch and persuades Alice to promise to elope with him. Shortly thereafter he encounters Watson, and both unlimber artillery, and the unfortunate ranchman goes down. The gambler, thinking he has killed the husband, hurries back to the ranch and persuades Alice to leave with him at once. She insists upon taking her little girl, a child of two, with them. While they are making camp the baby wanders off in the brush and is lost. They make a futile search and then Dillon, who is now in dread of pursuit, forces the unfortunate mother to go on with him down the now-broken trail of life. Two ranchmen, the brothers Jordan, hunting stray cattle, find the little one, and after fruitless inquiries adopt it as their own. Fifteen years later, Watson, who escaped death, heartsore and weary after a long, fruitless hunt for his own, happens to hit that range and rescues a young lady at the risk of his life by snatching her from the back of a runaway horse. He is given employment at the ranch of her foster parents. Through some strange whirligig of fate Dillon, who has given up gambling for horse thieving, comes into that corral, and Watson is suspicious of him, but is not sure. He compels Dillon to shave, and this discloses a tell-tale scar that makes his identification complete. The latter unworthy then tells how he abandoned Alice, who died years ago, and that the child was his. The Jordans, hearing this, by comparing dates and localities, restore their ward to Watson's arms as his daughter. As for Dillon, the all-around bad man, he gets his a-plenty.
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| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| William Duncan | Director |
| Tom Mix | Writer |
| William Nicholas Selig | Producer |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| Tom Mix | |
| Lester Cuneo | |
| Florence Dye | |
| Myrtle Stedman |
