The Magnate of Paradise (1915)
Holland refuses Betty's uncle, the magnate of the town of Paradise, to drop a suit against the Traction Company brought by Harriet Hopper. As he passes the hallway, he fails to see Betty, and she, wondering at his distracted behavior, suspects that her uncle has caused it. She overhears Callander bidding Finlaison to do all in his power to down the young attorney. Two months later, Betty reads in the newspaper that Holland has accepted a bribe from the Traction Company. She reproaches Finlaison for this libel and he promises to clear Holland of the accusation if Betty will marry him. By good fortune, Holland recovers a budget of letters, long mislaid. They will prove Callander's undoing, for they contain receipts for hush money. Holland pities Callander's infirmity of age, but conscience bids him defend Miss Hopper. Betty pleads that he refuses to institute action against Callander, with the result that he hands in his resignation to the Governor. Finlaison continues to molest Betty. He tells her that he has Callander's consent to marry her, and brutally describes how Callander had killed the previous district attorney in order to obtain secret papers, and how he had witnessed the crime, but money tied his tongue. Betty accuses Finlaison of being an accessory to the crime. He retorts by saying that if she refuses to marry him he will expose Callander. Betty demands the truth of Callander. He confesses and orders her to marry Finlaison, or leave his house at once. She chooses the latter alternative, and finds refuge with Miss Hopper. That night, Holland was to speak in the town hall on the evils of machine rule. In a ward room of the hall, he hears a groggy youth, who had heard of Betty, propose a toast to her. Finlaison, himself fuddled, refuses to drink the toast, declaring that he could have married Betty had it not been for her intimacy with Holland. Holland floors him, but Finlaison wounds him, though not seriously. A mob attempts to lynch Finlaison, but the police spirit him off to a cell. Upon hearing the news, and learning that the Governor knows that he is a murderer, Callander collapses and succumbs to heart failure. Holland recovers his bodily vigor and Betty soon becomes the sharer of his prosperity.
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GenresDrama
Short
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