A Western Girl's Sacrifice (1910)
Bad companions! Alas! They are the ruin of many a fine fellow and incidentally they are the ruin of John Stanley. John is the only son of Sheriff Stanley, and he is worshiped by his old Dad, his doting mother, and is the especial favorite of his sister Bess. It is with many misgivings and those peculiar little tightenings of the heart strings that always sound the alarm, when those we love are in danger, that Bess and he mother notice the hard-looking cowboys who call at the ranch at most unusual hours. Whispered conversations, nervous starts on the young fellow's part, his hasty endeavors to stop his companions and turn the trend of conversation on the approach of any of the family, all these serve to cause deep distress to both mother and sister. Only the father is oblivious to it all. His faith and trust in his only son does not permit him to question his son's actions for even a moment. Bess's sweetheart, Martin Winston, mentioned on several occasions that John is not keeping in the straight road as he has already noticed it. The truth is, that the boy has fallen among horse thieves and led on by them has already been guilty of stealing many horses. He has a violent quarrel over stolen horses with one of them, and worsting his opponent, that wretch, in revenge, hurries to the sheriff's home. Finding only Bess in the house he tells her that her brother is a horse-thief. Her father and the posse are at that moment scouring the vicinity for the daring horse thieves. It takes the girl but a moment to decide that no matter what the cost may be, she must save her brother in the attempt to preserve the honor of the family. Getting into a suit of her brother's clothes she hurries with her informant to where her brother is in hiding. She implores him to save himself by following a circuitous route to join the posse. The boy is terror stricken and jumping on his sister's horse escapes just as the father and the cowboys dash upon the rendezvous. A bitter fight ensues between the cowboys and the horse thieves and in the melee Bess has been struck down and mortally wounded. Whose bullet struck her none can tell. Whether horse thief or cowboy none knew until her father sees her lying face downward, turns her over in order to discover who it is. With a cry of horror he seizes her in his arms, and with her dying breath she tells him why she was there, and implores him to bury her as his son, and to never divulge the truth, for the sake of the family's honor. The broken-hearted father promises and telling the boys that his son had fallen by a horse thief's bullet, he carries the child home and buries her as his son. He had another duty to perform. Drawing the blinds of his ranch so that light could no more enter, he keeps his cowardly and renegade son confined to a room. To those who call, and to Bess's sweetheart, the mother tells that grief for her brother's death had driven Bess insane. Thus is unfolded a tale of a stanch attitude toward family honor at the same time bearing with it a mortal sacrifice. Thus do western folk as well as easterners, for that matter, too, hold life secondary to honor.
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GenresShort
Western
IMDbPro
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| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| Mark M. Dintenfass | Producer |
