Love and Law (1909)

movie

Country: USA
Genres: Drama, Short
Release: 1909-01-21
Director: Marshall Stedman
Writers: N/A
Language: None | English
Stars: William Duncan
Runtime: min
Awards: N/A
AKA: Love and Law , Love and Law (United States of America)
Plot: Our story opens at the home of Jackson Burns, a well-to-do farmer in Iowa. Burns has a pretty daughter, Mable, who is teaching school in a nearby village. John Deane, a stalwart son of the soil, works for farmer Burns, and is in love with Mable. Mable, though in love with John, is loathe to lose her freedom, and not averse to listening to the honeyed words of other admirers. Among them is a certain lawyer and judge by the name of Todd. As our picture opens the buxom wife of Farmer Burns comes from the house with Mable and proceeds to ring the welcome dinner bell. Mable and her sweetheart, John, engage in conversation, which is interrupted by the coming of John's rival, who drives up to purchase a horse from the farmer. John is sent for the horse, and the deal is soon consummated. A wandering gypsy, whose companions are in camp a few miles from town, has also tried to secure the horse, but his bartering methods are not looked upon favorably by the farmer. So the cash buyer gets the horse, the gypsy leaves vowing vengeance. The next day as pretty Mable is leaving for home after dismissing school, little Bill, a favorite pupil, brings her a note from the lawyer asking her to wait after school. Mable, not caring to miss a chat with her admirer, returns to the gate to wait for Mr. Todd. But John also arrives expecting the privilege of a stroll home with his sweetheart. Mable prefers a ride with the lawyer, who at this juncture drives up with his swell trap, so John is given Mable's books and lunch basket, with instructions to tell mother, "I'll be home by supper time." And as he stands jealous and disconsolate by the school house gate, Gypsy Jack, who has witnessed the little comedy, saunters on and taunts John. "So the young lady she prefer the lawyer, eh?" John turns from the gypsy in disgust, and away. A handkerchief with his initials hangs carelessly from his pocket. The gypsy sees his opportunity, and, sneaking behind the unsuspecting boy, deftly extracts the handkerchief. His cunning brain has on the spur of the moment conceived a plan of securing the horse, and laying its theft on Mable's lover, while he makes good his escape, and but for little Bill, Mable's pupil, he might have succeeded. The Village Green. Supper is over, and the youngsters are at play. Hide and seek is the game. Little Bill hides behind an ash barrel near the lawyer's stable door. And while his companions are busy at play he is witness to a scene that fills him with wonder: he sees the gypsy go in the stable and lead out a horse. "I'll go home and tell mamma." But mamma thinks it not probable that the gypsy would steal the horse at that hour in the evening, and puts little Bill to bed, with a lesson on the merit of minding one's business. Had little Bill been in the stable and seen the actions of Gypsy Jack as he coolly takes John Deane's handkerchief from his pocket and drops it carelessly in the horse's stall, he might have convinced his mother and saved his teacher and her lover a lot of trouble. John, discouraged over Mable's receiving the attentions of the lawyer, determines to leave. He writes her a note to this effect, and strikes out for a new situation. But pretty Mable's eyes have been opened to the meaning of the lawyer's intentions, and she is horrified the next morning when she learns in the village that her lover is under arrest, having been caught red handed with Lawyer Todd's stolen horse in his possession. She goes to the jail, filled with repentance, and convinced in her own mind of John's innocence, determined to hear the story from his own lips. The sheriff has known her since babyhood and readily grants her an interview. John explains to her what we have already witnessed; how he in passing the gypsies' camp had recognized the horse his employer had sold the day before, and how he had, after securing the horse, cowed the gypsy crowd, at the point of a revolver, and how as he was returning with the animal he was placed under arrest. His handkerchief had been found in the empty stall, and how he was found with the missing horse in his possession. Mable decides to visit that camp. She rides up to little Bill's home, remembering that he had told her about a visit to the gypsies some days before. She can scarcely believe her good luck when she hears little Bill's story about what he saw while playing hide and seek. She asks Bill's mother to allow him to accompany her, and, being a pioneer's daughter, she decides to take the law in her own hands and return with the evidence to clear her accused lover, who is to have a hearing before the village justice that very day. She is riding a pet horse, one she has taught to walk lame and shake hands, little dreaming that one day she will be able to put one of Pinto's accomplishments to a serious purpose. Arriving near the camp, she takes up her station in a clump of trees, and instructs little Bill to find the guilty man and tell him a lady is waiting near, whose horse has picked up a stone, and won't he come and remove it for her. Gypsy Jack, unsuspecting, falls into the trap. He sees the limping horse approach, and kneels to examine the hoof, when he is startled by the lady's quiet voice ordering him to utter a word at his peril. He jumps to his feet to look into the muzzle of a six shooter leveled at him. "Throw up your hands and walk ten feet ahead." Gypsy Jack decides to obey. His entire camp is just around the bend in the road, but the six-shooter is much nearer. Imagine the surprise of the village court, spectators, lawyers, judges and all, when the strange procession files in, little Bill, then the gypsy and his captor. Little Bill tells his story, the gypsy confesses, and Lawyer Todd, thoroughly disgusted at the turn of affairs, leaves the room in high dudgeon, while John takes Mable in his arms, to the great delight of little Bill. "Hurrah! Teacher's going, to marry. There won't be any more school." - The Moving Picture World, January 16, 1909
IMDB:tt1914305