User Reviews

A fairly well conducted, exciting and possible story of a doctor's experience is pictured on this film. The doctor (the player who takes this part fills it very acceptably) is hurrying to a sick patient. A crime has been committed (a murder and a robbery) and the thief has galloped on. The doctor takes the road behind him also cantering. The crime is discovered and the posse is now seen following the criminal, but behind the doctor. Just before these men reach him, the doctor has picked up a bag of money, part of the plunder, and a bit further on at the watering trough is found "with the goods on him." His friend the sheriff has difficulty in saving him from lynching. From this point the story is pictured dramatically, what we have already seen being a necessary statement of the situation. And the way the situation is handled is very commendable, for the denouement is the struggle between the sheriff, who demands that the doctor have a fair trial, and the murdered man's brother, who schemes to have the doctor lynched, is directly brought about by the doctor's character. The spectator knows him to be innocent and, what is more, sees the fine and human traits of his character as working not only to save him but to clear him from suspicion even of his enemies. The spectators are made very deeply interested because the doctor, as pictured, is shown so worthy of human sympathy and respect. This is the most commendable part of a very good picture. There is originality and freshness too in the way this denouement is brought about. The dead man's brother, in order to get the sheriff out of the way, tells him in a note sent anonymously that the real culprit may be found at a village some miles off. This touch of villainy intensifies the struggle, yet it is suggested to him by his desire for revenge. It isn't inhuman; we can understand it. After the sheriff departs, he takes his gang to the prison to hang the doctor, but this doctor isn't there. Without the man's knowing it, his little son has fallen and is unconscious. The boy's mother, her husband not being at home, has run to the sheriff's house and begged the keys to get the doctor. The doctor is glad to be of service and help the boy. The sheriff meanwhile has found the real culprit and with proof of the crime is coming back. The lynchers find the doctor attending the chief lyncher's son, and just at this point the sheriff arrives. It's a picture that a human mind can take pleasure in. It's a good Western picture. - The Moving Picture World, September 9, 1911