A Mystery of the Rails (1916)

• 66%
• 1916
• Thriller
• J. Gunnis Davis
• Helen Gibson
• George A. Williams
• Scott Pembroke

Jud Hendricks, foreman of the construction camp, is being blackmailed by Gypsy Joe, who knows of a dark page in the Hendricks' past. Hendricks and Tom Rasom are rivals for the favor of Helen, with Tom in the lead. The latter, an engineer, is about to take his train out when he finds Gypsy Joe hiding in a boxcar. He throws him off and there is a brief scuffle. Later Gypsy Joe comes upon Tom from behind with a knife and a fight follows, which leaves Joe senseless on the platform, while Tom strides to the station. Hendricks, who has witnessed the fight, sees his opportunity to settle two grudges, pounces on Gypsy Joe and a minute later informs Tom that "the man he was fighting is dead." Searching around the body Helen finds the broken half of a pencil and holds on to it as a possible clue. Tom is arrested, while Hendricks, while proclaiming sympathy, stirs up the gypsy workers at the construction camp and a lynching is planned. Hendricks, pretending sympathy, hurries to Helen's station to send a telegram for help, which he knows will be too late. He starts to write the message, taking the broken half of a pencil from his pocket. Helen snatches it from him, and finds that it matches the one in her possession. Seeing that exposure is certain, Hendricks rushes from the station and boarding an electric handcar is seen speeding away. Helen attempts pursuit on horseback, but is being rapidly left behind, when an approaching train offers a solution. Climbing a telegraph pole she swings out on a wire and drops to the train. As it comes alongside Hendricks she throws a lasso that drops over him just as he is bout to leap to the ground, and he is pulled from his seat to the speeding train. The train is then quickly brought to a stop and speeds quickly back to the scene of the attempted lynching. Here a spirited battle has been going on, and the arrival of help is barely in time to save Tom.