The Incendiary Foreman (1907)

• 53%
• 1907
• Drama

Pathé's factory is the scene of the action. The interior of the huge laboratory comes into view, the employer and foreman, apparently in wry intimate relations, passing through on an inspection tour. Several different news of the works follow, after which the employees are shown departing, their day's labor over. One of these going out walks up to the foreman standing nearby, and there is a heated argument because the foreman has accused the laborer of committing a number of thefts which have puzzled everybody. The naughty foreman repeats the accusation, and the laborer, indignant and furious, knocks him down with a blow. The foreman gathers himself together and promises to even accounts, while the worker's comrades restrain him from inflicting further punishment. Complainant and accused now appear before the head of the concern to settle the dispute, and the employer sides with his faithful foreman; as a result, the laborer is discharged. Now the foreman is seen as he really is. Under cover of darkness, when all have left the factory, he steals back and pushes aside a huge door which leads to the yard. Stealthily he makes his way to the office building, and soon, with the aid of keys with which he is entrusted he is in his employer's private room. He seems to be unobserved as he opens the safe, taking therefrom valuable papers, which he places in his pocket. This done, he sneaks out of the office to a corner of the yard. here he heaps up a pile of rubbish, and from a can which he has brought for the purpose, soaks it with oil, and applies the torch. In a moment the yard is ablaze, and the tongues of flame are shooting high into the air; the firebug runs to an alarm box, turns in a fire call and then hastens to summon his master. The scene now shifts to the fire station. As soon as the alarm comes in the men are at their posts and there follows a fine run to the blaze, in which auto fire trucks figure. Arrived there, numberless hose are turned on and the fighting of a truly raging fire is shown. Portion after portion of the building collapses, the unsuspecting employer being cheered only by his traitorous foreman. But the fire finally plays itself out, and the next picture shows a consultation in what is left of the office of the concern, between the now unfortunate manufacturer and the police, as to the cause of the conflagration. Suddenly the police chief notices that the safe has been opened, and a further investigation shows that it had been ransacked. Following quickly on this, the employer is confronted with a cap which the thief and incendiary had unwittingly left in the room, and he identifies it as that of his foreman, who is immediately summoned. The rascal enters the room entirely at ease, and when he is asked confidentially to what he attributes the origin of the blaze, he promptly lays it on the shoulders of the man who was discharged on his account, and two officers are sent out, with him, to find the suspect. They come upon him as he is idly lounging by the riverside, and he is taken up by the police, who ignore his protests. At the office the police chief now questions him, but he insists that he is innocent, when, turning for a second, the official suddenly confronts the foreman with the cap found near the safe. The man is dumbfounded and collapses, for with another quick movement the chief has snatched the missing papers from his pocket. The man's employer is amazed, but nevertheless orders the police to do their duty, and they carry him off, a prisoner. Turning to the falsely accused workman, the deceived employer promises him a fine position, causing the laborer to throw his hat up and do somersaults in his joy.