Page:Star Film Catalogue 1908.pdf/136



The first scene shows a dressing-room in which a gentleman and his wife are making ready to go out. When the man takes up his shoes he finds that they are too old to wear. So he hurries to a shoe store and purchases a new pair. During the excitement incident to the arrival of some new customers, a sneak thief leaps up from behind the counter and substitutes his old shoes for the new pair without being detected by the saleswomen. The box, supposedly containing the new shoes, is wrapped up; the customer pays and departs amid bows and compliments. Returning to his room, he finds his wife very much agitated over his delay. Smiling, he sits down to put on his new shoes. When he finds in the box the old brogans of the thief, he rushes back to the store in a rage. A rough-and-tumble fight ensues in which the customer is ousted through the door. While everybody's back is turned, the thief springs up from his hiding-place and grabs the money-drawer and hustles off. He is seen just as he slips away. The proprietor chases him but he is hit on the head with a shoe and killed by the thief. The police are called and all strike out on a lively chase.

The thief is caught and carried to court. But meanwhile the gentleman who got the old shoes returns to his wife, covered with bruises from head to foot, and limping along on two improvised crutches.

During the trial of the robber, the old shoes lie on a table in front of the judge. Conviction is announced, and condemnation to death is the penalty. Forthwith the executioner in a showy uniform advances. He takes up one of the old shoes, and immediately clouds of smoke roll out of it. He pushes the shoe into the face of the condemned, who after inhaling the fumes falls dead upon the floor. Justice has been vindicated!

Shows a drunkard in a mad man's cell, raving. He sleeps and dreams that he has a huge flask before him; this he attempts to grasp, but awakens, finds that it was a vision and then falls back and expires. The last picture is a tableau showing Sisters of Mercy round the departed inebriate.

An astrological professor is instructing his pupils and soon they note that the hour is due for an eclipse. They all ascend a ladder to the observatory tower where, through telescopes, they view the meteoric disturbance. They see countless comets,