Building for Democracy

When Rachel Stetherill's daughter marries a man of whom she disapproves, Rachel disowns her. Five years later her daughter, now widowed, is killed. Her young son comes under the influence of a professional safecracker and is soon on his way to becoming a hardened criminal. Twenty yeas later the Stetherill family lawyer learns that the infamous thief known as Ladyfingers bears a striking resemblance to Rachel's husband--and has fallen in love with Enid, Mrs. Stetherill's young ward. Complications ensue.

Inspired by a Robert W. Service poem, the story concerns a Parisian demimonde named Lucille who becomes the model of an aspiring artist named Robert. Falling in love with Robert, Lucille endeavors to spare him disappointment by secretly buying his "unsaleable" paintings. Luck of luck, one of his portraits of Lucille, "My Madonna," wins first prize in an art contest.

Persis Cabot, the daughter of a multi-millionaire meets young officer Harvey Forbes and falls in love but cannot marry him because of her father’s financial reverses. She enters a marriage of convenience, but her husband is a philander who makes her miserable. Despite his faithlessness he is possessive of Persis and driven by jealousy he attempts to kill her, but Harvey rescues her, and they are united at last.

Although a female, gunfighter "Colonel Billy" is feared by the men of Rattlesnake Gulch, a mining camp in California. The women, however, won't have anything to do with her because of stories about her "loose ways" during the Gold Rush. One day Gerald Morton, an actor, arrives at the camp from San Francisco with his wife Mabel, their baby and preacher Albert Atherton As a prank, the townspeople send Atherton to board with Billy, who is in love with a gold prospector named Faro Bill. Atherton convinces Billy to change her ways; however, Morton strikes gold, and the resulting news reaches San Francisco and attracts a new and different element to Rattlesnake Gulch, resulting in a need for Billy's skills to be used again.

Young mechanical engineer John Ashton is trying to complete the plans for a new submarine. Under pressure to meet a deadline he has been leaning on whiskey to handle the stress which his friend Robert Gray warns him against, but to no avail. His fiancée, Grace, telephones wanting him to take a break and attend a dinner party with her. Against his better judgement and still drinking he accepts but nods off while getting ready. What follows are booze infused visions of loss and degradation so horrifying that upon awaking he swears off "the devil at his elbow”!