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Hunted Down
(1914) United States of America
B&W : Short film
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
U.S. Feature Film Company production; distributed by Warner’s Features, Incorporated. / Released October 1914. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? The little Arizona town of Sagamon Center was just vibrating with excitement. It was election day. The main interest of the day was focused on the contest for the office of sheriff. Jack Davis and Tom Boyle were the two rival candidates. When the vote was counted Jack Davis was found the winner. Boyle was a bad loser. He determined to “get even,” and the best way that occurred to him was to steal Jack’s girl, Grace Stanford. The new sheriff hastened to his sweetheart to tell her of his victory. He was astounded when he found that she was about to elope with his defeated opponent. There was a struggle. Jack disarmed his treacherous enemy. Then, facing the girl, made her choose between them. She repented her foolish act. and, throwing herself into the arms of her fiancé, begged Boyle to go away forever. Jack forgave the fickle girl and they were married. A year later, while the sheriff was at his wife’s sick bed, a courier brought him word that Boyle and a band of lawless followers had raided the town. Reluctantly he left the sick room and arrested his man. Taking Boyle to the Mexican border, Jack set him free. Returning he found his wife dead and a newborn daughter to claim his love. Eighteen years passed. Sagamon Center had grown to be quite a town, but Jack Davis was still the sheriff. His daughter, Doris, had grown up to be the picture of her dead mother and was the pride of her father’s heart. At this time Tom Boyle, still nursing his vow of revenge, returned to Sagamon Center under another name. Few of the younger generation had heard of him, and his former associates did not recognize him. Closely he observed the sheriff, with a view of finding how he could wreak his belated vengeance most effectively. It was not long before he discovered he could strike his man the most telling blow through the beautiful Doris. He accordingly laid siege to Doris, and worked with fiendish fervor behind the unsuspecting father’s back to get the girl completely under his influence. He succeeded. Then, a few months later, when she begged him to marry her, he spurned her. His revenge was accomplished. Confronted with the full realization of her plight, she saw but one way out, self-destruction. Her father received a picture of a man who was wanted by the authorities of a neighboring county for murder. With the portrait he went home to await the assembling of his posse for the search. The face on the photograph was strangely familiar, yet he could not place it. He entered the house just as his daughter was about to shoot herself. He snatched the pistol from her hands. Her gaze fell upon the picture. She drew back with staring eyes. “That, that is the man,” she cried. Davis forced the truth from her. Then he started after Boyle. Far out among the rocks of Coyote Gulch he at last spied his man. The guilty wretch fled, with the outraged father like a human bloodhound following his trail relentlessly. Davis slowly gained upon him, and finally the fugitive found himself on the edge of a beetling cliff. His escape was shut off; he turned upon his pursuer, and with fiendish desperation fought for his life, using the big rocks for a shield. From boulder to boulder Davis crept closer to his quarry. Finally, as Boyle peered from behind a rock, Davis gave him his death wound. Jack hastened to his side. Life was ebbing away. With the veil of eternity slowly enveloping him he repented of his misdeeds and pleaded that he be taken to Doris before it was too late. The sheriff carried the dying man to the village in a race with death to save his daughter’s honor. Arrived there, a minister was quickly found, and with his last breath Tom Boyle made his atonement.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 6 January 2025.
References: Tarbox-Lost p. 206 : Website-IMDb.
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