A Tight Squeeze

خلاصه داستان

Old Man Winters and his daughter live in a little hack down somewhere in America. Old Man Winters owns the town grocery store. The hired man, Ham Summers, is a typical country boy in love with Fanny Winters. But her father has decided that no country boy would do for his fair daughter-he wants a "city bred man". Fanny thinks otherwise, as she loves the fat Ham madly and devotedly. Meanwhile, a gang of robbers are hatching up a plan in New York, to rob the bank of a good bit of money. Two of their number arrive in the hack town. Meanwhile, wild doings are going on in town. There is one Kelly, also a country lad, who loves Fanny with equal ardor as does Ham. When Kelly asks the father for the hand of Fanny, father tells him he is busy, and resumes his game of checkers, Kelly gets angry, the father kicks him out- he lands on top of a donkey with a rope around its neck- the donkey starts to run like mad- they come to the top of a cliff-Kelly, holding on to the dope, slides down the side of the cliff. The donkey backs back and forward- in going back, the hind part of him gets into a cactus plant- he needs must go forward to extricate this painful appurtenance from his system- in so doing, Kelly loses hold of the rope and drops into the water. Meanwhile, the thieves are doing their dastardly work. A reception is in progress in the small town. While Ham and Mr. Winter are absent from the store, the thieves take advantage of their absence. One of the numbers at the reception is a Hawaiian dancer done by a fair and dark maid. At the end of the dance, Ham goes up to the stage- the curtains come together- a hand is thrust out- and Ham is handed a note with the words; "Go and look in your safe- is your money safe?" He immediately leaves the reception, and goes to the store, where the thieves are in wait for him. They are hiding in a closet. Outside the window is a man clothed in the garb of a detective, who is a "nut" and imagines himself put on the trail of the thieves. Ham enters the room with the safe, is about to open it, when a mallet is knocked on his head, and he falls to the floor unconscious. The thieves open the safe and take the money and go away with it, the imagined detective hot on their trail. He captures them, holds them up and hands over the bags of gold and money to him. Immediately, the policeman come over- get the money away from the nut, hand it back to the two thieves with the words that he is a "crank" and not to be taken seriously. Meanwhile, the loss of the money is discovered by Mr. Winters, and consternation reigns supreme. Ham comes into their midst, unconscious- until he is recalled back to life by a good slap on his arm by Mr. Winters. Ham determines to get the thieves, give Mr. Winters back his money, and thus prove himself a worthy and acceptable son-in-law. Then a hot pursuit takes place, the thieves are on a hand car- Ham pursues them in a train- trains knock each other- bridges fall under- the country is turned topsey-turvey so that Ham may find the gold and return it to the owner, finally, he is successful. The two policeman again make their appearance, and Ham, to show Mr. Winters and Fanny how smart he is, says: "Let us turn this money over to the policemen so that we know it is safe." The two policemen take the money- walk away- then we see five of them on horseback riding away and calling back that they are the original thieves, and so Ham did not get the money back. Heartbroken, the poor boy decided that the only way out is by way of the pond....so with faltering footsteps he wends his way to the water, and is about to drown himself, when his sweetheart, no other than the fair Fanny, calls to him from the bank; but his course is decided on- the picture fades out with a small whirr of the water, where Ham has gone to his watery grave. AKA: A Tight Squeeze