An Oily Scoundrel

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Fred Mace, a railroad station agent in a small town, learns that he has fallen heir to a large fortune, in his enthusiasm he is unable to keep the news to himself and the local paper publishes a story about it. Charles Arling, head of a gang of crooks, reads the story and determines to get possession of the fortune. The simple-minded Mace is approached with a proposition to invest in an oil well. The station agent is an easy mark and buys the land, using the railroad's money temporarily for the purpose. A visit to his property convinces Mace that it is worthless, but as he throws away his shovel in disgust it taps a gusher and the agent is carried skyward by its force. Back again on terra firma he hears that the railroad inspector is coming to inspect his books. In terror he hurries to town to collect his inheritance. The crooks pursue him and when his daughter, Louella Maxam, tries to stop them, they bind her to the track. They hide in a nearby building as an engine which Mace has commandeered to return with his inheritance approaches at full speed. Just as the engine is about to run over Louella, her sweetheart, Earl Rodney, throws a switch and the locomotive runs off on a siding and crashes into the building where the crooks are hiding. Arling and Fay, the swindlers, flee from the ruins and Mace reaches home with the money before the inspector arrives. Then he withdraws his opposition to the marriage of Louella and Earl.