The Baited Trap

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Dennis McShane is driven by poverty to leave his home in old Ireland and seek his fortune in the "land of the free." He leaves behind his parents and his sweetheart Nora. With a heart full of hope, and very little else, he arrives in New York. The first day of his arrival, while walking uptown from the dock, he sees a sign in a saloon: "Porter Wanted." He asks for and is given the job, little knowing that the boss of the place is a notorious character named Black Louie, a keeper of several dens of vice. His henchmen, Lefty Logan and Blondy, have informed him that through a raid on one of his places, the inmates have been depleted, and that he must have new ones. Louis is at his wits' end when he chances to see a photograph of Nora that Denny had pinned on the wall of the storeroom. Learning that it is his sweetheart, and that he will send for her as soon as he has saved enough, Louie plants some money where Denny will find it. When Denny returns the money to the bartender, he is told that it is Louie's way of making a present. Denny is overjoyed, and sends immediately for Nora. On the day of her arrival, he gets permission to meet her at the dock. Louie and his henchmen follow and accuse him of having stolen the pocketbook that the policeman finds on him. While Louie is at the station house making the charge against him, Blondy and Lefty meet Nora, and under the pretext of taking her to the home of her lover, entice her to one of Louie's houses. Denny, in the meantime, with the aid of a newsboy, whom he had befriended, succeeds in establishing his innocence. He hurries to the wharf only to find that Nora has already left. The newsboy learns of her whereabouts and informs Denny, who, with the aid of a friendly cop, succeeds in rescuing her from the den of infamy. Louie is finally caught, and with his satellites, is given a long term in prison. Denny succeeds in getting on the force, and in a few years sends for his father and mother. The last we see of them they are in their own little parlor, celebrating the christening of their firstborn.