The Power of Conscience

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Bryon Waters, a mine foreman, writes his mother and brother, the Rev. Stanley Waters, that he is going to pay them a visit shortly. We then see Bryon checking the time of the miners as they are leaving the mine at the end of their day's work. Hale, a miner, accosts Dora Gordon, the sweetheart of Bryon, who sees the assault .and whips the masher. At the home of Dora, Bryon is ordered from the premises by her father, who says that his daughter is too young to be thinking of marriage and that when she has attained a marriageable age she is to marry the man of his choice, Edward Hale. This admonition and dismissal by farmer Gordon is witnessed by Hale In the distance, who rejoices in the discomfiture of Bryon. In order to put a stop to the stealing of his chickens, farmer Gordon places a shotgun in back of the door of the chicken house, with a string running from the trigger of the gun to the doorknob. Hale discovers the secret hiding place for the letters between Bryon and Dora and in reply to a letter that Bryon had written to Dora, telling her that as he is going away for a few days he would like to see her before his departure, he forges a letter in Dora's handwriting to Bryon to meet her in the chicken-house at 10 o'clock that night. Bryon finds the note and in going to the chicken-house is shot. The noise brings Dora and her father to the spot. Dora finds the note, but tells her father that she knows nothing of it. Upon being notified of his brother's death, the Rev. Stanley goes to the village, where he begins to ferret out the murderer. As he has reason to believe that Hale is the murderer of his brother, the minister preaches a sermon on "The Power of Conscience," which is directed by that reverend gentleman to Hale, who reluctantly consented to hear the sermon. After the sermon, Hale sees a vision of the murdered man wherever he goes, and the next day, as he is working in the mine, the vision comes to him. To better observe the illusion he strikes a match. The coal gas is ignited and there is an explosion, which brings the villagers to the scene of disaster. Among the multitude is the Rev. Stanley, who rushes into the burning mine. He later returns with the prostrate form of Hale, who, on his death-bed, confesses that it was his fault that Bryon met his untimely end.