Reel Life (1916-1917)

HOLMES “RAILROAD RAIDERS” VI This Chapter is full of fast work and big stunts for Miss Holmes THE OVERLAND DISASTER CHAPTER VI ELEN HOLMES, daring young heroine of the screen, whose most recently con¬ ferred title is “Venus of the Valve,” manages to roll down a rail¬ way embankment in a Pullman car and escape without a scratch, in Chapter VI of “The Railroad Raid¬ ers,” Signal-Mutual photo-novel, the most sensationally adventurous chapter play in which Miss Holmes has ever appeared. “The Darling of the Rail,” as so many of her admirers call her, has never been seen to better advantage than in this latest chapter of “The Railroad Raiders.” Miss Holmes is everywhere in the picture, flipping cars on fast moving trains, boarding engines and remaking train sched¬ ules after cutting into the train dis¬ patcher’s wire from all sorts of re¬ mote mountain way stations ; fording rivers up to her neck in icy water, and holding up members of the raid¬ ing gang at the point of her trusty automatic. There is action and to spare throughout the chapter, as may be understood when it is realized that John P. McGowan, director of all the Helen Holmes photoplays, gets into the game himself as “Desmond,” bent on squeezing out a few hundred stock holders of the system. THE STORY OF CHAPTER VI In Chapter VI of “The Railroad Raiders” Thomas Desmond (John P. Gowan) is made general superin Helen Holmes . Helen Holmes Thomas Desmond. . . . J. P. McGowan Morton Webb. . .Thomas G. Lingham Wallace Burke . Leo D. Maloney Steve Arnold . Paul C. Hurst Homer Frost . William Buhler Roy Wilson . William Brunton Sam Lowenstein . Will Chapman Lord Montrose. . . .G. H. Wischussen Lady Montrose . Florence Holmes “Buck” Masters . F. L. Hemphill Officer Tommy Marshall . . W. A. Behrens tendent of the “K” system and char¬ acteristically enough, he launches a new line of investigation into the mysterious robberies that have come close to impoverishing the road dur¬ ing the previous two years. The first thing that impresses him is the suspicious behavior of Burke, the disgruntled “K” official, whom Helen Holmes insists is in league with the raiders. Acting upon his suspicions with regard to Burke, the new superin¬ tendent trails him to the rear room office of Lowenstein, the pawnbrok¬ er, and having overheard a criminal conspiracy between the two, with Helen as a witness, Desmond con¬ fronts Burke with proof of his guilt and terrifies the conspirator into agreeing to betray his gang into the hands of the railway secret service organization. Immediately following this agree¬ ment Burke concocts a scheme to wreck the private train of the “K” system’s president by derailing it, and it is this sensational wreck . — . J REEL LIFE — Page Four scene resulting in President Wilson’s death, that constitutes the big epi¬ sode of the chapter. Roy, the president’s son, and Helen Holmes’ persistent suitor, narrowly escapes death with his father, owing his life to Miss Holmes’ foresight and warning. Helen’s activities against the raid¬ ing gangs harassing the “K” system, have so narrowed the scope of their operations that early capture of the ringleaders is considered by Super¬ intendent Desmond to be practically assured, but, while the desperate gang sees the end of its career ap¬ proaching, its leaders thirst for re¬ venge against Helen Holmes and her associates of the secret service de¬ partment. A desperate plot is hatch¬ ing against Helen and her aids, of which she gets an inkling, and im¬ mediately begins to make counter plans for the confusion and capture of the would be assassins. HELEN “DELIVERS THE GOODS” Newspaper and magazine com¬ ment on “The Railroad Raiders” is of a flattering nature. The Atlanta Georgian says: “Leaving out of the question the usual laymen’s faith in the invul¬ nerability of motion picture stars to such ‘slings and arrows of out¬ rageous fortune’ as beset the every¬ day human, it is impossible to avoid recognition of the fact that when Miss Holmes is photographed in some desperate leap off a cliff, or into the tonneau of a moving motor car from a speeding train, the actress really delivers the goods.”