Reel Life (1916-1917)

“RAILROAD RAIDERS” VII Helen Holmes in feats of rare athletic daring spices this big chapter “MISTAKEN IDENTITY” ELEN HOLMES, daring young adventuress of the rail, who is starred in the new Signal-Mutual photo¬ novel, “The Railroad Raiders,” jumps into the middle of a Chinese tong war in Chapter Seven of this remarkable story, “Mistaken Identity,” and is kept busy during the entire chapter dodg¬ ing death at the hands of Mongolian conspirators, escaping from innumer¬ able difficult situations without a scratch. One of the most spectacular fea¬ tures of the chapter is that in which Helen desires to board an express pas¬ senger train but finds that it does not stop. Helen hears the whistle of the approaching train and runs out on a bridge from which she hangs by her hands until the train rushes beneath her feet and she drops on the top of a Pullman coach, making her way along its sloping roof and reaching the vestibule by one of the riskiest bits of climbing witnessed in many a day. In this jump to the fast moving train Miss Holmes actually drops fifteen feet. As she alights on the car roof she staggers wildly and appears about to roll off into the ditch before recover¬ ing her balance. There is a desperate fight in the Chinese quarter with forty or fifty Chinese and whites involved in a shooting, slugging mass. In the middle of this chaotic affair appears “The Darling of the Rail,” spitting fire with an automatic pistol and standing shoulder to shoulder with experienced gun-fighters of the secret service. Director McGowan has introduced in this chapter some of the most strik¬ ing of his night lighting effects, trains being shown as they rush through the darkness, robbers picked out in sil¬ houette as they crouch on the mountain side after lifting a rail in the hope of ditching the train, and Helen Holmes revealed by the white shaft of the headlight struggling in the embrace of “Bad Man” Burke, who is trying to toss her into the canyon. STORY OF THE CHAPTER The story of “Mistaken Identity” involves an attempt on the part of the raiders to kidnap a Japanese prince who is traveling in a special car over the route of the K. & W. and through him to learn the location of a box of specie which has been forwarded from Japan for uses of the embassy at Washington. Helen Holmes gets wind of the plot. She lays wires with her secret staff to prevent the abduction of Prince Kato and capture the conspirators. Superintendent Webb and his staff of operatives are on the Royal special which is halted by the plotters. When the special stops Webb and his men rush forward to find out the trouble. In the confusion the gang makes away with Prince Kato, a conspirator of the same nationality taking the prince’s place. A hue and cry is at once raised and Helen Holmes . Helen Holmes Tom Desmond. . . .John P. McGowan Wallace Burke . Leo D. Maloney Roy Wilson . William Brunton Lord Montrose . . . .G. H. Wischussen Lady Montrose, his wife . . Florence Holmes “Buck” Masters . F. L. Hemphill Officer Tommy Marshall . . W. A. Behrens Morton Webb. . .Thomas G. Lingham In this Chapter Miss Holmes produces one of her best hair-rais¬ ing stunts by dropping off a high bridge onto a speeding train. It takes a lot of nerve, some muscle and a thunder¬ ing lot of luck — with which same Helen is blessed considerably. Stop and look, you can’t listen. General Superintendent Frost of the K. & W. hastens to take personal charge. The bandits have made away with the box of gold and conyeved it into the mountains. Helen Holmes trails the gang, locates the gold, ordering its removal and when the gang loads the burros to continue their journey into the mountains, Helen, pistol in hand, is inside the box sup¬ posed to contain gold ingots. When the box is opened by Burke and his men they find themselves looking into the muzzle of Helen’s pistol. PRESS COMMENTS Commenting on “The Railroad Raiders,” the Rocky Mountain News of Denver, says: “Some of the stunts Director Mc¬ Gowan pulls off with his intrepid star tax our credulity though we see the jumps and jolts Miss Holmes gets and know that she does the work. What is quite as interesting, though, is the cleverness with which McGowan adapts his scenery to his story.” REEL LIFE— Page Six