Universal Weekly (1914-1915)

10 THE U NiVERSAL WEEKLY Banker and Wife Exiled on Leper Island HE wonderful sacrifices made by Father Darnien and scores of other men and women who have given their lives to alleviate the last sufferings of the lepers in the Hawaiian Islands and in the Culion colony, on the island of Palawan, in the Philippine Archipelago, have aroused the ad miration of the world. Only once in a great while does one hear of the life of these doomed wretches, who wither away in solitude behind barbed wire screens in a city of their own. They have their own money and their own system of exchange and barter. In most cases they act as nurses for each other, but there are some cases which even the lepers themselves refuse to touch. It is only in very rare instances, in the case of the colony in the Philippine Archipelago, that white women are permitted lepers. It is said, however. "Their Island of Happiness", a splendid story of self-sacrifice. Parted though a misunderstanding, banker's wife becomes nurse in leper colony in Pacific Ocean. Seeking his wife everywhere, her husband finds her under unusual circumstances. His wife foregoes cruel revenge. Tworeel Big U drama, featuring Edna Maison. Scenario and production by Burton King. Released Thursday, January 21. CAST. Robert Bclden Ray Gallagher Helen, his wife Edna Maison Mrs. Wyland Beatrice Van to nurse the that two wealthy New York women, who disappeared from society nine years ago, are now nursing in a Pacific colony, unknown even to their friends. One religious sect, whose members devote themselves to the care of the sick, has permitted a few of its community, who wish to make the supreme sacrifice of life itself, to go to these Pacific islands. Once a nurse has touched a leper she is declared "unclean" and thereafter is not permitted to mix with those outside the barbed-wire pale. Armed soldiers guard the enclosed lepers, and so far only few have been known to escape. These, however, are rounded up, for the signs of their misfortune are branded upon them. Burton King has written an intensely interesting photoplay about these exiles. His story follows : Robert Belden comes into possession of a considerable fortune. His wife, Helen, is a rather plain, home-loving woman and does not care to assume the social duties to which her husband's wealth entitles her. Belden, however, enters into a life of social gayety, and his wife soon realizes that their interests have become widely divergent. Belden soon comes to pay rather marked attention to one particular woman in the social set, in which his wife might take her place, but does not. Word of her husband's infatuation reaches Mrs. Belden and she reproaches her husband. Belden endeavors to shift the responsibility for the estrangement to his wife's shoulders and leaves home in a rage. Mrs. Belden, al Belden Discovers That His Wife Has Become a Lepers' Xurse. though she still loves her husband, decides that it will be best for her to leave him unhampered in his new found love. Belden returns home to find her gone. Soon afterward the shallowness of the life he has been leading becomes apparent to him, and he makes every attempt to find his wife once more. Failing in this, he devotes himself to his business exclusively and amasses a fortune. Ten years pass. Helen Belden is a nurse in the leper's colony on an island in the Philippines. She is not permitted to leave the island. Belden, on a trip around the world, stops off at Manila. Mrs. Belden reads of his arrival and. knowing that if she were to be found in her husband's embrace he, too, would be returned to the island, she decides to carry out her scheme of revenge. By bribing a Chinese fisherman she contrives to escape from the island and secures a room near her husband's in a Manila hotel. She secures entrance to her husband's suite after having 'phoned to the island, giving the number of the room in the hotel occupied by her husband as the place where she can be found. Belden i* overcome with joy when he meets his wife after the Ions lapse of years. She holds him off from herself, however. Belden tells her, with great emotion, of his untiring attempts to find her and begs her forgiveness. As Helen listens she u compelled to believe in his sincerity. She tells him of her life and her terrible purpose in coming to his room. As she sobs out her story a knock is heard at the door. The officers of the leper colony enter. Helen tells them that Belden has not touched her, and they start away, with Helen their captive. As they leave the room, however, Belden can control himself no longer and leaps forward. Taking his wife in his arms he kisses her ardently, telling the horrified officers that they now have two passensers for I per's Island. The final scene of the intensely dramatic conclusion to "The Island of Happireunited, silhouetted against dreaded by all oth ness" shows Belden and his wife an ocean sunset on their way to the island ers, but a haven of happiness to them. * * * * Director Lucius Henderson of the Eastern Universal stndios has completed a tworeel love drama, entitled "Uncle John' Wm. Garwood and Violet Mersereau play the leads.