Fighting Death

Moonshiner Harry Barford, who lusts after schoolmistress Clara, offers her fiancé, postmaster Jim Mason, $500 to tend one of his stills. Clara convinces Jim to accept the badly needed money, not realizing that the offer is a ploy to have Jim arrested. Billy, the kindly village idiot, warns Clara, however, and she arrives in time to save Jim. The two hide in an Indian village where they are married, and then Jim goes to New York for several months during which time Clara gives birth to a child. On the day that Jim returns, he witnesses Harry trying to force his attentions on Clara and misinterprets the facts. Thinking that Clara is unfaithful, a despondent Jim returns to New York and accepts a movie company's offer to jump from the Brooklyn Bridge for $10,000. As Jim prepares for the leap he learns that Clara, who secretly followed him to New York, will jump before him. When she dives into the river, Jim jumps in and rescues her after which the reconciled and financially solvent couple return home. In the end, Jim is exonerated of any crime, and Harry is exposed by Billy, whose intelligence has been restored.