William Wolbert

The Dumb Girl of Portici

Fenella, a poor Italian girl, falls in love with a Spanish nobleman, but their affair triggers a revolution and national catastrophe.

The Burned Hand

Three college boys graduate. One is in love with a girl, whose mother and father have domestic difficulties. They go to court and are divorced. Father is refused the request for his daughter, and in turn kidnaps her and takes her to another state, where he becomes a great political factor. Bill, one of the graduated college boys who is in love with the girl, with his two companions, traces the girl and steal her away. In doing so his hand is burned with a poker and the father uses that as a means of identification in tracing him.

The Den of Thieves

Lillian is an unfortunate woman. After leaving her baby at the door of a hospital she meets David, the author of her misfortune. It is a case of starvation or the "easiest way." She chooses the "easiest way." After eighteen years she again shows up, a social outcast and a tool for David's black profession.

Love's Western Flight

For five years Dorothy had put up with her husband although all his refinement, delicacy and love had long since been drowned in drink. Dorothy had reached the turning point. She answered an advertisement calling for a leading woman to accompany a repertoire show west. She was given the position and that night left.

Passing of the Beast

Jacques watched through an opening in the foliage and saw Gilbert of the mounted police and his own wife exchange pleasant greetings. From that moment he hated the police officer. Gilbert was too fine-looking.

The Siren

On her deathbed, Renee's mother confides to her daughter the troubled history of her life. She was wealthy and she was loved alone for her riches. She was to be married; on her wedding day the bridegroom married another woman he really loved. She married her second choice of men and after two years, he left her.

The Quack

Dr. Frank Rosslyn, known to the world as a prominent physician, is in reality the head of a quack medical concern which dispenses patent medicines and advertises extensively.

The Skeleton

Two friends, Tad and Jack, are conversing with each other at the Club, when Dr. Matthews, the wealthiest man in town, enters. In contemplating the rich man, the two young men speculate as to whether or not, with all his wealth, he is happy. The argument leads them to a wager. Tad bets $1,000 that there is something in the physician's life he would hate to have known, and that as a consequence he is unhappy. Jack accepts the bet.

Cupid Incognito

Frank Graham, rich mine owner, is fatally injured by an explosion. On his death bed he confides to his friend, Jim Blake, all his plans concerning his daughter, Angela's, future. He makes him promise to watch over her. His fortune he places in the hands of his brother, a New York banker, to be held in trust for his daughter until her wedding day; the fact of her being an heiress to be kept secret in order to insure her safety from fortune-hunters.

The Spider and Her Web

The story concerns the reformation of a fast woman who runs a gambling establishment. Her one fear is of death and her regeneration is brought about.