In the small town of Milward, two men are in love with Bessie Lee. She gives her heart to John Armstrong, and refuses the hand of Jim Brady, the burly foreman of the mills. He is filled with jealousy and hatred of John and looks about for a way in which he can disgrace the younger man in Bessie's eves. Bessie has a brother, Bob, a worthless sort of a chap, who is inclined to drunkenness. Seeing him stagger home one evening, Jim thinks that he is John, and getting Bessie, he points out what they both suppose to be John in a terrible state of drunkenness. On the spur of the moment Bessie consents to elope with Jim to the nearest parsonage, ten miles away. She leaves a note for John. "When he gets it he realizes who was really to blame, and going to Bob, he tells him frantically that they must find a way to prevent the marriage. There is a short cut to the next town across a large falls. Bob says he will make this trip in his boat. John tries to dissuade him, but the boy rashes away and in his frail craft makes the perilous voyage over the waterfalls and down through the treacherous rapids. His boat is overturned, but he manages to swim ashore in time to prevent Bessie's marriage and bring his sister back to John.
Where to Watch Death's Short Cut
