The Death Stone of India
Directed by Milton J. FahrneyAs six priests are in prayer in the Temple of Buddha, a band of marauding coolies sweep down and annihilate them. The last priest to die, perceiving that the coolies are taking the sacred eye of Bnddha, a precious stone, curses the stone and exclaims that the possessor of it shall die. He then passes away. The coolies arrive at the desert, where they begin to quarrel about the emerald. One by one they die and the surviving coolie grasps the stone and runs away with it to the jungle, where fear and excitement make him a madman. Casting the stone into the air, it hangs suspended, and, as the maddened coolie falls dead upon the ground, the stone descends upon his breast, where it is found by a caravan of merchants, one of whom appropriates it. The merchant goes to the bazaar at the English barracks, at Cawnpore, India, where he sells the stone to Sir Hugh Wheeler and his niece. Just as the transferring of the stone has been completed, the merchant is seized with an attack of fever and dies. Several days later, as Sir Hugh and others are admiring the stone, a dispatch comes to him bearing the news that the fanatical Sepoys have thrown down their arms and deserted, having been told by a Buddha priest that they are being defiled with greased bullets and that he had better prepare for immediate defense. Nana Sahib, a treacherous man, offers his assistance to Sir Hugh, which is gladly accepted. Back in the temple the High Priest Djalma sees in a vision Sir Hugh and his niece admiring the stone with the sinister Nana Sahib standing in the background with upraised knife. He makes a passionate vow that he will devote his life to regain the stone. When Cawnpore is invested. Nana, who had promised to take care of the English troopers, the invalids, the women and the children, fails to keep his promise and the troopers are killed, while the women and children are hustled into the old barracks. This also is seen by the High Priest Djalma in a vision as he stands before the idol of Buddha in the temple. The Sepoys, having been defeated by the advancing troopers of General Havelock, avenge themselves by slaughtering the women and children. A Hindu woman with a white baby escapes. In the temple the high priest throws incense on the brazier, and again in a vision he sees the Hindu woman give the baby to a Sepoy coolie who is in a boat, he having escaped after having looted the bodies of the dead and found the emerald. The old priest makes a solemn vow that the baby boy shall grow up and reclaim the stolen eye and that he shall adopt the boy. Twenty-five years later the emerald, after having passed through many hands and each time causing a calamity, finds its way into the possession of Colonel Van Alston, his wife and daughter, Nellie. The High Priest Djalma, now an aged man, realizing that his days are numbered, calls the little boy he adopted years ago, now known as Afga, the White Priest, and makes him swear that he will devote his entire life to the restoring of the eye of Buddha. Afga promises and the old priest passes away. Taking his ball of crystal he concentrates his mind upon it and sees in it Nellie at a reception with the emerald around her neck. That night, as Afga throws incense on the brazier, he sees in the smoke that rises, Nellie, admiring the emerald and gently refusing the proposal of a suitor. She suddenly falls in a trance, in which she sees Afga and the idol of Buddha with the missing eye. Recovering her senses again, Nellie becomes very ill and the doctors advise a change in climate. Just about this time the colonel is ordered to take his regiment to Cawnpore, India. In taking in the sights of that city, they eventually come to the Temple of Buddha, where Nellie meets Afga. Nellie continues to be sick, and one of her attendants, a native coolie, seeing the emerald about her neck, goes to the head of his sect and tells him of the emerald. He is given silken cords with which to hang Nellie. Meanwhile, Afga calls upon the colonel and asks to cure his daughter. He is given permission, and almost simultaneously with the laying of his hand upon her brow, she gets well. That night in the temple, Afga sees in a vision Nellie being maltreated by the coolie thus. He goes at once to her rescue and transforms the leader into a dog. The rest slink away in mortal fear. He takes Nellie home and leaves. The next day Nellie goes to the temple and is taken before the idol of Buddha. Pointing to the eye socket Afga tells her of the story of the emerald. Impulsively she gives him the precious stone, and immediately after it is placed in the socket it flares fire. They then go to the colonel, the history of the young man is told, and he is recognized as Nellie's accepted suitor.
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