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The Upheaval Synopsis

On Jim Gordon falls the political mantle of his father, "Big Jim" Gordon. The father has been the leader of a corrupt ring, but the son determines to be true to the teaching of his dead mother, and use his position for good purposes. However, he is not given credit for altruism. It is taken for granted both by the general public and by the politicians whose leadership he has inherited that he is a grafter, as his father has been. He succeeds in getting the Utilities Bill passed. The New American, a newspaper under reform management, warns the public against what it calls his hypocrisy. When he gets the Water Rate Bill passed they still accuse him of having some nefarious scheme "up his sleeve" to defraud the public. Gordon's only mistake is in making Sidney Benson Director of Public Safety. Benson is a fraud, who is posing as a reformer to further his own ends. He is engaged to Joan Madison, who is interested in the passing of the Sanitary Bill to provide for better conditions among the tenement dwellers. She goes to Benson for aid in the matter, but he gives an evasive answer. She then goes to Benjamin Waters, the editor of the New American, and he asks her to write a series of articles exposing local conditions. She consents, but goes to a mountain resort for quiet in order to write. Through an accident she meets Gordon, who has also gone to the same county for a rest, and they fall in love. On her return to the city she decides to plead with Gordon himself to have the Sanitary Bill passed, and is surprised to meet her friend of the mountains. He tells her that her own father is the owner of the houses in the debated district and that the destruction of these buildings will mean penury for her. Principle triumphs over selfishness and she tells him to go ahead and have the bill passed. He does so, and her father is left without means. Gordon tells him that all his money difficulties will be solved if he will influence Joan to become his wife. Joan's instinctive fondness for Gordon is clouded by what she thinks is his contemptible bargaining, but she consents. They are married, but she still believes that her husband is a grafter. A new traction company comes into the field to fight the methods of the old one. The original company accuses Gordon of no longer looking after its interests. His answer, which is an offer to buy the concern, is gladly accepted. Joan learns of the transaction and tells Benson, thinking her husband intends to defraud the public. An accusation of Gordon is made on the front page of the New American on the morning the franchise bill is to come up before the city council. A great crowd congregates, determined to fight Jim Gordon and any measure he may advocate. He demands a hearing. Briefly outlining the benefits he has conferred on the city, he tells them he has bought the company in order to make a present of it to the city in honor of his dead mother and to atone for the wrongs his father has done the community. Gordon and Joan are left penniless, but they begin a new life together.

Her Reckoning Synopsis

Howard Sherbrooke, a wealthy senior at a law university, is infatuated with Ethel Stratton, a girl who is a favorite with the students. Dick Leslie, his chum, is also in love with her. Dick is from the west, working his way through college, and Howard has assisted him financially. Howard does not know of Dick's love for Ethel. After graduation, Howard, whose interest in Ethel has ripened into love, realizes that his family and social friends will not tolerate her as his wife. He plans a mock marriage, intending to take her to New York with him. He tells Dick of this proposed arrangement, and asks him to get someone to impersonate a minister for the ceremony. Dick veils his indignation, but agrees to carry out the plan. Instead, he engages a real minister, who marries Ethel and Howard. Dick goes west. The couple live happily in a Brooklyn flat for several months when Howard receives a letter from his father, stating that he is planning for his son to marry Beatrice Ford, daughter of his friend, Randolph Ford, a multi-millionaire. He adds that Mr. Ford intends making Howard head of the law department in his firm. Howard realizes he must break off his affair with Ethel. He tells her that he is not married to her, and that he must leave to marry a girl of his own caste. Broken hearted, Ethel informs him she is soon to become a mother. Howard blames the mock marriage on Dick, and leaves. Ethel writes a scathing letter to Dick. Dick hurries east and finds the minister who performed the ceremony. It is the morning of the Sherbrooke-Ford wedding. Ethel goes to the church, and as she starts to denounce her husband during the ceremony, falls in a swoon and is carried into the vestry. Dick and the minister arrive at the church, but the guests are leaving. Ethel comes out of the church alone and meets Dick, who tells her she is really married to Howard. Accompanied by the minister they hurry to the Ford home, where they convince Mr. Ford his son is a bigamist. Mr. Ford, in a rage, declares he will send his son to prison. Horrified at the prospect of a prison term and the attending disgrace, Howard goes into the library where a flash from a pistol shot records his unhappy end. A few months later Ethel and Dick are married.