Summary
A young, aspiring inventor named Simpson, on the verge of perfecting a groundbreaking process for color photography, finds his progress stalled by a severe lack of funds. A seemingly innocent moment, where he displays a shotgun to his beloved Elinor in front of a hardware store, inadvertently places him under the suspicious gaze of the local sheriff. When a nearby bank is subsequently robbed, Simpson, by unfortunate coincidence, becomes the law’s primary suspect. Warned by Elinor, the couple embarks on a frantic race back to Simpson's laboratory, with the determined sheriff in hot pursuit. Upon their arrival, they discover a tramp has not only broken into the lab and caused considerable damage but has also, by sheer accident, completed Simpson’s revolutionary photographic process. The tramp, apprehended, is then revealed to be the actual bank robber, bringing an unexpected and convenient resolution to both the inventor's financial woes and the sheriff's chase.
A story told without titles: Simpson, a young inventor and sportsman, has nearly completed a new process of colored photography but lacks the necessary funds to complete it. Meeting his sweetheart, Elinor, he shows her a shotgun in the window of a hardware store, and is observed by the sheriff. The local bank is held up and the sheriff conceives the idea that the inventor is the bandit and gives chase. Simpson is warned by Elinor and they start for his laboratory with the sheriff in hot pursuit. On arriving they find a tramp has broken in and wrecked the plant but has accidentally completed the inventors process. They arrest him and discover he is the bank robber so all ends well.