The Guilt of Stephen Eldridge - Production & Contact Info

The Guilt of Stephen Eldridge (1916)
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The Guilt of Stephen Eldridge (1916)

Short | Short

False entries in the bank's books serve to cover up the peculations of Stephen Eldridge, the cashier, but the discovery of the fraud results in the imprisonment of John Gordon, the paying teller. Gordon implores his wife to keep his little...See moreFalse entries in the bank's books serve to cover up the peculations of Stephen Eldridge, the cashier, but the discovery of the fraud results in the imprisonment of John Gordon, the paying teller. Gordon implores his wife to keep his little son in ignorance of the disgrace, and vows that he will clear his name someday. Time passes, and Eldridge is made president of the bank. About the same time Gordon is made a trusty in prison. He takes advantage of his freedom to escape and makes his way to on him to effect his getaway. Questioned as to the source of the money, she replies that an old friend of Gordon, who wishes to remain unknown, sends her a monthly remittance through a lawyer. Gordon half guesses the truth and makes his way to Eldridge's home, where the bank president, seeing him looking through a window, believes it an apparition conjured up by his guilty conscience. Gordon assumes the disguise of a scissors grinder, and thus contrives to keep in close touch with his wife. Douglas Gordon goes to college and there meets the son of his father's betrayer. William Eldridge is a dissolute junior, always in debt. He has secretly married Marie Abbot, a showgirl, and she demands money. He goes to his father and is severely lectured for his bad habits. On the table he sees a memorandum of his father's payments to Mrs. Gordon, and uses this knowledge to force money from his father. Later, at college, he quarrels with Douglas Gordon over a game of cards and taunts him: "You're the son of a thief, living on my father's bounty." Douglas is restrained by the presence of the girl he loves, Eleanor Curzon, daughter of Stephen Eldridge's old friend. He departs to ask his mother if what he has heard is true. When she tells him the story, his one thought is to establish his father's innocence. When William Eldridge taunts his father with paying conscience money to the embezzler's wife, John Gordon, in his disguise of a scissors grinder, is watching at the window and overhears the words. His son resolves to get possession of the incriminating document, and goes to the Eldridge home late at night. His father follows him at a distance. Stephen Eldridge is giving a house party for Eleanor. After the guests have retired, Eleanor returns to the study in search of her handbag. Hearing footsteps, she secrets herself in a closet. William Eldridge enters the room and proceeds to rob his father's safe. Marie has threatened to reveal his marriage to his father, and rendered desperate he will stop at nothing to buy her silence. He is interrupted by the entrance of Douglas Gordon. The latter finds the safe open and ransacks it. Eventually he finds, not the paper he seeks, but a signed confession of Stephen Eldridge's crime. As he turns to go, William grapples with him, revolver in hand. Eleanor screams, and the household is aroused. Stephen Eldridge, entering, is shot by his son's weapon. Police enter, and William charges Douglas with burglary. But Eleanor intervenes and accuses William as the thief. At this juncture John Gordon enters, and Stephen Eldridge looks into the face of the man he has wronged. Dying, he backs up his written confession by a declaration of his guilt. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less

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9 cast members

Name	Known for
Charles Hill Mailes Stephen Eldridge (as Charles H. Mailes) Stephen Eldridge (as Charles H. Mailes) See fewer	The Mark of Zorro (1920)
G. Raymond Nye William Eldridge William Eldridge See fewer	Nine and Three-Fifths Seconds (1925)
Ivan Christy John Gordon John Gordon See fewer	Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)
Jack Mulhall Douglas Gordon Douglas Gordon See fewer	The Three Musketeers (1933)
Adelaide Woods Mrs. John Gordon Mrs. John Gordon See fewer	The American Beauty (1916)
Jack Drumier Mr. Curzon Mr. Curzon See fewer	The Dancer's Peril (1917)
Vera Sisson Eleanor Curzon Eleanor Curzon See fewer	The Married Virgin (1918)
Gretchen Hartman Marie Abbott Marie Abbott See fewer	Les Misérables (1917)
Charles Perley George Trask George Trask See fewer	The Chosen Prince, or the Friendship of David and Jonathan (1917)