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  • The Forged Dispatch (1911)
  • Short | Drama, Short
The Forged Dispatch (1911)
Short | Drama, Short
Jack Haskins and Jim Darrow are rivals for the hand of Bess Kemp. Haskins is the favored suitor, whereat Darrow is furious. Fort Sumter is fired upon and there is a call for volunteers. A company is formed and Jack Haskins is made captain....See moreJack Haskins and Jim Darrow are rivals for the hand of Bess Kemp. Haskins is the favored suitor, whereat Darrow is furious. Fort Sumter is fired upon and there is a call for volunteers. A company is formed and Jack Haskins is made captain. Dave, the brother of Bess, has enlisted as a drummer boy. Jim Darrow applies and is duly made a member of the company. The scene reverts to the front with Jack and a small body of men fighting desperately to hold an outpost against the onslaught of the enemy. Jim Darrow is dispatched with an order for reinforcements. At a lonely spot on the road, he reads the note and conceives a plot to humiliate Jack. He forges a dispatch ordering Jack to retreat. Jack does so, with little Dave by his side. A shell explodes near them and the arm of Jack is torn off and Dave receives a mortal wound. Jack is in the act of placing the order in his pocket when he is struck by the missile, but it drops to the ground. The boy staggers towards him and, in a dazed condition, places the dispatch in his pocket, being unable to reach Jack, and falls dead. Jack, recovered from his wound, with an empty sleeve, is summoned before his superior officers, courtmartialed and sent home, branded as a coward on the evidence of Jim. The scene reverts to the north. An officer brings the coat and cap worn by Dave to Bess and gives her a letter from Jack, who writes that he has been proven a coward and releases her from their engagement. Twenty years have now passed. It is Memorial Day and the Union survivors of the war are having their annual parade. In her home Bess, now a saddened unmarried woman, sees the old soldiers march past. She gets the clothing of her dead brother to wave out of the window and the forged dispatch drops out of the pocket where it has lain so long. She reads with dilated eyes and then rushes to the street. Jack is surprised to find his old comrades at his window yelling for him to come out. He is told the forged dispatch has been found which proves his innocence. He rushes from his house to clasp Bess in his arms and to be placed at the head of the soldiers, in command. Three rousing cheers are given for Captain Jack Haskins and the old veterans march away. The closing scene is at the cemetery with Jack and Bess decorating the grave of Dave, with the grizzled veterans in the background. Written by Moving Picture Weekly See less
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Director
Thomas H. Ince
Producer
Carl Laemmle
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Status
Edit Released
Updated May 22, 1911
Release date
May 22, 1911 (United States)

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