The Missing Heir

A lawyer is given the execution of a will, which bequeaths to the child of a disinherited son a large fortune. The disinherited son is now dead. The father, on his deathbed is penitent. By way of making amends he leaves to his son's offspring, his entire fortune. He is ignorant of his grandchild's fate, but provides that a thorough search should be made. The will further provides that should the search for the child prove a failure, the fortune should go to the old man's nephew, a worthless and idle youth of loose morals. The nephew tries his best to make the finding of the child impossible, while the lawyer, who had a sentimental interest in the dead son, uses every known means to locate the missing heir. The missing boy falls into the hands of an Italian fruit vendor. The Italian reads in the papers that there is a hunt for the boy. He easily establishes the boy's identity by a scar on his cheek. Then he goes to see the lawyer to claim the reward. But he meets the nephew at the lawyer's office and is bribed to keep quiet. It was the nephew's plan to keep the boy out of the way until after the expiration of the time limit set in the will. In the tenement house where the Italian lived, there was a very wide-awake, energetic janitor. And he had a sweetheart, a newsgirl, who also took a great deal of interest in what was going on. The girl's suspicions were aroused when the natty nephew called on the shabby Italian. The two men hold a conference in one of the Italian's two rooms, having sent the boy into the kitchen. The girl listens outside, at the keyhole, and is shocked to hear of a plan to send the boy adrift. She decides to rescue the boy by strategy. The plotters are earnestly conversing in the front room, and they do not hear a slight stir in the back kitchen. But the janitor, a former sailor, comes up the dumbwaiter rope, hand over hand, hoists the car, and lowers the boy to safety, before the astonished villains realize that anything out of the way is happening. Seeing that their scheme has failed they try to escape, but are trapped on the roof of the tenement, and ignominiously marched off by the janitor and turned over to the police. And the missing heir is produced in time to secure the fortune. - IMDb