The story
“Ruth Travis accepts Will Mayo, and Al Stevens, his rival, experiences the pangs of disappointment not unmixed with jealous rage. His feelings affect the beclouded brain of his half-witted brother, Ralph, who plots to avenge the brother he adores. Ruth comes to the sawmill, which Mayo owns, looking for her fiancé. It is Sunday afternoon and the place is deserted—save for the half-wit, who has a habit of prowling about alone among the machinery and timber. He sees Ruth and, prompted by a criminal instinct working blindly in him, seizes the girl and binds her to the log carrier. The whirring machinery is set in motion and the jagged teeth of the mammoth saw gnaw their way nearer and nearer. Mayo hears the dull buzzing of the giant saw, and hurries to investigate. He reaches the mill just in time. Frozen by horror, he yet forces himself to act, and, stopping the machinery, drags from the death rack the half unconscious girl.”
Summary from Reel Life · 6 June 1914
