The story
“A dishonest political boss ruled a great state with profit to himself. In time he made the mistake of nominating an honest, ambitious young man for governor. The candidate was elected, and the boss got the surprise of his life when the executive announced that he intended to run the state himself, and did not need the help of the boss in picking out his subordinates. Naturally he fell into disfavor with the political powers, but as the general public was satisfied, he decided that it did not matter. He failed, however, to realize that a crooked political organization stops at nothing, and the boss arranged a plot, that if successful would have ruined him beyond repair. A letter was sent to the governor purporting to be from a man who exposed grafters who had robbed the state of millions. The writer explained that he was too much afraid to appear at the Capitol, so insisted that the governor call upon him. The boss figured that the governor would fall into the trap, and enlisted the aid of an unscrupulous woman, who was willing to swear that the governor had called to see her.
“Fortunately for the honest young executive, the stenographer of the boss overheard the plot, and it shocked her. Yielding to a sudden impulse she confided in an elderly woman, who lived in the same tenement, and with whose son she was falling deeply in love. This woman urged her to inform the governor, but the girl held back, fearing that she might be involved in the scandal herself, for she knew and feared the power of ‘the organization.’ Then as a last resort, the old woman revealed the secret to her son. He had been railroaded into prison for a crime he never committed, and being too poor to hire lawyers, seemed destined to serve out a long sentence. Finally the mother appealed to the governor, and he painstakingly investigated the case, decided that an injustice had been done, and pardoned the young man. This decided the girl, and the governor soon heard all the details of the plot. He decided to give the conspirators all the rope they wanted, and enlisted the aid of his cousin, who resembled him to a remarkable degree. Just when the boss thought his plan had succeeded, he found that he had been tricked, and instead of ruining the governor, was himself arrested on a charge of conspiracy and was sent to prison for a long term.”
Summary from The Moving Picture World · 18 October 1913
Another synopsis, from Reel Life · 11 October 19133 min
“Of the many good plays Mr. Lonergan has produced, The Plot Against the Governor is unquestionably one of the very best—and is somewhat remarkable in the fact that it suggests none of the recent political plays upon the legitimate stage. We’ve had bosses and reform governors—and embezzling governors—and about every variety of politician and man higher up. But this is about the first instance where a Governor has a double who enables him to win out against the machine. And we are indebted to Mr. Lonergan’s long newspaper experience for the intimate knowledge displayed of machine politics at Albany and elsewhere. He works his story out in this way: The boss succeeds in electing a thoroughly honest young governor whom he thinks he can control. But the governor, once elected, throws off all allegiance to the machine and proclaims a reform administration. Naturally, the boss starts out to get him. A letter to the governor purports to be from a man who can expose millions of dollars in graft if the governor will come to his room, as his life would be in danger if he appeared openly. An adventuress is to be planted in the room and the Governor’s career ruined when he keeps the appointment.
“The boss’s stenographer, however, overhears the plot and is shocked. She is in love with a young man who has been unjustly railroaded to prison for a crime he never committed—and she tells the conspiracy to the young man’s mother, who lives in the same tenement. The girl dares not go to the governor with the story—but the neighbor visits her son in prison and tells him. He urges her to go to the governor herself—which she does, and incidentally tells him her son’s story. The governor first investigates the convict’s case and pardons him. Then he sends for a cousin who resembles him so closely that they are sometimes mistaken for each other—and arranges with him to keep the trap appointment. When he does so, the boss and his heelers surprise him with the adventuress—but are, in turn, surprised by the real governor and a guard of plainclothes men. The boss is indicted and convicted of conspiracy. And state politics are a bit cleaner until his successor is elected, we suppose. All this has been merely sketched in this review—but there is enough of it to fill a two-reel film—and then some. The action doesn’t halt for an instant—and the interest is fully as well sustained as in any play of a similar nature upon the legitimate stage. One feature in which Mr. Lonergan has been extremely fortunate in the finding of available types for his characters. The boss in this play looks the part in life—so does the governor. So do all the politicians concerned in the plot—the man unjustly convicted—and the girl who had become a confidential stenographer to the boss in the usual way, recommended from her school to the typewriting agency, and was becoming daily more horrified at the things done by the men she found herself associated with. The dramatization is a fine and clean one. No blood and thunder—no undue sensationalism. Just the plain facts of what political life has become in—say—the State of New York, for example. And those facts are more intensely interesting than any impossible murder or ridiculous travesty on life ever shown on a 14th Street screen. This seems a good opportunity to hammer that fact home. No sensational story or dramatization of crime or scandal is half so interesting—convincing—gripping—as that which may and does happen in actual life—day by day.”
