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Learn more- Crabbed old chemist George Barker has for his assistant his nephew Frank Barker, who is in love with Leila Wilson, the daughter of fairly well-to-do parents. Frank has ideas which he thinks, if carried out, would cause some startling discoveries, but his uncle won't listen to him. Frank writes to a friend in the West, telling his troubles, but the letter is never mailed because the boy can't find a stamp. One morning, after a bitter quarrel between uncle and nephew, the old man discharges Frank, telling him to look elsewhere for a home. Frank, intending to go West, calls on Leilla to bid her goodbye. The old chemist goes to work on an experiment in his laboratory. Having occasion to use a few grains of a very dangerous drug, and having no means at hand to open the can which contains it, he goes to the pantry and uses the cook's can opener. He unknowingly spills some of the drug on the table. A short time later he is called to lunch by the servant, but not being satisfied with what she has prepared, he goes to the pantry and makes himself a sandwich and carries away some of the poison on the bread. Frank returns to the house and starts to pack up. Among his belongings are some chemist's tools. The old man eats a bite or two of the poisoned sandwich. The poison acts almost immediately, and rising to his feet, he throws the sandwich from him, and staggering into the library, falls to the floor. In his fall the old man strikes his head against a piece of furniture, causing an oval-shaped bruise on the forehead. Frank is in the act of packing a mortar and pestle when he hears the sound of the falling body. Still grasping the pestle, he hurries to the library, where he finds his uncle dead. The old servant enters and is horrified to find Frank bending over the body of his uncle. The doctor who is called in grows suspicious and causes a detective to be put on the case. The headquarters man finds the incriminating letter written by Frank, and with close questioning he gets the old negro servant's story of the quarrel and also the situation when she entered the library. Coupling this evidence with the fact that the pestle fits the shape of the bruise on the dead man's forehead, Frank is speedily indicted for the murder of his uncle. Leila, believing that Frank is innocent, hires a scientific detective named Kemp to unravel the mystery. A few days before the day set for the trial, Kemp calls at the jail, where he finds Frank and his lawyer in consultation. Putting an officer in charge of Frank, he bids him accompany him to the district attorney's office. Kemp tells the district attorney of the investigation he has made, how he discovered the partly-eaten sandwich containing the poison, the can which was opened with a can opener on the pantry table, where several particles of the drug still remained among the bread crumbs. His last card is the result of an analysis of the contents of the victim's stomach, which disclosed the fact that the chemist was not murdered, but died from the effect of the poison left by his own carelessness on the table. Frank's innocence is proven, even to the satisfaction of the district attorney, and to save the expense of a needless trial, he agrees to have the indictment returned. Leila's parents realize that they have misjudged Frank and after his release they agree to their marriage.
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