The Three Pals (1916)

Mike and Louie are at work pitching hay. In an idle moment they get hold of a Chicago newspaper, and Mike, who cannot read, sits absorbing the dope while Louie spells it out of the paper. Suddenly Louie comes to a want ad seeking Mike Schultz, who is heir to a fortune. They go to Chicago, see the attorney. Philo Markham. And receive the fortune of $10,000. Markham interests them in a western ranch which comes into his hands in lieu of cash for legal fees of $238.00, and changing the amount to $23,800, sells it to them for $9,500.00, permitting them to retain $500 of their legacy for traveling expenses. It happens that Markham's daughter, May, elopes on the same train west with Mike and Louie. Her husband is a disappointment. He gambles away all his own money. To avoid him she gets off at a small way station near Crowntown, the point to which Mike and Louie are bound. Mike and Louie arrived at El Reposo, the name of the ranch, on foot and discover that they have been buncoed out of their wealth. Aside from their return tickets and their livestock, they have nothing in the world left. While they are bemoaning their sad fate the goat eats the tickets. He is starting on their life insurance policies when he is discovered and runs away to the hills. May meanwhile is overpowered by her husband and Pedro. Hee screams bring Mike and Louie to her rescue. The crooks are routed. May, remembering that her father had renounced her marriage to Chester, tells them she has no father. All go to the home of a farmer named Woods. Woods finds a job for May later as a piano player in a dance hall, but Mike and Louie, who have become her self-constituted guardians, determine to go there also and watch over her. Steve Barton, a gambler, with the aid of French Bessie, succeeds in getting May into his power. Mike and Louie, however, again come to her aid and escort the weeping and repentant May home. Mike and Louie realize that the quickest way to save May from total perdition is to immolate themselves on the altar of self-sacrifice, and thus permit her to gather in the coin on their insurance policies. They, therefore, change the names on their policies, making her the sole beneficiary. They decide that the best way to to fight each other to the death and the survivor then kill himself. They fire volley after volley at each other. Both fall, but neither is hurt. Then they embrace, but are confronted by Chester and Pedro, who force them to exchange clothes with them. A posse comes in pursuit of Chester and Pedro for bank robbery, and they are chased off a cliff and fall to oblivion. The posse naturally believes that Mike and Louie have been killed, so with the clothes of Chester and Pedro on them, Mike and Louie decide to hoof it to Chicago. May secures the insurance and leaves for Chicago. At a small mining town Mike and Louie give away the goat and sell the burro for an extravagant sum, securing enough to return by rail to Chicago. Reaching Chicago, they secure positions in a big hotel as waiter and bus boy. Markham discovers May in Chicago, recognizes her, and they become reconciled. They celebrate the event by a big dinner at the hotel, where May is seen by Mike and Louie, and to the consternation of everybody she embraces them both. Markham rushes up to find out who May is embracing. He is recognized by Mike and Louie and charged with fraud. Markham offers restitution by presenting them with a check for $20,000, and everyone is happy.