The Star of India (1913)

In the secret recesses of the Rajah's palace stood a Buddha, its forehead encrusted with a precious stone of infinite value, called "The Star of India." For centuries this stone has been coveted by all the crowned heads of Europe. According to tradition the stone was shifted with the mysterious power of instilling those who laid their eyes on it with an insane passion to possess it. A military attache seeing the jewel, laboriously tunnels through the ground to the palace, steals the diamond, but is poisoned by one of the snakes guarding it, and eventually he dies. The diamond falls into the hands of an American surveyor, who almost loses his life getting it, for the stone is also coveted by his Hindu servant, who later follows him across the Atlantic with evil designs. When the surveyor's sweetheart sees the stone, she insanely desires it. His rival undertakes to get it for her on the promise that she would marry him if he succeeded. Both he and the Hindu engage the same gang of crooks as assistants in their attacks on the surveyor. The diamond changes hands several times. Each man who temporarily gets it dies a horrible death. During the days of trial and struggles the lovers unite against the gang. The stone finally is returned to India, where it continues to glitter as "The Guiding Star of India."