The Lure of New York (1913)

In Bavaria lives a young girl, Regina Muller, and her mother. They receive word that their inn is about to be closed on account of non-payment, so Regina, seventeen years old, resolves to go to America and try her fortune in the new world. The following week Regina departs for New York, and upon her leaving her mother presents her with a locket containing a photo of the mother, herself, and begging her daughter to go the right road, no matter what temptations may come her way. On board the steamer Regina meets a country woman, much wiser than herself, coming to New York from abroad, who assures the young girl that her husband, a certain Gentleman Joe, will take care of her. On their arrival Regina is welcomed in the new home on the Bowery, and is charmed with the courtesy extended to her. Her friends are up to a different game. Gentleman Joe and his pals in the underworld commence their usual low plottings. In order to carry out their schemes, they do away with the sergeant of their district. This gives them a free chance to proceed. Gentleman Joe and his wife intercept Regina's letters to her mother. They forge a letter from Bavaria and inform the girl that her mother is lost to the world. Then they appease her grief by inviting her to the pleasures of the New York underworld. She is taken to Chinatown. A fight ensues in the restaurant. Gentleman Joe shows his true colors. After the row Regina becomes suspicious of her surroundings. Meanwhile, her mother, not hearing from her child, begins to feel that her daughter is lost. Regina soon forgets her experience in the underworld, and is invited to an evening at the cabaret at the Madison Square Roof Garden. It is during this adventure that the young child begins to realize more than ever that her friends are deluding her and that their motives are other than they pretend. Gentleman Joe makes violent love to Regina under pretense that he wants to make a cabaret singer out of her, but, filled with terror and fright, the little girl spurns his mock love and leaves the cabaret in horror and disgust. When the unhappy family reaches home, Gentleman Joe and his wife plot to drive the girl out of his home. Regina overhears their scheme and that night makes her escape out of the window. She is followed by Tony, Joe's confederate, but with the aid of the sergeant's son, who has turned against the gang. Regina is safely brought to his mother's home. After a most sensational chase on the running elevator train, then over the works of an elevated station and down the tenth story winding fire escape, Tony is at last captured by the police. The following day Regina seeks employment, and on her way meets with an accident. The occupant of an auto, a certain Madame DuPont, realizing her chauffeur's negligence, takes care of Regina, places her in her auto and drives home. This accident forms a new chapter in Regina's life. From now on her life is entirely changed. Madame DuPont is so charmed with Regina's simplicity and fascinating manner that she resolves to adopt her as her own. Regina receives a musical education; she is thrust into society, and is a debutante at a reception tendered in her honor. Years have elapsed. Regina's mother leaves for New York in search of her child. Soon after she lands she seeks employment. At this juncture Madame DuPont derides to send Regina abroad for a musical education. Everything is made ready for her departure. Regina calls up the employment agency for a servant. Mrs. Muller is in the office. She is sent to Mademoiselle Regina to act as a servant to her own child, not knowing where she is commissioned to go. She meets her daughter face to face, denounces her for her long neglect, but when she hears her child's story and finds the locket around her neck and her own photo intact, the mother's heart softens and the mother and daughter fall into each others' arms.