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The Taking of Rattlesnake Bill
(1913) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by John Ince
Cast: John Ince [Rattlesnake Bill], William C. Carr [Sheriff Granger], Charles Kelly [the bartender], John Keenan [Dan, the stagecoach driver], Kid Bill Arthur (William Arthur) [Pete], Billy Rocsher (William Rausher [the railroad conductor], Leslie Nelson [Sheriff Granger’s daughter], J. Thayer [the doctor]
Lubin Manufacturing Company production; distributed by The General Film Company, Incorporated. / Produced by Siegmund Lubin. From a story by Emmett C. Hall. / Released 16 October 1913. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [From Lubin promotional materials] Rattlesnake Bill is a daring outlaw who has for a long time successfully evaded capture. Sheriff Granger has sworn to get Bill, who, hearing this, rides into town, holds up the sheriff himself, and makes good his escape. The sheriff’s little girl, left motherless, is being sent to him from the east, and is the only passenger on the stagecoach. Dan, the stage driver, is half drunk, and when he stops to make some repairs to his harness he does not observe that the child gets out of the coach and drives off without her. Bill finds the child almost dead from thirst and exhaustion. He takes her to his cabin. He realizes that the child is dangerously ill, and determines to secure a doctor. He goes to the town and induces a physician to return with him. In his haste, Bill neglect his usual precautions and is seen by the sheriff. The physician does all that is possible for the child and leaves her in Bill’s care, telling him that the child only needs sleep, but that she must sleep until she awakens naturally and that a violent awakening will prove fatal. The doctor on his way to town meets the sheriff, but the doctor refuses to give any information. When the sheriff reaches the hidden cabin, he fails to take Bill by surprise, and Bill gets the drop on the officer, but, thinking of the child, does not shoot. The sheriff refuses to be driven off, gamely declaring he will risk Bill’s missing one shot, and prepares to give battle. Bill quietly surrenders. The sheriff discovers that it is his own child that Bill has saved, and though filled with gratitude, does not dream of not doing his official duty nor does Bill expect him to fail therein. The two men sit for long hours waiting for the child to wake, which she at length does. By Indian smoke signals the sheriff has called his deputies, who, in due course, arrive and take Bill away.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 7 October 2023.
References: Tarbox-Lost p. 87 : Website-IMDb.
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