Life-Saving Up-to-Date (1905)

A dispute takes place between some traveling musicians while they are giving a concert in a courtyard. The Janitor of the house. who mixes himself up in the hubbub which follows, gets pushed into a well. One of the tenants rushes to his aid and he is assisted by others. They strive to pull the man out by a rope let down, but the rope breaks and he falls back to the bottom of the well while his rescuers topple over backwards. They call the firemen to aid the drowning man. There is nothing more comical than the sight of the extraordinary methods employed by these latter for extricating the hapless janitor from his sorry condition. Doctor Deathcheater applies a marvelous treatment--which had remained a profound secret up to that time-to cause the drowned man to eject the water he had swallowed. He is promptly restored to life, happy at having escaped death so cheaply.