Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1916-12-22
Story of The Battle Cry of Peace

tremendous photo dramatic spectacle
conceived and produced by J. Stuart
~BIackton Of the Vitagraph Co., and
featuring Charles Richman, clearly
depicts the terrors that may some
day result from the unpreparedness
of our country to meet the assault
of powerful foe. The picture was
inspired by the famous book, DE
fenseless America" whose author.
Hudson Maxim, plays an important
part.
First, we see an ordinary house.
hold, in New York City, with an
aged mother, two typical American
boys and their sister. One of the
boys, John Harrison. is in love with
Virginia Vandergriff, daughter of a
"peace at any price" advocate,
whose actions, guided by the hand
of foreign spy, have done much
toward keeping our country in it's
deplorable state of unpreparedness.
John tries to reason with Wander
griff, urging him, for his country's
sake, to abandon his policy, but the
pacifist remains firm. Then, in the
midst Of one Of the meetings over
which Vandergriff presides, patriot
ically waving an American flag, the
thunder of guns is heard, the hall is
destroyed by monster shell, and
New Yark is forced to realize, too
ate, that our defences are made
quate and the city is at the mercy
of the invaders. Our fleet, after a
gallant stand, is sunk by the longer
range and larger calibre guns of the
enemy which are able to stand out
side the zone of our fire, and peter
our ships with a merciless hail of
shot and shell. Our coast defense
guns also are silenced by a terrific
bombardment while the enemy's fleet
is still outside the range of our fire.
In the bombardment, the beautiful
sky line of the city is shattered, the
sky scrapers in falling, ad 1ing many
to the list of the already numerous
dead and wounded. The city is in
panic, refugees rushing to and fro
in vain attempt to escape the hor-
rible death which has overtaken so
many. The enemy army lands, un-
der cover of fire from the fleet, and
after short engagement, forces the
American army to fee. New York
is now in the possession of the
enemy. John Harrison returns o
home, to bid his mother farewell, a,
he is going to enlist in the army and
lend his II eagre assistance toward
the preservation Of his country, but
finds her together with his brother
and sister, stretched out dead, killed
by the shot and shell, which, had we
been prepared, would never have
reached our shores. He has no time
to mourn his triple loss, for he must
hurry to the aid of his & untry. Be-
fore he is able to strike a blow for
the defence of America, he is seized
on a false charge of sniping and SEN
fenced to death. With crowd of
other innocent Americans, among
them the pacifist Vandergriff, he is
forced to the wall, where the enemy
opens fire with a machine gun.
Through a miracle, Richman re-
mains alive, but falls in order to de-
ceive the execution squad. Mean
while, Mrs. Vandergriff has been
compelled to open her doors to a
squad of enemy soldiers, who loot
the home recklessly. When Mrs.
Vandergriff sees the commander of
the squad viewing her daughter,
Virginia, with malicious eyes, she
chooses the only honorable retreat
left to her by shooting both her
daughter and herself. Harrison,
after extricating himself from the
pile of dead, attempts once more to
aid in repelling the enemy. He sees
the spy who, through his pre- achings,
was largely responsible for the pres
ent condition of the country, and
hurls himself upon him, only to be
struck down by the guards and kill
ed. This is the story of what would
happen to not only New York, al
though that city would undoubtedly
be the first attacked, but to every
CITY in the country, unless adequate