Edward T. Matlack

Rupert Winslow, traffic superintendent of the railroad that employs Helen as operator at Lone Point, receives a telegram stating that his wife, who is ill, will be on the midnight express. He calls in Summers, a veteran brakeman on the passenger run and instructs him to watch over Mrs. Winslow and to sidetrack her sleeper if she requires medical attention.

Helen, the telegraph operator at the Lone Point Station, shields Miguel, a greaser, under suspicion of having stolen some horses, until the real thieves are caught.

107th film in the Hazards of Helen series

Film 106 in the Hazards of Helen series

Film 103 in the Hazards of Helen series

Film 102 in the Hazards of Helen series.

Film 101 in the Hazards of Helen series

On a visit to the State Prison with Superintendent Melvin of the construction camp near Lone Point. Helen gains the friendship of Butler, a former telegrapher who had been wrongfully convicted on circumstantial evidence. Butler is soon to be released and Helen promises to aid him.

The new superintendent scoffs at the men's fear of Engine 3615, and declares that it must be put into service at once. Engineer Kent, a veteran of the road, refuses to take the throttle and is discharged. Dick Benton, a young engineer, is induced to take the engine out and "kill this talk of a hoodoo."

Helen, by a courageous leap from a motorcycle, reaches the burning boxcar in which the detectives are imprisoned and succeeds in applying the brakes in time to bring it to a stop and save them from almost certain death.

Escaping after an early morning bank robbery, Gentleman Joe and his pal succeed in boarding a freight train headed toward Lone Point. Fearing rightly that a warning has been sent down the line, they secrete their loot in a box car, and, after noting its number, alight and seek cover until after the pursuit has cooled.

Greggs, returning from abroad with a large consignment of precious stones, thwarts the first attempt of Gentleman Joe and his accomplice to rob him at his hotel, but they follow him aboard the train the when he is alone on the observation platform they attack him, and a struggle ensues in which Greggs is finally thrown to the ground from the speeding train. Helen, riding through the hills in an auto, comes upon him before Joe and his pal can alight from the train, Greggs gives her the diamonds and tells her to speed away and rush help back to take care of his injuries.

Agents of a foreign power are seeking to get possession of the plans of a new aeroplane motor invented by Dick Benton. Under cover of darkness they succeed in their scheme and are escaping in their automobile when it plunges over an embankment near Lone Point.

In a scuffle between the assistant foreman and a discharged employee at the mountain construction camp the latter's revolver is fired, bringing about a dynamite explosion that severely injures many of the men.

Trent returns to the throttle too soon after his recovery from illness. On the following day Ruth, his daughter, and Hume plan to elope. Trent, with a new fireman, is suddenly taken with a weak spell and when the fireman becomes panic-stricken there is a scuffle which ends with the fireman thrown to the ground while the fast freight speeds on.

Billy Warren, timekeeper on the construction job, arouses the enmity of Brent and Easton when he resents their bullying of the other men. Pay day finds the men celebrating in riotous fashion, and Brent in a crazed moment breaks into the station and attacks Helen. Her cries bring Warren, who trounces the bully.

The film is directed by James Davis from a story by Edward T. Matlack. In this episode Helen Gibson performs one absolutely breathtaking stunt, which just shows how dangerous it was to act for silent film pioneers, especially for stuntmen and stuntwomen. There is a twist to the plot, and Helen Gibson not only has to save her governor from mortal danger, but also the life of somebody close to her, who has been sentenced to die without guilt.

Apparent carelessness causes Conductor Lawton and his train crew to be laid off for thirty days. A gang of car thieves, pursued by police, jump aboard a freight, and after a stiff combat, succeed in throwing the crew off the speeding train to the ground.

When the Limited is forced to stop because of an obstruction on the tracks, the passengers alight for a stroll. In the excitement of boarding again one of the passengers loses a handbag containing her jewels and money. Two crooks aboard the train hear of this and at Helen's station they alight.

Climbing into a cab of a freight engine, Bobbie Layson, the son of a station pulls the throttle open. The alarm goes out and Helen, stationed at Lone Point, is ordered to derail the runaway and thus prevent it from running head-on into the approaching passenger train. Fearing for his son's life, Layson phones Helen

In this episode everything goes wrong. Helen ends up on the rear observation deck of a runaway express train with the door to the inside closed, with the air-brake of the engine damaged, the engine itself full of steam and inaccessible, and the train speeding ahead on the wrong track.

Crossed telephone wires enable Helen to overhear a plot between Joe and Bill, escaped convicts, to join a number of Chinese who are being smuggled into the country in a freight train.

Beaten by Dun and Corson, Trent is hurled unconscious to the tracks. Helen, who witnesses the attack, drags Trent from the rails just in time to save him from death beneath the wheels of an oncoming train. When the tramp revives, he accompanies his rescuer back to the station.

The shifting of the dynamite contained in a boxcar causes the latter to be cut from the freight and set out as unsafe. While this is being done, the Jones gang waylays Emerick, a cattleman who has just sold a herd of stock. Detectives are sent after the thieves.

Communicating with his pals outside, Daly informs them as to the date upon which he is to be taken from the jail to State's prison. Kling, the head of the gang, arranges to hold up the train carrying Daly and effect the man's rescue.

Disguised as baggage man, Burgess and Whelan board the train to which is coupled the special carrying Nina Mallotte and her theatrical troupe. The thieves plan to steal the actress' gems.

Hume and Frintz, while riding in a boxcar, see a trunk in the unguarded baggage car of a passenger train. By a daring leap from the freight to the passenger, Hume steals the trunk, throws it into one of the boxcars, and then leaps back. The trunk is missed and the loss reported from Helen's station.

Confronting Helen at the Lone Point Switch Tower, Denning and his pal imprison the girl in a clothes closet and then steal everything of value. In making their getaway, the crooks accidentally upset a lantern and set the tower afire. Helen, by picking the lock in the door with a hairpin, barely escapes death in the flames.

Fearing lest Cameron's horse beat the pony he has plunged on, Tony Dorgan orders one of his men to bribe the stableman to drug the animal. Saratoga Johnny tries to carry out Tony's order, but receives a beating at the hands of the irate Cameron employee.

Dawson, a newcomer to the division, meets Helen while the girl is riding in the freight engine with Star, his engineer. Helen ignores the fireman's offensive stares, knowing that trouble would instantly result, if she reported the matter to Star. The following day, Dawson approaches the girl telegrapher and, seizing her in his arms, kisses her.

After robbing the bank at Orlock, Cherry and Newton make their getaway. When on the outskirts of Lone Point, the men cut the telephone wires. Helen, however, learns of the robbery. Never suspecting that the crooks are headed for the station, the girl is taken by surprise when Newton and his pal hold her up.

Detective Strong is warned that an attempt will be made to free the crooks he is taking to the penitentiary. In spite of his vigilance, the prisoners escape when confederates start a gunfight on the train. Strong and his men scour the countryside for the fugitives.

Spang, a tramp telegrapher, is knocked down by a freight car while walking up the siding near Lone Point. Helen witnesses the accident and by quick work saves him from being run over. The girl is later transferred to the shop's office and, due to her influence.

Wharton, trailing Red Leary and his gang, learns that the men intend to wreck the Limited. Curley, a fireman, is implicated. The crooks become aware of Wharton's presence and attack him. Helen comes to the detective's rescue with a revolver and captures one of the men.

A warm friendship springs up between Quirkly and Helen, when the fireman saves the girl's life. In his desire to be near Helen, Quirkly obtains a room in the house where the girl telegrapher boards. Badger, a crook, stopping in the same house, learns that Quirkly is in the habit of carrying his savings in a bag suspended from his neck. Entering the room with a confederate, Badger chloroforms the fireman and steals the money. Helen hears the noise of the struggle, but comes too late to apprehend the crooks.

Disguised as car repairmen, Mealius and Denney get aboard the express car, overpower the express messenger and steal a valuable package being forwarded to Arlington. Helen sees the crooks jumping from the car when it stops for water at Lone Point and gives the alarm.

When informed by Helen that the rival railroad proposes to cross the Salt Lake's tracks, McKay, Division Superintendent, rushes a guard of men to Lone Point. This temporarily blocks the rival road's plan, but only until its force of men has been strengthened.

Under the influence of liquor, Griffin foolishly displays a roll of bills. Wheeler and Walter, yeggmen, see the money and trail the traveler to the station. The men learn the berth he is to occupy. Hastening to a bridge under which the train must pass, they drop to the roof of one of the cars when it appears. Helen, transferred to Burnett, is a passenger on the train. By mistake, Griffin gets into her berth. Because of the man's condition, Helen consents to allow him to keep her berth. The girl takes the one which Griffin's ticket calls for. An hour later, Helen is awakened by a peculiar noise outside the car. Hastily dressing, she sees the window being raised. Wheeler's face appears at the window. The man foils Helen's attempt to shoot him, disarms her and then climbs back to the roof of the car.

Helen is captured by two yeggmen who throw her into a refrigerator car; finding a meat hook, she chops her way into the ice chamber and reaches the top of the train in time to avert a collision of two trains.

A quarryman, dismissed because of intoxication, blames Billy, the mail clerk, and seeks revenge. He steals several sticks of dynamite, climbs to the top of the mail crane and ties to the explosives to the mail bag. Helen sees what is taking place, climbs to the arm and unties the dynamite. With the passenger train a short distance away, she hurls the explosive away just as the train approaches.

Helen spotting two jewel robbers sever the telegraph wires and hop onto a passing freight, jumps into a racing auto and takes off in pursuit. In the meantime, the freight's brakes fail, and the train breaks in two. Helen, on a road parallel to the tracks, leaps onto a flat car, runs forward, informs the train crew what has happened, and captures the crooks.

Helen, informed of the danger which menaces an excursion train because another engine on the same track is running wild, mounts a motorcycle and speeds down the track to warn the passengers of their imminent peril. Nearing a river trestle under repair, she hurtles into the river; undaunted, she swims to the opposite bank and flags down the excursion train in the nick of time, causing the engineer to run his train onto a siding just a few moments before the runaway dashes by.

Sharky, a rival road agent, plots to spoil a trial run to be made on Helen's road that will win a mail contract. He opens a waste valve on the tank of the engine, and, when nearing Lone Point, the water tank runs dry. Helen comes to the rescue by mounting the new gasoline speeder and starting off with the mail for the end of the run.

A wagon load of powder explodes, destroying the railroad trestle under which it is passing; Helen, knowing that a passenger train is due within a few minutes, climbs aboard a freight car which coasts down a steep grade near the trestle. As it nears the structure, she applies the brakes, leaps to the ground, crawls across the burning trestle

Helen catches two yeggmen who have broken into a freight car which has been detached from a train because of a hot box and are attempting to rifle the safe. The yeggmen escape aboard a passing freight with Helen, who has leaped upon the caboose, in hot pursuit, along with the trainmen.

The smashed corner of a trunk containing counterfeiting paraphernalia reveals to Helen that there is treachery afoot at Lone Point. Detectives capture two of the trio, but one of them gets away, pursued by Helen, across a high railroad trestle. Seventh of the "Hazards of Helen" Railroad Series.

Benton, railroad detective, is assigned to run down the crooks who have been breaking into freight cars near Hobart. Helen, the telegraph operator at Hobart, supplies Benton with his first clue. Later in the day, the two see Rand and his band of river pirates rifling a box car.

Helen, the operator at Hobart, warns her friend Anna, the operator at Montville, that Tim Hudson, a notorious swindler, is headed for Montville. Anna later brings about Hudson's arrest when the man, posing as a minister, attempts to swindle the people of the town.

Brent, the night operator has been knocked unconscious by a piece of lumber projecting from a passing freight, and has been rendered temporarily insane. Meantime, a furious storm arises, a track walker discovers a washout and wires a warning to Helen, who sets the danger signal for the Limited which is due in ten minutes.

Two yeggmen hold up Helen, on night duty at Ferndale, lock her in a closet, and escape. Later, standing on a bridge over the freight yards, Helen sees the two bandits aboard an outgoing freight, and drops onto the roof of the car from above as it crosses underneath. A chase along the roofs of the speeding cars ensues...

While Hastings, the engineer of Freight No. 3205 is at lunch- in the Lone Point station, Bobby Heywood, the son of an engineer, climbs into the cab of the engine. Having frequently observed his father start his locomotive, Bobby jerks the throttle open. Helen sees the freight speeding down the track. Remembering that Bobby has been playing about the station, the girl surmises what has occurred.

Down and out, Bob, an engineer, drifts into town. His condition excites Helen's sympathy. Using her influence, the girl secures him a position with the railroad. Rankin, Dalmore and Dougherty escape from prison. The men attempt to enter the Hobart Tower, but Helen, seizing a revolver, baffles them.

Attempting to prevent an armed robbery in the paymaster's office, Helen is bound and gagged, and the thieves escape on a hand car. With her feet still bound by wire, Helen endeavors to pursue on foot, but stumbles and falls across the rails of the track of an oncoming train.

Rand, a vengeful discharged fireman, tampers with the airbrakes of a large freight locomotive making them useless on the long descent from the summit of Pine Hill to Lone Point the following day. Learning of the impending peril, Helen dashes to a water tower under which the train must pass, climbs out on the spout, leaps onto the roof of one of the cars, and warns the engineer in time. Helen's heroism wins her another offer of marriage, this time from Wadsworth, the freight engineer, but once again she opts for next weeks hazards instead.

Blake, a quarrelsome lineman, and a widower with two daughters, is in love with Helen, but she rejects his advances. Helen spies Myra, Blake's three year old daughter, who has ventured onto the tracks of the oncoming Elwood Express, and just in the nick of time, grasps the girl off the tracks, but in so doing, must leap off a trestle into a river thirty feet below

Brandt, a defaulting cashier, hiding in Lone Point in his effort to throw detectives off his track, cuts the wires of Helen's telephone to prevent her from calling for help, binds and gags her, and boards the outgoing Limited. Freed by Detective Sheridan, the two of them get into a gasoline speeder standing on the sidetrack and pursue the Limited.

Helen, the telegrapher at Downing Junction, receives word that an engineer has been accidentally shot by a partridge hunter, and the runaway train will collide with the Eastbound Express. Helen jumps onto a nearby standing locomotive, opens it up full throttle, catches up the Express, warns the engineer of the impending danger

In the second entry of the popular Hazards of Helen series, Helen, is temporarily assigned as a telegraph operator at Quarry Depot; bad blood springs up between two men who are seeking Helen's favor, but to whom she has remained impartial.

In the first entry in the popular Hazards of Helen series, Helen, the night telegraph operator at Lone Point, relieves Benton, the day operator, several hours ahead of time, because he is caring for his sick child. Receiving an order to sidetrack a freight until the fast mail passes, Helen mounts a horse, takes a short cut, leaps from a fifty foot cliff into a river

A piece of lumber projecting from the side of a freight car picks up the mail sack hanging from the crane at Bell Station. Two hobos find the sack and rifle the contents. Morrison, postmaster at Bell, has been systematically robbing the mails and benefits by the mail sack's disappearance. Mary Gates, daughter of an engineer, supplies the Post Office inspectors with the first clue. The detectives blunder, however, and arrest Billy, Mary's sweetheart. Chance leads them on the trail of the tramps. The hobos are arrested after a desperate battle. Later, as the result of Mary's clever work, Morrison is brought to bay, while Billy wins his freedom.

In this film Helen Holmes was clearly rehearsing for the role that brought to her fame and recognition in a serial that started getting released two months later. She became the audacious star of "The Hazards of Helen", acting as the heroine of numerous railroad adventures.

The holdup of the Fast Mail; the runaway train, and the leap on horseback from a fifty-foot cliff are just some of the action

When Helen learns that wiretappers have make a prisoner of Henry, the relief operator, she severs the wire being tapped, boards a freight train, uncouples the engine, and pursues the tappers, who are in a gasoline speeder. She eventually rescues Henry and captures Noyes, the head of the gang, who is then placed under arrest.