A Desperate Crime

As night falls on a farmyard in the French countryside, four masked bandits climb over the gate and break into the farmhouse. They bind and gag the farmer and his wife, and stab a male and female servant who attempt to help their masters. In an attempt to get the farmer to divulge where he has his money hidden, the bandits burn his feet with embers from the fireplace, but the farmer remains silent. When the bandits threaten to do the same to the farmer's young daughter, the farmer's wife gives in and reveals the money's hiding place. The bandits gather the money; just as they are attempting to flee, the farmer's wife tears off the bandit chief's mask, revealing his face. In retaliation for the unmasking, the bandit chief sets the house on fire, and the bandits escape in the confusion.

The bandits return to their hideout in an abandoned quarry, warning the rest of their gang that policemen are on their track. The police soon break into the hideout, and a large fight ensues. The bandit chief escapes with the few gang members who have survived of the fight, with the surviving policemen in pursuit. The bandits flee through the quarry into the mountains. The chief is finally ambushed by hiding policemen, captured, and put on trial. The farmer's wife, the only survivor of the fire in the farmhouse, identifies the bandit, and he is sentenced to death.

The bandit chief, after a night tormented by dreams of his crimes, is led to the guillotine, executed, and thrown into an unmarked grave.