Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are wandering vagabonds in Arizona countryside who are arrested for loitering and spend a night in jail. Upon release, they are instructed to leave town immediately due to lacking transportation. They agree to escort a coffin, containing a corpse, to Dayton, Ohio, believing it offers them free transport.
Unaware that their employers, Frank Lucas and Joe Morgan, are gangsters working for Darby Mason, a wanted criminal, Stan and Oliver load Mason's trunk onto a train, mistaking it for another trunk belonging to a magician named Dante. Along the journey, they fall victim to confidence men and are left penniless until Dante assists them financially.
Upon arrival in Dayton, confusion arises as the trunks are mixed up, leading to mistaken identities. Mason's trunk is sent to the theater where Dante performs, while Dante's trunk is delivered to a sanatorium. As events unfold, confusion ensues at the theater, with mistaken identities and suspicions mounting.
Investigator Steve Barnes, disguised as attorney Kilgore, reveals the inheritance search as a trap to capture Mason. Trapped in the theater's basement with his accomplices, Mason confesses to a murder. Meanwhile, Ollie continues his search for Stan, finding him apparently shrunken by magic.[2]
