Publisher John Gillespie faces a financial crisis after his business partner skips town with all the firm's assets. Facing ruin, he reluctantly approaches a wealthy aunt for assistance but is met with a stony-faced refusal.
Humanitarian Roberta induces her father to hire former convict, Bill, as his gardener. When she leaves on vacation, Bill steals her jewelry and eventually sells a brooch to her boyfriend, Richard, who unknowingly gives it to her as a present.
1918
Winthrop Clavering a mystery writer, is continually ridiculed for the fiction of the crimes he depicts, so he decides to solve a case himself. To that end, he determines to find the slayer of Pedro Alvarez, who whispered before dying that his assailant was a woman. At the City Refuge for Homeless Girls, Clavering obtains the assistance of Margaret Holt, the sister of Victor Holt, the district attorney. Margaret, it is revealed, was abducted by Juanita, a member of a gang of white slavers led by Alvarez. After escaping from a brothel, Margaret became Alvarez' stenographer, hoping to gather secret information on his gang. While searching for evidence, Margaret was surprised by Alvarez, whom she killed. Finally, Clavering captures the gang, clears Margaret, and encourages her romance with cub reporter Jack Howell. This film is presumably lost.
1914
A reporter and a detective team up to solve the murder of a nightclub singer who had been involved in a divorce scandal.
1932
A lost silent Western short.
1922
A boxer saves a girl from a noble kidnapper.
1921
Penniless aristocrat Yvonne Dupré ekes out a living selling her paintings to a crooked dealer, Leon Naisson, who passes them off as other more famous artists. Leon confides to his unscrupulous model Romildo, that he is attracted to Yvonne. Romildo drugs his lover, fiery Apache dancer Juliette who closely resembles Yvonne, then tries to extort money from Leon to have his way with her. Leon discovers the duplicity but convinces the artist's sweetheart, Dick Gray, that she has been unfaithful. As police close in on Leon, he frames Yvonne by planting forged paintings in her studio. Following Yvonne's arrest, Juliette is informed by her foster sister that she was stolen by gypsies as a child and is actually Yvonne's twin sister. Juliette exposes Leon's operation to the police, reuniting Yvonne and Dick.
1919
A man breaks into a flat, startling the occupant. They argue about the new girlfriend of the 'burglar', who's come to get her stuff. Then a third man bursts out of the cupboard...
1996
The husband of Mrs, Cranston is in tight quarters. He is caught both "short" in funds and in stock. In order that he may be able to cover up his margins, he decides to rob his wife's jewels. He plans to do so, but his wife anticipates him and steals the jewels herself, she having reason to believe that he would attempt the crime in a moment of weakness. The husband, when he finds that his wife's jewels are missing, raises a "hue and cry," and the police take up the case. After considerable investigation, the crime is traced to Mrs. Cranston.
1912
Gertie Jones, known among other thieves as "The Chatterbox" because she talks to herself while she works, becomes a rich woman's French maid after learning about her employer's $40,000 diamond necklace. To cover up the scratches left by her tools after she unsuccessfully tries to open the safe containing the necklace, Gertie telephones the police to report an attempted burglary. Jimmy Hartigan, a famous thief, arrives and after he and Gertie fall in love at first sight, he is arrested.
A bank manager who has successfully bought into a lucrative gold mine manages to foil the plot of some confidence tricksters who plan to swindle him out of his investment.
1936
A King’s Messenger has important documents stolen by a female spy. The plot follows the messenger’s uncle as he takes action to track down the culprit, retrieve the papers, and unmask the spy.
Harold Armytage is disowned, then framed for murder by his conniving cousin, Clifford, to steal his inheritance. After escaping jail, Harold rescues his wife, Bess, and brings the true villains to justice.
1924
The secret formula for the world's most powerful explosive has been stolen from the U.S. government. William Brown, a clerk who aspires to be a detective, has just received his badge from some anonymous Midwestern agency, and manages to get himself embroiled in the intrigue.
Cordelia Marlowe comes from a society family that has lost its fortune. She falls into the clutches of D.K. Franklin, a crooked lawyer who specializes in blackmail, and finds herself involved in Franklin's scheme to extort money from a family friend. She sets out to protect her friend's money and expose Franklin for the thief he is.
1923
Retired actress poses as dresser to scare murderer into confessing and clearing her son.
1916
Vera Souroff, a young Russian girl, is kidnapped off the street and raped by one of three officers of the Czar's guard. The crime is brought to the attention of the Czar, but Vera cannot tell which of the three officers is the guilty man. The Czar orders Count Nicho, the eldest of the three, to marry the girl, turns over the trio’s fortunes to her and imprisons the men. When the revolution breaks out, at the risk of her own life, Vera saves her husband knowing he holds the key to the identity of her attacker.
