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- Pauline, a young maiden, must protect herself from the treacherous "guardian" of her inheritance, who repeatedly plots to murder her and take the money for himself.
- Heroic's of Lone Ranger & Tonto, matter!
- The invaders come to Earth to create an H-bomb to blast Earth out of orbit so that Mars can take its place.
- When Jane is abducted by Arab slave traders, Tarzan comes to her rescue, only to see her kidnapped again by Queen La of Opar. To save Jane, Tarzan must battle both the queen's minions and William Clayton, who seeks Tarzan's family title.
- The nefarious Dr. Fu Manchu searches for the keys to the tomb of Genghis Khan, in order to fulfill a prophecy that will enable him to conquer the world. His nemesis, Dr. Nayland Smith, and his associates fight to keep the evil doctor from getting his hands on the keys.
- Myra Maynard, is plagued by a wide variety of metaphysical assaults by the corrupt Black Order, a secret organization which uses magic, curses and any supernatural means possible to achieve its ends.
- Serial about Japanese spies trying to invade the US but whose plans are foiled by a rich heiress and a Secret Service agent.
- Chapter One MURDER ON THE SANTA FE TRAIL - Mesquite banker Calvin Drake (Harry Worth) plans to profit from the Santa Fe Railroad's acquisition of right-of-way by gaining control of the land in the territory. In the ensuing war of intimidation against the ranchers, Ira Withers (Edward Cassidy) is killed and Red Ryder (Don 'Red' Barry) and his father, Colonel Tom Ryder (William Farnum), form an organization to drive the gunmen and outlaws out of the territory. Colonel Ryder is killed by One-Eye Chapin (Bob Kortman) and Red vows vengeance. Sheriff Dade (Carleton Young) is in league with the Drake faction, including Ace Hanlon (Noah Barry). The Duchess (Maude Pierce Allen), Red's aunt, is about to lose her ranch. Red learns of a plan to dynamite a dam providing the water supply, and saves Beth Andrews (Vivian Austin), daughter of the former sheriff, Luke Andrews (Lloyd Ingrahan) who was also murdered by Drake's men.
- The California-Yucatan Railroad, being built for the good of Mexico, is under siege by a gang of terrorists hoping to force its sale; no one can prove their connection to profiteer Marsden. Manuel Vega, aged co-owner, calls in the aid of his nephew James, great-grandson of the original Zorro. Alas, James seems more adept at golf than derring-do; but after he arrives, Zorro rides again! Can one black-clad man on horseback defeat a gang supplied with airplanes and machine guns?
- Ken Williams is determined to discover the identity of the mysterious Rattler, who preys upon railroads and transportation companies like the one owned by Jane Corwin. The Rattler is especially difficult to catch because of his skill at disguising himself as other people.
- Detective lieutenant Bill Bannister is assigned to run down an unknown gang of terrorists who have spread a net of crime over the city.
- With the help of a private detective, Elaine tries to catch the masked criminal mastermind The Clutching Hand, who has murdered her father.
- A beautiful young woman is a daring master thief. She meets the young millionaire Thomas Babbington Norton, while fleeing from the scene of her latest theft.
- This twenty-three episode serial told the story of a secret society called The Black Hundred and its attempts to gain control of a lost million dollars.
- Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr. Alexis Zarkov visit the planet Mongo to thwart the evil schemes of Emperor Ming the Merciless, who has set his planet on a collision course with Earth.
- Jack Logan is the heir to half of a map to a hidden Indian mine. The trader and villain Jean Gregg sends his chief henchman Mack to make life difficult for Jack. Jack is aided in his quest by the heirs to the other half of the map: Helen Holt and her younger brother Billy, and by a uniformed mystery man known as "The Mystery Trooper".
- A masked hero called "The Eagle" leads California ranchers in a struggle against Russian Cossacks who are plotting to take over California and turn it into a Russian colony.
- When unscrupulous Carlos Manning discovers an old Spanish land grant recently unearthed will leave a huge section of California real estate to heirs of Don Quantero.
- 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.
- A former Annapolis cadet is thrown out of the Naval Academy for cheating on an exam. Of course he was framed, but he must enlist in the Navy to clear himself. Meanwhile he and his sweetheart search for a buried treasure on Lost Island, which everyone is after.
- The period is the 1820's and the first wagon train leaves Independence heading west to Santa Fe. In order to maintain his power, the ruthless Official at Santa Fe must not let them arrive and he sends out his men to stop them. The wagon train then has to endure repeated attacks but is aided by a mysterious rider that shoots singing arrows and rides a painted stallion.
- A 14-episode serial in which Mala, a Polynesian in the employ of U.S. Intelligence investigates sabotage on Clipper Island. A gang of spies causes the eruption of a volcano, for which our hero is blamed. He convinces the local Princess Melani of his innocence and helps her ward off a takeover by rival high priest Porotu.
- A mysterious master criminal known as The Voice plots with his gang to sabotage the Milesburg Oil Company, but the rightful heir has a secret army of her own to protect her rights.
- EPISODE 1: In the little village of Elmhurst is a lonely house with shuttered windows, the home of a suspicious recluse known as Professor Gershom, who is considered more than half mad. No one has ever guessed the secret of the old house, that within its walls a beautiful girl has grown from childhood to womanhood without ever speaking to a human being except her strange guardian. Alene is in heart a child, but she is deeply learned in all things that a really great scientist has been able to teach her. Gershom, however, is vaguely conscious that about her there is something incomplete and imperfect. Alene herself is unaware that the restlessness which prevents her finding interest in the life she has heretofore led is due to the stirring of the primal instinct to seek a mate. Something seems calling her out into the world, and unquestioning, she answers the call, stealing from the old house while Gershom sleeps. Fate wills that Robert Dane shall be the first man Alene shall meet. Though neither is aware, a flame of love is instantly kindled. Alene, with the simplicity of perfect purity, demands that Dane take her to live in his house, and is heartbroken when he conducts her instead to her own home. Dane is himself miserable, for he thinks this wonderful little person must be demented, and that it is for this reason that she has been hidden from the world. Sadly Alene enters the old house, to find a scene of horror. Stretched upon the floor, with the blood matting his hair, is Professor Gershom and upon the edge of a curtain is a human hand, the figure itself being concealed by the drapery. In the fascination of terror Alene draws near enough to the mysterious hand to observe that it wears a peculiar ring, and then flees from the place. Alene finds Dane and induces him to return with her to the house, they being accompanied by Dr. Duncan, a kindly old village practitioner and friend of Dane. They find the old house empty; the body of Gershom has disappeared, and there is no one behind the curtain. Dr. Duncan takes Alene to his home, though she declares that she would prefer to go with Dane, and she is tenderly cared for by the doctors old wife. Dr. Duncan and his wife also think the poor child demented, but hope time and kindness may cure the ill. As to her identity they have no clue and can only surmise her relationship to Gershom. Alone in his study Dane is dreaming of Alene. EPISODE 2: Caleb Jerome is a private banker of the old school, most highly esteemed in the business world and considered a man of wealth. In striking contrast to the simple life of his father, Calebs only son, Gilbert, is a libertine. Nevertheless Gilbert is his fathers idol, and for his sake the old man has not hesitated at a secret crime, though the son treats him with indifference. Caleb is paying a terrible price for the doubtful success which his greatest crime offered. Wherever he may be, an incredible horror dogs his steps. When his eyes rest upon a face, whether it be that of a stranger or a familiar friend or servant, that face suddenly becomes that of a dead man, Prof. Gershom, Realizing that his end is near, Caleb sends for his son, and tells him what he has done and the reasons for the act; that the fortune supposed to be his was originally for Alene, and that in an attempt to destroy the evidence whereby this girl, should she live to become of age, will recover her fortune and make Gilbert Jerome a beggar. Caleb murderously struck down old Gershom, the girls protector, and threw his body into the river. The documents he sought, Caleb had been unable to find. Gilbert assures him that either the documents will be found and destroyed, or that Alene shall not live to become of age. Soon after, the horror of the face of fear becomes too great to be endured, and Caleb Jerome dies. Meantime, Alene has been tenderly cared for by Dr. Duncan and his wife, Martha, and Duncan has awakened to the fact that Alene is not mad, but as sane as any other perfectly normal person. With the frankness of perfect purity, the girl shows her instinctive desire for the love of a man and her choice of Robert Dane. Danes love for Alene now completely fills his heart with soul-stirring passion, but he sternly represses his emotions, thinking that it would be unfair to Alene to marry her before a greater knowledge of the world enables her to choose a husband on the basis of practical affairs, rather than to act merely on emotional impulse. Rather sadly he tells himself that as she has only a childs heart still, it means nothing that she turns to him now. EPISODE 3: But a short time has elapsed since Alene first came from the old house in which she grew to womanhood, but already her keen mind is sensing the true basis of certain conventionalities, and when Martha, Dr. Duncans wife, suggests that she exchange her Grecian robe for more modern garments, the girl agrees after asking, Will Robert Dane like me better? Already there is creeping into Alenes manner toward Dane a trace of shyness, but he does not realize that this shyness is a mantle which her awakening soul is drawing about itself; he still regards her as a child and hides his love. Dane is a frequent visitor at the Duncan home, and on one occasion Alene follows when the doctor takes Dane to inspect the one thing of interest in the village. This is a large silver cup which for many years has hung beside a mineral spring. Its origin is a mystery, and many traditions have been woven about it, so that no one in the village would dream of removing it. It is curiously engraved with a promise of health to whoever drinks from it here, and a warning that elsewhere it will give death. The most extraordinary feature is, however, that the water of the spring, absolutely undrinkable from any other vessel, has, when taken from this cup, astonishing medicinal value. Alene solves the mystery of the cup by telling them that Prof. Gershom placed it beside the spring when she was a child, though they can form no idea of his motives, or determine why the cup exerts so strange an influence on the water of the spring. Shortly after, Alene chances to meet Abner Gray, a simple-hearted young villager who immediately falls in love with her. Alene observes on Abners hand the ring which she saw upon the hand grasping the curtain in the House of Secrets, and concludes that Abner killed old Gershom, not being aware that the ring has just been found by Abner. This belief causes her to treat Abner with kindness; she is grateful that he should have done something which has resulted in a happier life for her. Her mind is not yet prepared to grasp the idea that to kill Gershom was a crime. She treats Abner with frank fondness, and Dr. Duncan is delighted, thinking that marriage to Abner would be a simple solution of the rather difficult problem of her future. Dane misunderstands Alenes attitude toward Abner and with self-deprecation deems her apparent turning to Abner natural and proper and as confirmation of his former idea that the preference she showed him in the first place was only a childish fancy. At this time Gilbert Jerome arrives in the village, coldly determined that if the documents which will dispossess him of his stolen fortune cannot be found and destroyed, Alene shall die. EPISODE 4: Immediately after his arrival in the village, Gilbert Jerome makes the acquaintance of Dr. Duncan and of Alene, and falling passionately in love with the girl, determines to marry her, thus saving the fortune and at the same time coming into possession of what he regards as a rare and unique specimen of feminine attractiveness. It does not occur to his predatory mind to attempt a courtship; he intends to force her into a marriage by whatever means may be available. He decides to eliminate Abner Gray, his only rival. It is Alene herself who affords the means. Asked by Gilbert why she likes Abner so well, the girl tells him quite simply that it is because Abner killed old Gershom. This she knows because of the ring which Abner wears. Gilbert of course knows, through his fathers confession, that Abner is innocent, but seizes this chance to dispose of him once and for all. He informs the authorities of Alenes statement, and Abner is arrested, charged with murder. Dr. Duncan and his wife, through an act of kindness, have exposed themselves to smallpox, and have been quarantined along with the person stricken with the disease. Alene instinctively seeks Robert Dane for protection and advice, only to be informed that he has gone away without stating his destination. As a matter of fact, Dane has gone to the nearby city in response to a message that the failure of a trust company has wiped out his small fortune and that his presence is necessary if anything at all is to be saved from the wreck. Alene is thus left entirely friendless, all the other villagers regarding her with suspicion and disapproval, and Gilbert thinks she must fall an easy victim to his desires although his plans have been somewhat interfered with by the arrival in the village of Clara, a woman who is madly in love with him, and who presents herself as his wife. At Gilberts order, she leaves the village proper, but secretly finds lodging at a farmhouse nearby. Alene begins to comprehend the peril in which Abner stands. In horror she tells herself that they will hang him, because she told of the ring and that it will be she who will send him to his death. EPISODE 5: Alene is almost brokenhearted at the apparent indifference of Robert Dane, and is utterly miserable at the thought that Abner Gray will be put to death because she told of the ring. In desperation she appeals to a lawyer for advice. He tells her that it is on her testimony alone that the prosecution will attempt to convict Abner of the murder of Gershom, and that there is no way by which a person can evade giving testimony, the only exception to this being that under the laws of this State a wife is not permitted to testify in a trial of her husband. Alene then sees how she may save Abner, if they are married before he can be brought to trial she cannot be compelled to testify and he cannot be convicted. Beyond this primary fact, she does not consider the effect of the marriage as pertaining to herself, to her it appears only as a formality. She acts with decision, and before the furious prosecuting attorney can interfere, she is Abner Grays wife. Abner is still held in jail, and Alene returns to the Duncan house. Here she finds a note signed, Robert Dane directing her to come at once to a certain lonely old mill, and she immediately sets out. This note is a forgery, having been sent by Clara. Gilbert Jeromes former flame, who, mad with jealousy, has determined to take Alenes life. Meanwhile, Dane has learned through the press of the arrest of Abner and of the fact that Dr. Duncan and his wife have been subjected to quarantine, and is hurrying back to the village, apprehensive of what may happen to Alene while alone. Alene arrives at the abandoned mill, and is lured into the building by Clara, who tells her that Dane is waiting. Clara opens a door, gives Alene a violent shove into the room, and laughs in wild triumph. The rotten floor boards give way and Alene plunges into a deep pool of slimy water. EPISODE 6: Having learned through the press of the murder charge against Abner Gray and of the quarantining of Dr. Duncan and his wife, Robert Dane hurries back to Elmhurst and directly to the Duncan home. He finds the forged note, and realizes that some danger threatens Alene. He sets out for the old mill, and when passing the county jail encounters Abner, who has been released, the prosecuting attorney realizing that, without Alenes testimony, he cannot even indict Abner. Dane shows the note and tells of his fears, and the two men hurry to the abandoned mill, arriving in time to hear Alenes despairing cries as she sinks in the stagnant water of the hidden pool. Dane and Abner rush into the building, and are trapped by Clara as Alene had been. Clara then hurries away, seeking Gilbert Jerome. Gilbert is at the village hotel, having just returned from the performance of a characteristic deed. He coolly ignores the angry protests of certain villagers and informs then that the silver cup which he has taken is as much his as anyone elses. Clara tells Gilbert that she has killed Alene, but that no one will suspect it was not an accident that caused the girls death, and calms his rage by reminding him that his fortune is made safe by her act. Gilberts satisfied greed salves his disappointed passion, and, with Clara, he takes the train for the city. Meanwhile, the old mill has been the scene of an heroic sacrifice. Abner Gray, given more than human strength by his great love for Alene, his wife only in name, has saved her from apparently certain death, and at the same time restored Robert Dane to life, while he, despite efforts of Dane, perishes. Dane conducts Alene to the Duncan home, and learns that Clara and Gilbert Jerome have left the village. Alene is sorely grieved at the death of Abner, but it is a grief such as she would have felt for a well-loved brother, not a lover, and it is with a longing that is growing day by day that she wistfully whispers to herself, Surely Robert Dane will take me now? But Dane has blinded his own hungry heart, and does not understand. EPISODE 7: Supposing Alene, Dane and Abner Gray to have died in the trap set by Clara, Gilbert Jerome and the woman leave the village. Their train is wrecked and Clara is killed outright. Gilbert is also reported killed, though he is in fact uninjured and proceeds to his home, taking the silver cup with him. Danes financial ruin is complete, and it is necessary that he find employment. Thinking that no further danger menaces Alene, he enlists the services of a kindly old lady who promises to look after the girl, and departs for the city. Believing that Alenes fancy for him has already died, Dane thinks it will be best for her as well as for himself to allow her to forget him, and does not even inform her of his address. It is not long after Danes departure that Alene is told that Doctor Duncan and his wife are dead, and the Duncan home is seized by the sheriff on behalf of Duncans creditors. The timid old lady engaged by Dane is incapable of rising to the situation, and leaves Alene to the disposition of the officer, who brutally tells her that she is to go to the poor-farm. Surely Robert Dane will take me now, she soliliquises, and with simple faith steals away to seek him. She does not even vaguely comprehend the magnitude of this undertaking. She knows only that Dane has gone to the city, and has been told that the highway from the village leads there. In the city Dane is vainly striving to put from his heart the love which he thinks can only bring him sorrow, and Gilbert Jerome is savagely cursing the fate which, as he thinks, has made him secure in the possession of his stolen fortune but robbed him of the girl of his desire. When darkness falls Alene is far along her lonely road, weary, penniless and utterly ignorant of the ways or dangers of the world. EPISODE 8: Robert Dane has not met with success in the city, failing to secure employment and receiving an offer of but a thousand dollars for a chemical formula which he knows to be worth a fortune. Moreover, he is rendered miserable by what he persists in regarding as his futile love for Alene. He becomes obsessed with the idea that the girl is again in danger, and obeys an impulse to return to the village. He has, in fact, heard, with the strange power of one soul attuned with another, the wistful whisper of the girl, alone in the world, I am so weary and afraid. Cant you hear me, Robert Dane! When he reaches the village he learns that Alene has disappeared, leaving no trace. Crushed with fear and grief, he searches in vain for some clue. Meanwhile, Alene has been carried to the city by a kindly farmer bound for the market. She is seen by Gilbert Jerome, who forgets the danger to his fortune in the revival of his passionate hopes and his delight in finding that Alene still lives. Gilberts plans are temporarily balked, however, by the interference of Daisy, a show girl, who knows through sad experience the fate that threatens Alene, and who takes her under her protection. In order that she may keep watch over her protégé, Daisy secures for Alene a place in the chorus of the show with which she is engaged, devoting her spare time to a search for Dane. Gilbert succeeds in having Daisy discharged and so separating her from Alene, it being necessary, inasmuch as Daisy is entirely without funds, that Alene retain her position. Realizing that the only practical hope of locating Dane is to trace him from a logical starting point, Daisy goes to Elmhurst. Gilbert has by this time completed his plans, and lures Alene to his house. Totally unconscious of the trap into which she has been led, Alene joyously awaits the promised coming of Dane and readily agrees to have supper while so waiting. She observes on the sideboard the silver cup taken by Gilbert from the mineral spring, and, taking it up, reproaches him for having removed it from the place where it had so long remained undisturbed. Taking the cup from her, Gilbert fills it with wine, and with the statement that always he takes whatever he may want, drinks. An instant later he reels and falls, and the butler, rushing to his assistance, draws back in dazed fright, whispering, He is dead! EPISODE 9: Upon reaching the village of Elmhurst, Daisy, the show-girl and self-appointed guardian of Alene, inquires of the first man she sees where she can obtain information concerning Robert Dane. It is to Dane himself that the inquiry has been addressed, he having been forced to abandon as hopeless his efforts to trace Alene and being on the point of returning to the city. With the skill of long experience, Daisy readily reads Danes character, and, satisfied, informs him that Alene is safe and offers to conduct him to her. Reaching the city, Daisy and Dane proceed to Daisys room and then to the theater in search of Alene. At the latter place they learn from the doorkeeper, who has overheard the address given to the driver of the taxi in which Alene was taken away, that the girl has gone to Gilbert Jeromes house. In an agony of apprehension they hurry to the house, arriving at about the same instant that Gilbert drains the silver cup. They are, of course unaware of what is taking place, and enlist the aid of an officer, on whom Daisys frantically earnest appeals make an impression. The officer goes to the side of the house, where he can look into the dining room, while Dane and Daisy force their way past the servant who opens the front door. The officer looks in the window just as the horrified butler announces that Gilbert Jerome is dead. Dane and Daisy reach the dining room just as the officer springs in at the window and assumes charge of the situation. Alene feels no grief at Gilberts death, and pretends no regret, but ignoring the incident, is entirely happy to again meet Dane. A telephoned report to the police station bring detectives and a doctor and the latter at once declares Gilbert dead, and further, that he obviously died from some unusual poison. The brief investigation conducted on the spot seems to point conclusively to the guilt of Alene, and her unconventional manner and words count heavily against her. At the police station, she is held on a charge of murder, Dane, Daisy, the butler and Gilberts footman being detained as witnesses for the inquest. Dane, realizing how strong is the circumstantial evidence against Alene, is hearthroken, but the girl herself is only bewildered that she should be shut in a prison cell. EPISODE 10: The death of Gilbert Jerome attracts great attention, and the grand jury acts promptly, indicting Alene for murder. her trial is set for an early date. Robert Dane is almost in despair, for though sure that Alene is innocent, he realizes that a terrible array of circumstantial evidence will be brought against her. The show girl, Daisy, has not faltered in her friendship for Alene. A great change has taken place in Daisys character since her meeting with Alene, and, sickened by the contrast between her own sad past and Alenes innate purity, she has bravely determined that she will rebuild her wrecked life and that henceforth there shall be in it nothing of sorrow or shame. Also, for the first time, she knows the meaning of real love. Though she gives no sign, Dane has completely filled her hungry heart. In order to obtain money with which to engage a noted lawyer to defend Alene, Dane sells for a thousand dollars his chemical formula, which is really worth a fortune. Soon after, Alenes trial takes place. As Dane feared, the State is able to forge a strong chain of circumstantial evidence, in which even Danes testimony is a link. It is proved that the poison which killed Gilbert Jerome was contained in the silver cup, and that this cup was handed him by Alene. Her honest indifference to Gilberts fate is regarded as a demonstration of utter callousness, and her weary bewilderment is construed as the blasé indifference of the hardened criminal, the veil of mystery shrouding her life to within the past few months being pointed to with sinister suggestion. The lawyer engaged by Dane stakes everything on the personal appeal which Alene may make to the jury, but when she is called upon to tell her own story, she says simply, Everything was just as has been said, but I do not know what killed Gilbert Jerome. Very shortly the jury returns its verdict: guilty, and in an agony of horror, Dane hears the girl whom he now realizes is more precious to him than life and all things else that life may hold, condemned to be hanged by the neck until she is dead. EPISODE 11: The date set for the execution of Alene for the murder of Gilbert Jerome is only one day off, and there appears no hope of saving her, the governor having refused to intervene. With a desperate effort, Robert Dane shakes off the stupor of despair which has numbed his brain and strains every faculty in an effort to find the key to the mystery. He is absolutely sure of Alenes complete innocence and that she is the victim of strange circumstances. Suddenly a light seems to break through the darkness, but so strange and startling is its suggestion that he is almost forced to regard it as an insane fancy rather than a logical deduction. Yet, to every test of reasoning, the idea persists, and he realizes that, assuming Alenes innocence, it must be the truth, and that in the silver cup is the secret of Gilberts death. The mysterious words upon the cup assume meaning as he now recalls them: Drink without a fear / Life I promise here / But death to whoso dare / Touch his lips elsewhere. Dane appeals to the court officials for permission to experiment with the cup, but is told that it is a part of the records and cannot be permitted in his possession. He realizes that to urge his theory without positive proof would be utterly futile, but does not for an instant abandon his plan to save the girl he loves from the gallows. He makes a quick trip to Elmhurst, returning with a flask of water from the mineral spring, and when the courthouse is untenanted except for a night watchman, undertakes to steal the silver cup, from the court records. He succeeds in gaining possession of the cup, but is fired upon by the watchman, who also sends in a police call. Dane, with the cup, reaches his room, though he is badly wounded. The court officials recall Danes effort to borrow the cup, and the description given by the watchman identifies Dane as the thief. Detectives at once set out for his lodging house. Meanwhile, ignoring the wound through which his lifeblood is being drained away, Dane works with desperate swiftness to prove by chemical analysis and coordination that his startling theory is fact. There is little time to lose; it is now a matter of hours only before the law will demand of Alene her life. EPISODE 12: Alenes apparently inevitable fate is a crushing horror to Daisy. Besides this, Daisy realizes that Robert Danes whole life is centered upon Alene and will be utterly blasted if she suffers the terrible penalty which the law has imposed. Unable to endure the suspense alone, Daisy goes to Danes lodging house late in the night preceding the day set for Alenes execution, and finds him staggering with weakness from the wound inflicted by the night watchman, but triumphant at having solved the mystery of Gilbert Jeromes death. A few moments after detectives arrive to arrest Dane for the theft of the silver cup. Vainly Dane tells them of his discovery, but they regard his story as the wild fancy of a disordered mind, and refuse to permit him to appeal to the Governor. Dane makes a frantic effort to escape, but is overpowered. While the officers struggle with Dane, Daisy turns off the light, and flees down the fire escape, taking the silver cup and flask of water from the mineral spring. She is pursued, but eludes the detective by clambering aboard a passing freight train. Daisy enlists the sympathy of a brakeman, and is permitted to make the trip to the State capital on the top of a box car. Arriving in the capital at dawn, Daisy locates the residence of the Governor, but realizing that ordinary means would not gain her an interview at this hour, she breaks into the house, purposely making noise enough to arouse the inmates. The Governor listens to her story with incredulity, directs that she be turned over to the police, and Daisy realizes there is but one course remaining. In half an hour Alene will be executed, and Daisy believes that Dane will not live afterward. She carefully explains Danes contention that the poison which killed Gilbert Jerome is contained in the metal of the cup; that this unknown poison is neutralized and even made a beneficial tonic when acted upon by the minerals contained in the water of the spring beside which the cup hung, but is deadly when these neutralizing minerals are not present. She fills the cup from the flask of mineral water and drinks, without harm, but a cupful of water from the Governors own carafe proves Danes theory true, and Daisy has given her life that those she loved might live. As Alene is led from the cell to the scaffold, word comes that the Governor has granted a reprieve. EPISODE 13: Seriously wounded, Robert Dane lays in the hospital, a screen separating his cot from the next. On this cot lies Professor Gershom, who disappeared on the day Alene left the House of Secrets, and who was supposed to have been murdered; even Caleb Jerome, the man who struck him down, having been so convinced of his victims death that his conscience had brought about his own end. Gershom had been rescued from the river, into which his supposedly lifeless body was thrown by Caleb Jerome, and for long weeks has lain in a comatose state in the hospital. His consciousness now returning, he becomes aware that on the other side of the screen someone is speaking. It is a nurse reading aloud to Dane the newspaper announcement that Alene has been pardoned and is to be released. From the article, Gershom gets an idea of the events that have transpired since his disappearance, and finding strength in his iron will, rises and demands his discharge from the hospital. While waiting in the office, Gershom learns the date, and also discovers the famous silver cup, which has been sent to a specialist in poisons, for experimental purposes. Possessing himself of the cup, Gershom escapes undetected, and reaches the jail just as Alene is made free. The girl finds no happiness in her escape from death. She is unaware of the part played by Dane in her deliverance, and is brokenhearted at the thought that in her hour of peril he deserted her. She shows no surprise at the reappearance of Gershom, and allows him to conduct her to the office of a distinguished old lawyer, Madison, whose name Gershom is able to recall. Gershom tells the lawyer of the case he wishes to put into his hands; that the fortune supposed to belong to Caleb Jerome was really held in secret trust, to be given Alene, the rightful owner, should she be living on this, the day she is of age. With a penknife he cuts out the bottom of the silver cup, disclosing the fact that this bottom is double, and from the space between the bottom takes several documents and a wonderful jewel, all of which he places in the lawyers hands. As he reads, Madisons expression changes from incredulity to amazed conviction. Gravely Gershom rises, bows to the weary and indifferent girl, who seems to take no interest in the strange revelations concerning herself, and replies: This is her Royal Highness the Princess Alene, rightful heiress to her fathers crown and the throne of Urania. EPISODE 14: To Madison and Alene, Professor Gershom tells the story of Alene. The King of Urania honored me with his friendship, and I was not unknown as a scientist, eighteen years ago. He tells them of the splendor of the court of the Balkan kingdom, of the high pride and noble courage of the king, and of his great love for the baby princess Alene, his only child; of how, realizing that the throne would soon fall, and wishing to save his child from the fate that he, the king, could not, in pride, evade, the monarch had secretly transferred to America his private fortune, to be held in trust until claimed by Alene on the day she became of age. How, soon after, came the terror of the revolution, when the king, sword in hand, died at the foot of his throne, and Gershom, in fulfillment of his trust, and despite a terrible blow upon the head from the weapon of a revolutionist, escaped with the baby princess, and eventually reached America, demented, but with one idea persisting and controlling his life; to protect the child. Gershom at once discovered that the secret trustee, Caleb Jerome, planned to steal the fortune, and, if necessary, murder the child, and fled in a panic of fear, hiding in the village of Elmhurst, where he bought a lonely house and reared the child, the secret of her existence being unguessed by the villagers. The documents proving her identity he placed in the double bottom of a cup he made from a silver alloy into which he introduced a deadly poison only neutralized by the mineral water of a local spring, beside which he place the cup. At last, Caleb Jerome found Gershoms hiding place, and in an effort to discover and destroy the documents, resorted to an attempt at murder. His blow, however, eventually restored to Gershom the sanity wrecked by the revolutionists club, and, in time, Gershom saw all things clearly, so that now he placed the matter in the hands of a lawyer. Madison assures Gershom and Alene that, with the documents the recovery of the fortune is a simple matter, and takes Alene to his home, where she is kindly received by the lawyers wife. Gershom, once more a shrewd and ambitious man, familiar with the political intrigues of Europe, hurries away on business, the nature of which he does not disclose. He has conceived a bold idea, suggested by the news of the day; that the Republic of Urania has declared it will remain neutral in the great war, rejecting the overtures of the Hervo-Alesian Empire to become an ally, and that the old Royalist party is reviving and urging that Urania form an alliance with the Empire and enter the war. EPISODE 15: So soon as Robert Dane has regained sufficient strength to leave the hospital, he is brought to trial for stealing the cup from the court records, and, upon his admission, is sentenced to pay a fine of $1,000 or serve six months in the penitentiary, the court pointing out that, though the circumstances were unusual, the law cannot permit the interference by an individual with established forms. Being unable to pay the fine, Dane is transferred to a cell pending his removal to the penitentiary. Meanwhile Alene has learned of the part played by Dane in her rescue from the gallows, and the thought that she will soon be wealthy and able to save him from the consequences of his acts fills her with happiness. She soon learns, however, that she is not to be wealthy, the lawyer Madison sadly informing her that her fortune has been thrown away on wildcat securities not worth the claiming. Alene possesses nothing of value except the jewel which has been preserved with the documents in the sup, and this she gives to Madison, asking that he sell it and buy Danes freedom. Gershom has, through the local Consul, gotten in communication with the Hervo-Alesian Ambassador, and this official has communicated with his government and received instructions. Accompanied by Gershom, he seeks Alene, and reaches the Madison home at about the same time that Dane, released through Madisons efforts, arrives. The Ambassador desires a private audience, but Alene tells him to speak before her friends, of not at all. He tells her that he bears a message from the Emperor; that if Alene will agree to wed a prince of Hervo-Alesia, and to become an ally of the Empire, the Emperors armies will restore the monarchy and place Alene upon her fathers throne as Queen of Urania; that her answer must be given now, and once for all. Dane listens with breaking heart. For a time Alene is silent, looking into the face of Robert Dane, and then she asks softly, Do you love me? Again Gershom interposes with a warning cry, She is a queen. It is her destiny! And Dane says, while his soul dies, I do not love you. For long the girl looks into Danes eyes, then turns to the waiting Ambassador and gives her answer: Your Emperors aid is not needed, for I have already come into my kingdom. Their protests silenced by a gesture, all save Dane file slowly from the room. When they are alone, Alene turns shyly to the man for whose love she has sacrificed a throne. He is dazed, but into this face comes a great light as she whispers, Now, now I am only a girl, Robert Dane, and he draws her close against his heart.
- After the murder of Mrs. Haynes, resident of the old Armory homestead, there is an ever increasing intensity of the struggle for possession of the Amory code, in which lies the secret of the Amory fortune.
- Three friends make a journey across the West and come up against rustlers, Indian attacks and outlaw gangs.
- Princess Elyata of Tirzah (Juanita Hansen) comes to the rescue of Stanley Morton (George Chesebro) and his sidekick Mike Donovan (Frank Clark), a couple of Americans who foolishly wander into a village ruled by slave trader Gagga (Hector Dion).
- This surprisingly violent 15-episode serial takes place on the border between Texas and Mexico. When warned by Captain Jack of the Texas Rangers of impending trouble, elderly rancher Bill Burrel swears that Mexican cattle rustler Pancho won't do any riding or shooting in the area again. Pancho's lieutenant Santas, (who desires his boss's daughter Juanita's hand, and has been refused), overhears Burrel and decides to make things rough on Pancho by stirring up trouble for both sides. Pancho and his raiders, sworn to drive the settlers off the border country, attack the Burrel ranch and shoot Burrel dead, and his son Harry swears to make Pancho pay for his night's work. In the conflict that follows Pancho is knocked unconscious and his hands crushed in a press by masked men, apparently Texas Rangers. Though the torture is actually performed by the traitorous Santas and his cohort Rodriguez, Pancho blames the Rangers for the injury, swears revenge, and the two factions resolve to destroy each other. In succeeding chapters, Pancho and his ruthless gang menace Harry, his sweetheart Ruth and abduct Harry's younger sister Blanche, inflicting fiendish and deliberate tortures upon them. Pancho's demands are carried to his sworn enemies by the black-garbed "emissary of evil" the Masked Rider, who rides onto the scene without warning to kidnap, assault, or fire upon the Texas Rangers, their relatives, and even their horses. Pancho's daughter Juanita, frequently harassed by his men, is shocked by her father's cruelty and takes surreptitious action to prevent his murdering innocent captives when she can. She also falls in love with Captain Jack of the Rangers, which complicates matters even further. Rugged and outspoken "Ma Chadwick," Ruth's mother, helps the Rangers when Blanche and then Ruth are both kidnapped. Interesting shooting locations include a hacienda complex in Sabinas, Mexico, an ancient mission in San Antonio, the gigantic Medina Dam, at which a terrific action sequence was apparently almost thoroughly improvised (the scene does not appear in the original shooting script), and the "hole in the wall," a labyrinthine passage through the border mountains.
- Frank Courtney is the heir to great wealth, but his guardian Norman Bryan secretly plots to do the boy in and steal the inheritance. Only Frank's friend, radio operator Bob Whitlock, and Frank's wolf-dog stand between him and disaster.
- A young heiress of an American gun factory is threatened by a masked man after her father was murdered. This criminal might be a member of her family or a German agent, who wants to get information about the factory's products, perhaps his mystery has a combined solution - we will probably never know...
- Flip and his girlfriend go on a date in a swimming hole.
- Serial in 15 parts about a female crime-fighting reporter.
- Various groups of people, both well-intentioned and otherwise, search for a buried treasure that is buried underneath a skyscraper.
- The teen-aged daughter of a crusading newspaper editor dons the mask of El Coyote to help end a gunman's land grab scheme.
- The forerunner of all serials, "What Happened to Mary" was a series of 12 monthly one-reel episodes, each a complete entity in itself, revolving its immediate dramatic and melodramatic problems within the framework of a single episode and designed more for story and suspense situations than action. Episode Titles (q.v.): #1: "The Escape from Bondage"; #2: "Alone in New York"; #3: "Mary in Stage Land"; #4: "The Affair at Raynor's"; #5: "A Letter to the Princess"; #6: "A Clue to Her Parentage"; #7: "False to Their Trust"; #8: "A Will and a Way"; #9: "A Way to the Underworld"; #10: "The High Tide of Misfortune"; #11: "A Race to New York"; #12: "Fortune Smiles."
- Episode 1: "The Perfect Truth" The day after Dolly Desmond had startled the community with the excellence of her graduation oration, Bobby North, a reporter on the local paper, suggested that it would be a good idea for her to write stories and things for his paper. Dolly was delighted with the idea, and started at once to put it into effect. She decided to write a story, which, although ostensibly fictional, should actually give a truthful picture of life about her as she saw it. After a week of hard work, which involved much burning of midnight oil and much weariness for the fair young authoress, the masterpiece was finished. The editor was delighted with it. It was published under the title, "The Perfect Truth: A Story of Real Life" and, at Dolly's request, the name of the author was omitted. On the afternoon of the publication of the story, the Ladies' Home Sewing Guild was engaged in its customary routine of languid needlework and somnolent gossip. One of the members began to read "The Perfect Truth," but stopped with a gasp of surprise, and called the attention of the other members to the article. In graphic, pitiless bits of description, the essential characteristics of each of the members of the Ladies' Guild were set forth so plainly, that there was no possibility of mistaking their several identities. Dolly had used the pen of a satirist with telling effect. The meeting of the Ladies' Guild ended in a furor of confusion. Mrs. Broome, the hostess of the afternoon, who had been particularly scored by the anonymous author, rushed to the newspaper office and demanded the name of her defamer. The editor refused to give her the desired information, but a note from Dolly on Bobby's desk made all things clear to Mrs. Broome. With the spreading of the news, the storm center shifted to Dolly's home. While indignant citizens waited on Mr. Desmond, and threatened to withdraw their accounts from his bank, the infuriated wives filled Mrs. Desmond's ears with their complaints. Dolly's father commanded her to stop the story and make a public apology, but Dolly, for the first time in her life, refused to comply with her parents' wishes. With the fifty dollars her story had brought in, she left for the city to earn her own living. We shall discover later what happened to her there. Episode 2: "The Ghost of Mother Eve" The first thing Dolly did after her arrival in New York was to try to find herself a job. The fifty dollars she had been paid for her story was practically all she had, and Dolly was wise enough to know that such an amount would not carry her very far in the city. At the very time that Dolly went to apply for a position on "The Comet," Mrs. Yorke, a wealthy society woman, was also on the list of applicants. But whereas Dolly merely wanted a position in order that she might feed and clothe herself, Mrs. Yorke desired a sinecure of a post wherein she might indulge her love for notoriety and scandal. As not infrequently happens, the rich and undeserving succeeded, while the poor and deserving failed. Dolly was politely turned away, while the paper agreed to publish a column from Mrs. Yorke's pen under the name of "Mother Eve." Mrs. Yorke noticed Dolly as she was leaving the newspaper office. Discovering the girl's literary ability, she invited her to lunch, and offered Dolly a position as her private secretary. Dolly, naturally enough, jumped at the offer, and entered upon her duties immediately. The main portion of her duties consisted in writing the "Mother Eve" column. Mrs. Yorke had not the remotest idea how to set about her self-appointed task. All she cared for was the money. For some days Dolly was moderately contented and happy. But one afternoon, while she was collecting news of an approaching ball in the showrooms of a fashionable modiste, she happened to encounter Mrs. Yorke. That estimable lady looked over and past and through Dolly, without the slightest trace of recognition in her face. When Dolly entered her room that evening to accomplish her nightly literary task, she fell, sprained her wrist, and promptly fainted. When Mrs. Yorke returned from a dance in the wee small hours of the next morning, she found a copy boy waiting patiently for the "Mother Eve" material. Dolly, roused from her swoon, was unable to work the typewriter on account of her wrist. So the copy boy wrote it to her dictation, while Mrs. Yorke stood by and fumed. After the boy bad left, Mrs. Yorke was highly unpleasant. Dolly, in a few crisp words, told her employer exactly what she thought of her, and informed her that hereafter she could write her own column. Then Dolly went away. Episode 3: "An Affair of Dress" It will he remembered that Dolly was engaged by Mrs. Yorke, a fashionable member of the smart set, to write a society column for the "Comet." Dolly furnished the brains and did the work. Mrs. Yorke received the money. After she had received a few unpleasant proofs of her employer's unreasonable selfishness, Dolly shook the dust of the Yorke mansion from her feet, and departed. In the course of her gathering of society notes, Dolly had met Minnie, a mannequin in a fashionable tailoring establishment. As luck would have it, there was a vacancy when Dolly arrived to ask Minnie about her work, and twenty-four hours after her quarrel with Mrs. Yorke, the girl was engaged at Browngrass' as a mannequin, with the princely salary of twenty-five dollars a week. Let it not be supposed that she was entirely infatuated with her position. She had come to the city to write, and write she would eventually. This was merely a makeshift, a temporary bar to keep the wolf from the door. There were other reasons too, why her situation did not satisfy her. The proprietor was kind, a little too kind, Dolly thought. One afternoon, he tried to kiss her, and she, quite naturally, slapped his face. In the midst of all her little difficulties, Dolly was not allowing herself to drift out of touch with the magazine and newspaper world. A poem sent by her to the "Jester," brought a gratifying return in the shape of a letter from the editor inquiring into her capabilities for a small editorial position. Later, the editor called, and since he was a nice sort of person, Dolly took dinner with him. In the excitement of the moment, she sailed off to the restaurant in the gown she was wearing. As it happened, the proprietor of Browngrass' came to the restaurant, saw the gown, called a policeman, and ordered him to arrest Dolly. Aid came from an unexpected quarter. Rockwell Crosby, editor of the "Comet," was sitting at the next table. He discovered that Dolly had written Mrs. Yorke's column, showed his card to the policeman, and ordered him to remove the angry proprietor. Dolly, he said, had no connection with Browngrass'. She was his star reporter. After the man had been removed and Dolly thanked Crosby for his kind lie, he told her it was the truth. She was engaged. Episode 4: "Putting One Over" When Miss Mindel, president of the Reform League, received a pathetic letter from certain tenants of the Union Realty Company, complaining of unsanitary living conditions and unjust rents, she wrote a sharp letter to the president of the Realty Company, threatening action in the courts unless improvements were made. James Boliver, the president, had put his company into its position of prominence, largely through his entirely unscrupulous method of dealing with any type of opposition to his plans. Briefly summing up the probable results of any action on the part of the Reform League, he decided that it must be prevented at any cost, so he decided to bribe Miss Mindel. Miss Mindel did not understand the carefully couched letter she received from Boliver, asking her to come and see him. She felt that she was getting into deep water, and decided to appeal to the newspapers, before taking any action. At the office of "The Comet," where she went first, Miss Mindel met Dolly Desmond, and with characteristic impulsiveness, told her the whole story. Dolly immediately hit on a plan, which she confided to Miss Mindel. That good lady, after some thought, consented to it. She was personally unknown to Boliver, and there seemed no reason why the plan should not succeed. In accordance with it, Dolly presented herself at the Union Realty Company's office as Miss Mindel. Mr. Boliver was very nice to her, indeed, and, finding her even more compliant than he had hoped, gave her a check for five thousand dollars, and allowed her to write him a receipt on the typewriter. Dolly made a carbon copy of the receipt, thanked Mr. Boliver, and turned to go. At the door she met Mr. Browngrass, her late employer, who happened to be one of the directors of the company. Since Browngrass recognized her immediately, there was nothing left for Dolly but flight via the fire escape. The enraged directors pursued her, but without result. She got her story in in time to go to press, and we leave Dolly glancing affectionately at the staring headlines of her "scoop." Episode 5: "The Chinese Fan" All newspaperdom was excited over the strange disappearance of Muriel Armstrong and each daily was doing its best to discover the missing heiress first, and thus secure for themselves one of the most sensational bits of news of the day, but no trace of her could be found, despite all efforts. The editor of the Comet ground his cigar and swore impotently and even Dolly, the star reporter, was at a loss for clues. Dolly was pondering over the matter on her way to her evening's assignment: the Chinese theater in Mott Street, where she was detailed to report the play. During the second act a little Chinese pin in the shape of a fan, which Dolly was wearing, unconscious of its significance to the Tongs, started a riot in the theater. As Dolly was escaping down the side street a huge hand protruded itself from a small door, pulled her inside, down a narrow corridor and thrust her into an ill-lighted den. How could she get out? She pounded on the door and called for assistance but all that greeted her was a chuckle and a slushing of soft footsteps down the corridor. She peered around in the gloom and suddenly a frightened bundle of humanity detached itself from the corner and a young girl fell at Dolly's feet, imploring assistance. Dolly raised her gently, looked into her face and discovered that she was Muriel Armstrong, the missing heiress. All fear of the Chinese vanished. Here was the scoop of the year. Fate helped her too, for the half-crazed opium fiend who was Muriel's guard, upset the lamp and set the place on fire. This enabled Dolly and her prize to escape and the next morning the heiress was turned over to her delighted parents. Episode 6: "On the Heights" Dolly's friend, Rockwell Crosby, editor of the "Comet." disagrees with the management and resigned. Dolly was disappointed at the news, but that was as nothing compared to her rage at the attitude of his successor, who was a self-confessed "hustler" and intended to make everybody on the paper "sit up and take notice." The first assignment he gave Dolly was to wander about the streets after dark until she found a story. Dolly was furious. She had made a distinct place for herself on the staff, and was accustomed to being treated with consideration. There was nothing to do but obey, so Dolly started out. To her amazement she ran across Ella Snyder, an old school friend, who was weeping bitterly. She had eloped with a young man named Oliver Allen. Oliver had brought her to a hotel, and had departed in search of a license. Having not come back for two hours Ella concluded that she had been deceived and decided to drown herself. Dolly took the girl home, told her not to be silly, and went to get Allen. She found him at the hotel bewildered at the disappearance of his bride-to-be. Dolly, convinced that his intentions were honorable, took him back with her. They found Ella had disappeared again. She left a note, saying she had resolved to die. In order to repay Dolly, Ella said she was going to jump from the highest building in town, so Dolly could make a scoop of the news. Dolly and Allen rushed to the Woolworth Building, and stopped Ella just in time. Then they repaired to the City Hall, where Ella and Allen were married. Dolly returned to the office and told the editor she had a story, but didn't intend to write it. He was wildly indignant at first, until she had calmly explained she knew perfectly what she was doing. Episode 7: "The End of the Umbrella" The Aqueduct Construction Company has been having a good deal of trouble with certain anarchistic elements, who, anxious to seize any cause of discontent to further the bloody revolution they hoped for, opposed the building of the great pipe which would carry fresh sparkling water to the crowded people of the great city. Finally, after the company had been worried half to death by anonymous threats, a tremendous explosion killed a couple of dozen workmen and completely wrecked the main section of the great work. Dolly Desmond, in the city office of the newspaper, heard of the catastrophe and begged the editor to allow her to investigate it. The editor, who had formed a high opinion of Dolly's character, readily consented, and Dolly set out for the scene of the disaster. As she wandered about the wrecked aqueduct, she came upon a curious umbrella handle in among several pieces of a shattered bomb. Dolly kept her find and said nothing about it to anybody. With some little difficulty, she succeeded in obtaining a position as cashier in the dining room of the little hotel near the works. She had the umbrella handle placed on a new umbrella, put it in the stand where she could keep her eye on it, and settled herself to watch. It wasn't as easy a matter to devote her entire attention to the stand as she had thought at first, for Grant, a young engineer at the works, fell madly in love with her. and insisted on talking to her at every opportunity. At last, when she was on the point of giving up in disgust, a shifty-eyed individual picked up the umbrella, started to go out with it, and then apparently remembering, looked at it, put it down and looked frightened. Dolly recognized him as "Nutty Jim," one of the lodgers in the hotel. That evening Dolly went up to his room to investigate. She had just unearthed several bombs when Nutty Jim entered and sprang at her. She fired at him, but missed. A bomb was knocked off the table and exploded. Nutty Jim was killed and Dolly severely injured. We leave her at the hospital with the anxious Grant at her side, delightedly reading her "scoop" in the Comet. Episode 8: "A Tight Squeeze" When the news came to the Comet office that Mr. Martinengro, the well-known Italian-American merchant and philanthropist, had been murdered, Dolly Desmond was very anxious to have the assignment. To her disgust, the managing editor gave the story to Hillary Graham, the young man Dolly had met in "Mother Eve's" house. Dolly, forced to be satisfied with a Salvation Army wedding. Hillary set off on his assignment in high spirits. He had not made much of a success of reporting yet, but he was confident that his work in this case would convince the Comet management that he was one man in a thousand. Arrived in a dingy little barroom near the scene of the crime, he announced his intention of apprehending the criminals to the interested bartender. As a result, a few minutes later, Hillary was knocked on the head and thrown into the cellar. Dolly, after finishing her report on the wedding, donned a Salvation Army uniform, and accompanied the band about town in search of more material. In the course of her wanderings, she entered the barroom, and saw a necktie on the floor which she had noticed that morning on Hillary. Creeping unobserved into the cellar, she discovered the unconscious Hillary lying on a pile of coal. As she stood in puzzled anxiety, wondering how she could possibly save the young man and herself, she was startled by a sudden rush of coal into the cellar, through the coal hole from the street. Daddy, the copy boy on the Comet, happened to be on the street above, watching the coal men at their task. Hearing a muffled cry, he stopped the men. A moment later Dolly crawled through the hole. She and Daddy rushed for the police. After Hillary had been rescued, the police entered the saloon, and arrested its occupants. A lucky chance resulted in the discovery of the Martinengro murderers. While Dolly was writing her story in the police station, the grateful Hillary proposed. Dolly was non-committal. She was afraid she wasn't quite ready to give up her adventurous life even for so successful a reporter as he was. Episode 9: "A Terror of the Night" Mrs. Winslow, a young widow, owned a piece of property known as "Beach House," for which the Union Realty Company were the agents. The money for the rental of the property meant a good deal to Mrs. Winslow, and when her tenants began to grow few and far between, she naturally called on her agents to inquire into the causes. President Bolivar, of the Realty Company, gravely informed her that "Beach House" was haunted. To substantiate his remarks, he showed Mrs. Winslow some newspaper clippings about the reported ghost at the house. Many complaints had been received from tenants and the property was becoming more and more impossible to rent. In short, Mr. Bolivar advised Mrs. Winslow to accept the Realty Company's very generous offer of $10,000 for the property worth $50,000. Mrs. Winslow thought that her property was worth more and went to consult her friend, Dolly Desmond, the star reporter on "The Comet." Dolly, instantly excited at the prospect of investigating a haunted house, suggested that Mrs. Winslow leave the property to her for the space of a week. Mrs. Winslow made out the necessary papers and then went to Bolivar and told him what she had done. Bolivar, an old enemy of Dolly, immediately planned a trap for her. He arrived at Beach House a little while after Dolly had made herself at home in one of the gray dreary rooms. After his first expression of pretended surprise, he began to make love to her, but the derisiveness of her answer showed plainly that his original plan was useless. So he bowed and took his leave. Dolly slept that night on a sofa in the front hall in the midst of a number of garden implements which had been stowed there for safekeeping. In the middle of the night, she was awakened by a slight noise. Looking up, a terrible sight met her eyes. A shrouded figure, clad in garments of ghastly white, was coming down the stairs toward her. Instead of shrieking and fainting, Dolly turned the hose on the advancing figure. It halted, wavered, and then ran out of the house and into the arms of Malone, who had just arrived to investigate the anonymous letter. The ghost was, of course, Bolivar, who had chosen this means of attempting to get Mrs. Winslow's property at a low price. Episode 10: "Dolly Plays Detective" When Mrs. Cambridge invited Dolly Desmond, and Malone, the managing editor of the Comet, to a dinner party, Malone naturally offered to take Dolly around to the Cambridge's in his car. For in the short space of time in which he had held his new office on the Comet staff, Malone had grown very fond of the clever young girl. When, on their way to the party, Dolly waved her hand to her old friend the policeman on the beat, she noticed a quick frown of displeasure on Malone's face. To tease him, she started to flirt outrageously with all the men present as soon as she arrived at the dinner, among whom was one of society's newest lions, the Count de Rochepierre. In the midst of the dinner, it was suddenly discovered that one of the ladies' necklaces was missing. She had worn it about her neck when she sat down, and it seemed absolutely inconceivable that anybody should have been able to remove it in the brilliantly-lighted room. On the following afternoon, the count called on Dolly, and begged her to accept a beautiful ring as a slight token of his esteem. Dolly, who rather enjoyed leading the count on, told him she should be delighted to wear it. Shortly after he had apparently taken his leave, Mrs. Cambridge and several ladies came to call. At Dolly's suggestion, a game of auction bridge was commenced. As they sat about the table, precisely the same thing happened as on the preceding night. Two of the ladies' necklaces vanished. The fact that Dolly had been present at both occasions when the mysterious occurrence had taken place, seemed a little significant. The ladies left hurriedly, and somewhat coolly. Left alone, Dolly decided to go and see the Count. She was led to this decision by several suspicious little incidents she had observed. In the Count's quarters, she discovered not only the missing necklaces, but absolute proof of how he had perpetrated his astonishing crimes. But even cleverer than her discovery of his method, was the way in which she inveigled the Count into playing a game of '"Forfeits" at the Cambridge's, and at the crucial moment in the game, clapped a pair of handcuffs on him and turned him over to the police. Episode 11: "Dolly at the Helm" When the city editor of the Comet burst into the managing editor's office and told him that his child was desperately ill with diphtheria, Malone, the managing editor, naturally told him to take as much time off as he wanted. Malone himself was feeling very badly at the time, and his resolution to take charge personally of the city editor's department was never carried out. Shortly after the city editor had left, Malone fainted at his desk. Dolly Desmond, the Comet's star reporter, found him there when she came into the room. She revived Malone from his stupor and had him taken home. In nine cases out of ten, both Malone and the city editor might well have been absent without any particular disturbance in the ordinary routine of the office. It was four o'clock on an unusually dull summer afternoon. The likelihood of anything happening seemed extremely remote. However, scarcely had Malone been taken away when things started. A terrible excursion boat catastrophe was the first. Right on its heels came the news that a great hotel was burning. In the excited chaos into which the Comet office was plunged, Dolly showed the stuff of which she was made. Her small hand seized the deserted tiller and with the quick incisive decision which was her chief characteristic, she wearied the legs of messenger boys, and kept the telephone wires hot with the dispatching of her swift Napoleanic commands. When it was all over, and the day was won, Dolly received a letter from home telling her that her father's bank was on the verge of ruin, largely as a result of the hard feeling which had been stirred up by Dolly's story, "The Perfect Truth." Poor Dolly, at her wits' end, went to Malone for advice. She took the manuscript of "The Perfect Truth" with her. Malone' s illness was a blessing in disguise for it gave him a chance to read the story, the first installment of which had had such a disastrous effect. He was amazed by its brilliance of style and theme. In a gush of unwanted enthusiasm he told Dolly that he was willing to publish the story at his own expense as a speculation. So Dolly, with her hopes once again raised, went away with the dim belief growing in her that "The Perfect Truth" might not be so bad a thing for her father as it had at first seemed. Episode 12: "The Last Assignment" When Dolly Desmond left the home of her youth to embark on a journalistic career in the city, she left the town in a state of furor behind her. The story called "The Perfect Truth," the first installment of which Dolly published in the town newspaper, aroused so much resentment against Dolly that the townspeople revenged themselves by withdrawing their money from her father's bank. Two or three months after Dolly went away, the bank was in such straits that suspension of payment seemed only a matter of hours. Then "The Perfect Truth" in its complete form was published as a book. It met with an immediate and startling success. Dolly attained to fame and wealth almost overnight. The echo of her success reached her native town, and people began to sit up and take notice. It was one thing to feel themselves the butt of the joke of an immature schoolgirl, and quite another to know that they had been the material from which a famous authoress had drawn her inspiration. In the midst of the excitement, Bobby, at the newspaper office, suddenly received word that Dolly was coming to town. The news was not an unmixed pleasure for Bobby. He had an evil conscience. He had been madly in love with Dolly before she left town, and believed that she cared a good deal for him. After she left, he fell in love with another girl. However, Bobby's first duty in the matter was perfectly clear. So he wrote up a headline article for his paper announcing Dolly's arrival. The town went wild with excitement. Fame was about to fall upon it again for the first time since Hank Bowers had been lynched for horse stealing many years before. All hatred and jealousy was forgotten and Dolly was welcomed by a tremendous popular demonstration. The first thing she did was to set her father's bank on its feet again, partly with the help of the money she had made and partly by the use of her extremely persuasive tongue. In the midst of the excitement, a stranger arrived in town, James Malone, the enterprising business manager of Dolly's paper. Everybody wondered who he was, and Bobby was the first to find out. For when he went to Dolly's house, with hanging head, to explain how matters stood, she told him that she was going to marry Malone. And that is how we leave Dolly with one career behind her, and another and far finer one ahead.
- Carter Holmes, master criminologist, must help the oft-kidnapped Ruth Stanhope to find the 9 daggers that will unlock the secret of the cursed Devil's Trademark!
- The true story of Lord Francis Hope, who inherits the Hope Diamond and marries showgirl May Yohe'. Lord Francis Hope gambles away the family fortune and May Yohe' leaves him--another suspected curse of owning the Hope Diamond.
- Feature version of The Lost City (1920), a fifteen episode serial.
- Helen Aldrich, a young American sculptress in Paris, has an unexpected adventure with a young Apache who visits her with the intention of obtaining her jewels, changes his mind and agrees to pose for her. They fall in love. Professor Aldrich, Helen's father, is the inventor of a death ray which is expected to accomplish great things in war. The secret is stolen and Helen's lover suspected of the theft. Helen starts out to prove his innocence. She does so, after meeting with a variety of adventures, clears the man she loves and effects the capture of the gang-leader.
- A sea captain obtains half of a map directing him to an enormous treasure on a south sea island. The princess who rules the island possesses the other half of the map, and together they fight off the pirates and natives who would prevent their retrieval of the treasure.
- Episode 1: "The Traitor" Captain Ralph Payne is chosen to convey to the Major General at Panama a document of vital importance which discloses a weakness in our canal defenses by which a monarchy (hitherto overlooked by the United States) plots to overcome this nation. The document is secreted beneath his left shoulder strap, it first being prepared with invisible ink. From that time Payne finds himself the victim of a queer being that, through a strange medium, juggles with his good name and martial standing. At his apartment he finds a letter in handwriting the exact counterpart of his own and in it the startling contents: "The left shoulder strap and the locket reveal the secret; take the tip in time." Bewildered, he consults his chief, Colonel Dare, who instructs him to attend the Embassy ball that night as though nothing had happened, promising added secret service protection. In the midst of the evening's festivities, Payne and Pearl Dare find a secluded spot in the conservatory. Encouraged by a responsive light in her eyes, Payne is about to ask for her "yes" to the question that means happiness to him, when a messenger orders him to report to Colonel Dare at once. There he is informed that the Grenadian Ambassador has been murdered and in his lifeless hand a message found to Payne thanking him for services rendered Grenada. When Payne is searched the left shoulder strap reveals nothing hut a worthless piece of paper. In a daze he hears the order given to arrest him on a charge of treason.
- Hank Davis, foreman on a huge dam project, enlists the aid of his two flyer friends when a sinister figure known as The Black Ace leads his Mystery Squadron of masked pilots in an attempt to destroy the dam.
- As heiress to a large fortune, Marguerite is able to satisfy her love for beautiful clothes and a taste for adventure, while confronted by a multitude of schemers and gangsters bent on reducing her to poverty.
- Episode 1: "The Broken Coin" Kitty Grey, a reporter, leaves her office for lunch. On her way to the restaurant she sees in an old curiosity shop half of a broken coin, inscribed in Latin. The name "Gretzhoffen" attracts her attention, and she buys the coin. On her way out of the shop she drops the papers she is carrying, which are picked up and handed to her by a foreign-looking man, who had been watching the coin before Kitty came along. Kitty goes on her way and the man enters the shop to buy the coin. He is told by the proprietor that the young lady who just left the shop bought it. Kitty, thinking she has material for a good story, forgets about lunch and goes to her room for an old article she has written regarding the poverty-stricken Kingdom of Gretzhoffen, and with the aid of a Latin grammar, translates the inscription on the coin, which reads: "Underneath flagstone of north corner torture cham he found treasures valuable s the kingd Gretzhoffen Mi." Tis arouses her imagination to such an extent that she hurries back to her office and asks the editor to give her three months to go to Gretzhoffen and locate the other half of the coin. In the meantime the mysterious looking foreigner has followed Kitty to her home, entered her room while she was at the office and ransacked everything in general, looking for the coin which Kitty, at that moment, had in a chamois bag around her neck. He leaves, disgusted. Everything ready for her departure, Kitty goes aboard the boat, where she comes face to face with the foreigner. After dinner Kitty falls asleep in her stateroom, after making sure that the half coin is safe. She awakens suddenly to glimpse the profile of a man at the porthole of her compartment. He disappears as she sits up. Realizing something is wrong, Kitty, after making sure no one is watching her, takes the coin, her passport and other valuables from the bag and hides them in her stocking. After another cautious survey she returns to bed. Sometime later she is awakened to find a hand holding her chamois bag disappear through the porthole. She runs to the porthole just in time to see the form of a man disappear around the bow of the boat. Realizing the bag contained only her handkerchief and an American half-dollar, and that the coin is safe in her stocking, Kitty locks the porthole and retires for the night. She sees no more of the strange foreigner, and arrives safe in Gretzhoffen. On investigating, with the help of the American Consul, Kitty finds that the Kingdom of Gretzhoffen is a very poor little principality, ruled by a puppet king, Michael the Second, who is under the power of a supposed friend, Count Frederick. Frederick, in reality, is the pretender to the throne occupied by the puppet, and uses Michael, under the guise of friendship, to further his own plans and to ascend to the throne of Gretzhoffen. The financial straits of the little kingdom are due to the fact that gold scripts and jewels belonging to Michael's father, the old King Michael the First, have been missing since the death of the old king, and the only clue to the missing valuables is half of a broken coin, inscribed in Latin, and given to the present king by an old servant of Michael the First's on his, the servant's, deathbed. Michael, the puppet, has, after a fashion, tried to locate the other half of the coin. Count Frederick, knowing of the coin and its value, procures it, through the aid of his valet and accomplice, Grahame, and determines to find the other half, dethrone Michael, and ascend the throne, a rich ruler of Gretzhoffen. Thanking the consul for the information, Kitty bids him good-day and strikes out for the hotel. In the meantime, Roleau, the foreigner who followed Kitty on her trip and is, in reality, a hireling of the unscrupulous Frederick, reports to his employer with the bag he has obtained from Kitty on board the liner. Frederick is greatly angered at finding the bag minus the precious half coin and beats the cringing Roleau. Frederick, quickly forgetting Roleau, sets about to find another way to get the coin. Kitty, in a taxi on her way home, sees a man stagger from the back door of a fashionable house, trying to cover his blood-stained face with his coat sleeve, and stopping her car near the man, she gets out and tries to help him.
- Episode 1: "The Mystic Message of the Spotted Collar" Zudora, 18, has a guardian, Hassam Ali, a disciple of Hindu mysticism. Hassam Ali was a fakir with a small caravan circus. Zudora's mother was his sister and the rope walker. Zudora's father remained in a small mining town where he prospected for gold. As the story opens Zudora, her mother and Hassam Ali, her uncle, are visiting the town of Zudora's birth and where Zudora's father is still prospecting. Zudora's father finds that the Zudora mine yields a wonderful run of gold. He becomes over-zealous and is killed in an explosion. He wills the entire mine, which is valued at $20,000,000, to Zudora, when she reaches her eighteenth birthday, and in the event of Zudora's death, going to the nearest heir-at-law. Zudora's mother receives information of her husband's death when she is about to ascend the rope and give her performance. She falls to the ground, and with a dying gasp turns over to Hassam Ali the guardianship of Zudora. Zudora reaches her eighteenth year. Hassam Ali has set himself up as a mystic, but his one purpose in life is to rid himself of Zudora, so that the mine will be his. He is also anxious to rid himself of John Storm, Zudora's sweetheart. He has kept from Zudora the information about her inheritance. He at last arrives at one plan that seems safe. Zudora has evidenced quite wonderful powers of deduction. He tells her that since she has always been so anxious to incorporate herself in his work, he will give her the next twenty cases he is called upon to solve. He says: "If you win, you may marry John Storm. If you lose on any one of them, you renounce him forever." Zudora's sweetheart is involved in a great case for the city. Opposed to him is one Bienreith, a prominent lawyer. The case is going well for John Storm. Hassam Ali decides that after eighteen years of waiting it is time to use heroic measures. He denounces Storm in front of Zudora, and then tells her about the twenty cases. The very first thing in the courtroom, Storm slaps the face of Bienreith, after a particularly insulting speech, and is invited to a duel that night. An hour later the newspapers are full of her sweetheart's trouble. Zudora rushes to his side and finds him practicing with a revolver. She plans to keep him from meeting Bienreith. She purchases a drug, and drops it in a glass of drinking water. Next morning the papers tell of Storm's disappearance. The great mystery of it is that Bienreith has been found dead in his room and the blame placed upon John Storm. Storm is arrested. Zudora rushes to her uncle and begs that this be her first case. When she goes to Bienreith's home that morning she finds the collar that he had worn when killed. It has queer markings on it. She studies the lines carefully, but can make no headway. Storm is formally charged with the murder. She reaches the courtroom just in time to say, "Stop, he is not guilty...," and falls into a faint. Hassam Ali and Burns, a confederate, watch as the girl recovers and explains that she has solved the mystery. Burns is placing a revolver, equipped with a silencer against her neck, when she turns suddenly and takes a pencil from his pocket to prove her contention to the court. She realizes, in looking at the mark, that there is a similarity between the markings of Burns' pencil and the markings on the collar. Court is adjourned. Zudora induces Burns to accompany her home. Under hypnosis he confesses to killing Bienreith. Zudora had placed two lawyers behind the curtains and they hear the confession. Zudora has solved her first case and Hassam Ali congratulates her. In the courtroom Zudora clasps Storm in her arms as the judge proclaims him free.