- With the help of futuristic technical inventions, a private detective investigates a bizarre murder case involving mysterious messages delivered in a small black box by the killer.
- Episode 1: "An Apartment House Case" Lord and Lady Ashleigh have decided to send their only child, Ella, to New York, for the season. The girl's one ambition in life is to study music. Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Raleigh have agreed to chaperon the girl in the American metropolis. As a final gift Lord Ashleigh presents his daughter with the famous Ashleigh diamond necklace. As Lord and Lady Ashleigh cannot leave England; they send Lenora, Ella's personal attendant, and the maid's husband, Ian MacDougal, butler at Hamblin House, to accompany the girl to New York. Next morning the hotel is aroused by Leonora's wild shrieks of alarm. The hall men, rushing in, find Ella's body upon the floor and the famous diamonds missing. Inspector French, of the police detectives, is called but can make nothing of the affair. He calls in the services of Sanford Quest. The criminologist traps the maid into an expression of terror and informs her that she must go to his office. She tries to communicate with MacDougal, but Quest interferes. By means of hypnotism Quest draws from the girl a confession that the crime was committed by MacDougal, that he took the jewels and that she was to meet him, and escape with him to South America. Satisfied by her story, Quest turns the girl loose, after commanding her to return to his study with the jewels at 7 p.m. She joins MacDougal in their rendezvous. Quest has tracked her, and by means of a trap, is thrown by MacDougal into the cellar. Then the villain turns on a poisonous gas. The power of Quest's suggestion comes over the receptive mind of Lenora. She mechanically obeys his order, takes up the jewels and leaves the rendezvous, going to his study. MacDougal suspects that he has been double-crossed and swears he will get her yet, since Quest is done for. But Quest is not done for. He has a little instrument in his hand attached by wires to capsules of Anishidyte. Anishidyte's most valuable quality is that it exerts a tremendous force only in the direction towards which it is pointed. By the aid of this explosive Quest escapes and returns to his office to find Lenora already there. Seeing she is an excellent subject, he ventures another experiment, that of electro-thought transference. Before a highly sensitized mirror he seats the girl and gently puts her in a state of hypnosis. A paper-thin steel band is fitted around her temples. This band is connected through a series of coils with the mirror by a fine wire, through which runs a high charge of electricity. The hypnosis induces perfect mental concentration. The criminologist then commands the girl to observe by means of telepathy what MacDougal is doing. Anxiously, Quest watches the mirror. Its surface seems ruffled and slowly there emerges from the grayness a scene showing the interior of a low groggery. MacDougal enters, confers with the proprietor and is directed to a room where he can be safe from the police. In the little attic MacDougal throws down his hat and swears he knows to get even with Lenora. The experiment is finished. Quest quickly brings the girl back to full consciousness and turns her over to his assistant, Laura. A week passes. MacDougal threatens Lenora in a note and Quest decides to draw him at once into the trap. Hypnotizing the girl he bids her lay her head upon her arms on his table. From the window he has seen MacDougal approach. Quest and his men apparently leave the house. MacDougal creeps in. He sees the bowed figure in the half-light bringing a heavy blackjack down upon the head of the figure. The next instant the lights flash up. MacDougal is handcuffed and Lenora is led in from another room. MacDougal stares at her, his throat contracting. Then he looks toward the table. A detective is picking up the dummy figure. The black wig drops to the floor. A steel rod shows above the dummy hand. MacDougal has been caught by a trick. Lord Ashleigh arrives to find his daughter's slayer in the law's hands. He demands also the arrest of Lenora as an accomplice of MacDougal, but Quest, knowing that a wife cannot testify against her husband, persuades Lord Ashleigh that she was only a tool of the real criminal. And down in South America Prof. Edgar Ashleigh, anthropologist, a twin brother of Lord John, is caring for his fever-stricken servant, John Craig. Their researches through the jungle have led them into dangerous climates and Craig has succumbed. Ashleigh decides that the man will not die and leaves him alone for a moment. The fever-crazed brain has but one thought, apparently. Cunningly waiting till the scientist has gone from the tent, the servant feels under his pillow and brings out a small black box. He fondles the box and then hides it once more.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- Episode 2: "The Hidden Hands" Ian MacDougal's trial for the slaying of Ella Ashleigh has not occupied the court for long. The hour is set for sentence. Lord Ashleigh and his twin brother, Edgar, are leaving the latter's home in Yonkers, for the anthropologist hastened back to the United States when he heard of his niece's cruel death. Alike in every respect physically, save that Edgar is clean-shaven, the two brothers have been close friends since boyhood. Lord Ashleigh is higher strung, more warm-blooded; Edgar, the typical scientist and explorer, slightly stooped, thoughtful, and studious. Edgar's body servant, John Craig, has come to be more of an intimate than is accorded to most English servants. The man has a secretive, almost furtive air which might alarm anyone less suspicious than the simple, sincere scholar. After the brothers leave, Craig comes to the library with the small black box in his hand. MacDougal is sentenced to life imprisonment and taken away to prison. Quest meets Prof. Ashleigh with warm expressions of friendliness, for the two had known each other in years gone by. At home, Edgar Ashleigh finds a message from the manager of the American Museum. The message says that the skeleton of an ape which Ashleigh had sent to the museum has been stolen. Ashleigh is greatly agitated and calls in Quest's services. Lenora finds on the windowsill a small bone which Ashleigh pronounces the minor digit of the ape's right hand. Not long after this Ashleigh is invited to attend a reception at the home of Mrs. Bruce Reinholdt, whose son was a former pupil of the anthropologist. A storm blows up and Craig comes to the house with Ashleigh's raincoat. A footman invites the servant to have supper in the pantry and later sends him out through the conservatory and garden gate, saving quite a distance. Five minutes later Mrs. Reinholdt hysterically shrieks that two hands have floated out of midair and wrenched from her throat a wonderful necklace. No trace of the robber is found and Quest is summoned at Ashleigh's suggestion. Outside the garden gate Craig crouches listening to the hubbub inside. Then a look of fear appears on his face and he rushes away. Quest can make nothing from the hysterical woman's words, as she maintains that the hands had no body. Meanwhile, in a strange little hut, a weird character is being drawn in by the weaving tentacles of the black box. His great limbs hang loosely together. He is hairy, and a wild, uncouth figure. Gibberingly, he talks to the chained leopard and tiny monkeys who are his companions, waiting until his cue shall be called. And while he waits a mysterious hand serves him with food. Lenora is no longer safe from her wrathful husband, for Ian MacDougal bested his guard on the way to the penitentiary and escaped from the rapidly moving train. Craig, some terrible fear urging him on, wanders about the city until at last he drifts into a Salvation Army hall where a pretty lassie is pleading with the sinners to confess. But as he drops to his knees some awful force seems to grasp him by the throat.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- Episode 3: "The Pocket Wireless" J. Sanford Quest now has two mysterious robberies to untangle. He has perfected a pocket wireless instrument in the use of which he coaches his two assistants, Lenora and Laura. While they are working, the mysterious hands leave a tiny black box in the study. It contained this message: "You have embarked on a new study, anthropology. Now what characteristic strikes you most forcibly? Cunning? The necklace might be where the skeleton is. Why not begin at the beginning?" Miss Quigg, a Salvation Army girl, comes to Quest with an appeal for charity. The professor and Craig arrive and Quest tells the girl that he has no time to consider her plea, but she may return the next morning at 10 o'clock. As Lenora shows the girl out, she sees that Craig has been listening at the door. Lenora has an instinctive dislike for the man. Craig and the Professor go on to Mrs. Rheinholdt's, where the scientist has promised to call and let the lady know what progress Quest is making. Quest proceeds to adjust his "phototellsme." The instrument is a small mirror, equipped with several coils and batteries. It can be connected to the telephone, and upon pressing a tiny lever, a reproduction of the place at the other end of the line is shown in the little mirror. The criminologist calls Inspector French. The Inspector's men have stumbled across an odd bone and he offers to bring it to Quest at once. The criminologist tells him it is unnecessary, that he can see it if the inspector will merely hold it up to the phone. Thinking Quest crazy, French does as told, and Quest startles him by naming the bone as the left minor digit of the anthropoid skeleton. Although Professor Ashleigh has scouted any suspicion of Craig's complicity in the Rheinholdt robbery. Quest decides to learn something of the man's character and sends Laura, disguised as a man servant, to seek information in the Servant's Club. Quest and Lenora go to the place where the bit of bone was found. They discover that they are near Professor Ashleigh's extensive grounds, and find an odd-looking hut. The hut is locked, but through the tiny window they see a strange sight. A figure, half man, half ape, hairy, clad only in skins, glares at them. A leopard, chained to a post, paces restlessly. A half-dozen monkeys scamper about. Quest pries off the lock and he and Lenora step inside. The wild man would attack them, but Quest brings him under hypnotic control while the girl searches the hut. Buried under the straw, she finds the missing skeleton, but nowhere is the necklace to be found. Quest cannot understand the presence of this wild creature in captivity in the Professor's grounds, and determines that the scientist shall explain the suspicious circumstances. Locking the door he and Lenora go to the house. There is no one home, but Quest, using his prerogative, opens the door and they enter. The Professor is driven up by Craig and is surprised at Quest's presence inside the house. To the criminologist's stern demand for explanation he says nothing but brings forth a letter written to Prof. Edgar Ashleigh which reads: "Your communication gratifies me beyond words. Twelve years ago in Africa you found the skeleton of the Anthropoid. Now you tell me that in the person of Hartoo, the last of the Inyamo race of South America, you have found the next higher step in the evolution of man. Let me warn you. however, even anthropologists are subject to jealousy. Guard your secret well lest the honor of the discovery be stolen from you." Quest realizes the necessity for the professor's secrecy and is apologizing when Craig bursts in saying that the hut is in flames. The mysterious hands have again been at work. The Inyam and the anthropoid skeleton are beyond recovery. The Professor is prostrated by his loss. Quest and Lenora leave the sorrowing man and go home to get a pocket wireless message from Laura, stating that she has discovered that Craig was once an officer of the Servant's Club, but is now an infrequent and mysterious visitor. Suddenly Quest sees a black box on the table. A card with it advises him to drop all investigation. And in the box he finds Mrs. Rheinholdt's jewels.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- Episode 4: "An Old Grudge" Quest receives a report from the police that no trace of Ian MacDougal has been found. The police scout Lenora's theory that MacDougal had a hand in the Reinholdt robbery. The girl's fear of MacDougal is so real that Quest decides to investigate MacDougal's whereabouts. He sends Laura, disguised as a man, to see what she can find, and tells Lenora that they will follow at once. Leaving a check for the Salvation Army girl and taking with him the Anishidyte, which experience has taught him is an invaluable companion. Quest leaves the house, leaving word with his secretary that he will return before noon because of an appointment with Mrs. Reinholdt. The lady is coming with Inspector French to identify her jewels. Laura has made friends with the section boss and paved the way for Quest and Lenora when they meet her at the railroad. With a handcar, the section boss takes them to the spot where MacDougal jumped from the train. A man at the section house has recognized Quest as the man who sent him to the penitentiary for five years. He determines to be even with the detective. Armed with a revolver and rifle they lie in wait. Quest and his party have found in a cave near the railroad the dead body of MacDougal. Lenora cannot help but be glad that this fiend is dead, even though he was her husband. She asks permission to remain and see that his body is properly cared for. Quest grants this, but must return to the city to keep his appointment with Mrs. Reinholdt. He goes back to his car and is starting for the city when a shot from the outside punctures a tire. Red Gallagher covers the detective and he is disarmed. The chauffeur is knocked unconscious, and Quest is dragged off to the handcar house nearby. The thugs lock him in and go for oil to burn the shack. But Quest is equipped with his Anishidyte and a charge wrecks one side of the handcar house and the detective steps out and makes his way to the signal tower to have the operator stop the freight. The thugs have seen Quest's escape and run to the tower. They force the operator from the signal room. At last Red thinks he has Quest in his power, but the detective kicks the gun from Red's hand and slams his fist into Gallagher's face. Quest runs to the signal lever to stop the freight, but he is too late. The engine passes the window. The detective swings from the window on to the signal arm and drops to the last car. The thugs attack the operator, who manages to down them. In trying to escape he is killed by the two gunmen who make off in Quest's abandoned auto. While Quest, on top of the freight, nears the city, the chauffeur recovers consciousness, but not sanity. He staggers away to a house where the kind farmers take him in and nurse him. Meanwhile, the Professor and his servant go to Quest's house, arriving at the same time as the Salvation Army girl, who comes for her check. She sits talking to the Professor in the study, while Craig and the secretary chat in the hall. Later the Professor leaves with Craig. Shortly after their departure the girl decides that she must go, and tells the secretary she will return some other day. The secretary is charmed by the girl's appearance and engages her in conversation. Mrs. Reinholdt stops at Inspector French's office to take him to Quest's apartment. Their ring is unanswered and the Inspector is puzzled. Suddenly he sees caught in the door a piece of blood-stained white embroidery. The officer thinks something must be wrong inside and enters with his pass-key. The secretary lies dead on the floor. On the table is the body of the Salvation Army Girl. Quest has reached the city safe; Getting the Professor and Craig at their house, he hurries to his own home. The detective is staggered by the horror that awaits him. Lenora and Laura return to the house and the former's attention is immediately caught by Craig's expression. Once he seems almost about to confess, but draws back. The Inspector finds, close to the secretary's body, a bloody paperweight which bears Quest's name. On the floor nearby is the clock which has stopped at 11:15. The inspector asks Quest where he was at that time and the detective answers: "At 11:15 I was in the No. 16 signal tower, five miles away. Ask the operator. Why, Inspector French, you don't suspect me of this terrible deed?" The puzzled inspector hesitates.—Moving Picture World synopsis
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