The story
“This thrilling detective drama derives its title from the sinister sign of a gang of murderers. For several months the Knotted Cord Gang leaves in its wake a trail of death, and the police seem helpless to cope with the mystery. The chief of the criminals is a convincing type as portrayed by Yale Benner, famous for his crook acting. Bert Delaney stars as the young detective, sharing honors in the sensational scene in the murderer’s shack with William Burt, his secretary and colleague. And Mignon Anderson is the girl who makes the perils of the plot worth while. It is a red-blooded story of adventure, with a strong love motive, in which Miss Anderson and Mr. Delaney put over a tremendous dramatic climax.
“Robert Neilson, a young detective, the first episode reveals, receives the fatal warning—the knotted cord—and knows that the gang which he is trying to track down, has marked him for death. On the same day Richard Van Dyke, a millionaire, also gets the warning. Neilson asks for a showdown from the supercilious head of the police force, and that dignitary grudgingly permits him to have a look at Van Dyke’s house. Neilson meets Portia Van Dyke, daughter of the marked millionaire, and she proves a great incentive. On Neilson’s sensational discovery of Van Dyke dead in his own library, behind guarded doors, the fatherless girl clings to him for sympathy. Neilson solves the mystery. Under the immense grandfather’s clock a portion of the floor has been cut away. Later he learns that Portia’s maid is an agent of the crooks. He almost traps the maid. The criminals instruct the maid to imitate her mistress’s voice and phone Detective Neilson that she is at the Old Mill shack, in danger. Neilson drives off at top speed in his car. His secretary, Bob North, watches him go; then he joins several members of the gang. A death-trap is arranged. Neilson is made a prisoner. Meanwhile vengeance has o’erleaped itself. Portia was to have been told where to find her lover when it was too late. Instead she gets the news in time. Between her heroic efforts and those of the secretary, North, the young detective is saved.”
Summary from Reel Life · 29 January 1916
