Volume II: Filmography

Episode 21 .

THE MILLION DOLLAR MYSTERY

THE DOCUMENTS IN THE TREASURE BOX

a.k.a. A PACKET OF PAPERS

November 9, 1914 (Monday)

Length: 2 reels (reels 41 and 42)

ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, October 3, 1914:

"Howell Hansel started on Episode No. 21 of The Million Dollar Mystery this week. Arthur Bauer entertained the cast as a secret police official from Russia. Great interest throughout the country is manifest in the $10,000 prize for the solution, and Sidney Bracy, Florence LaBadie, Jimmy Cruze and Marguerite Snow are bombarded daily by mail with offers of a 50-50 split if they'll solve the problem. As a matter of fact nobody knows how the 23rd episode will be written, as it will be from the 100-word solution accepted as the best that solves the preceding 22. There are four possible, natural endings to the Mystery, and every fan in moviedom is striving for the prize."

ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, October 3, 1914:

"Howell Hansel, the director of The Million Dollar Mystery, took a big crowd and cast to Broadway Rose Gardens, New York City, Wednesday, to stage part of Episode No. 21. Mique McCurren, electrician, went along with eight Kleigl lights to light the interior."

ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, October 24, 1914:

"The Tuckahoe quarry will appear in one of Thanhouser's Million Dollar Mystery episodes. On Tuesday a troupe from the local studio took the thrilling scene of an automobile bearing two persons dashing over a forty foot cliff. The trick was accomplished by lacing two wax figures in the automobile and then starting the car and letting it run over the cliff, and drop upside down on the big rock 40 feet below. The actors then crawled under the car and were as the injured victims. The larger automobile was wrecked in making the picture."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, November 7, 1914:

"After Braine's narrow escape, as told in Episode 20, the conspirators kept under cover for a time, fearing that the Russian Minister of Police, Henri Servan, might have some plan made for their capture. Norton, realizing this, leaves on a hurried trip to Washington, where he meets Vice-President Marshall, Speaker Champ Clark, Secretary of War Garrison, United States Treasurer Burke and a host of other dignitaries, whose interest he seeks to enlist in locating the vanished Hargreave and in frustrating the future schemes of the gang, who have so often threatened Florence's life.

"In the meantime there is a mysterious visit to the well in which the treasure box has been concealed. The same mysterious hands remove the chest from the depths, open it, and taking out one of the sealed receptacles it contains, extract an official-looking document. The treasure chest is then returned to its former resting place in the well. That night Braine and the Countess Olga, seated in the Broadway Rose Gardens, see a mysterious hand thrust itself through the curtains near their table. The hand holds the document, which had lately reposed in the treasure box. It is addressed to Henri Servan. The Countess Olga takes the document, the hand vanishes, and with Braine she quickly leaves the Gardens.

"Meanwhile Florence, who has become suspicious of the Countess Olga, pays a visit to the house, and here she is concealed when the Countess and Braine return. She sees the Countess conceal the document under a piece of statuary, and as soon as she is left alone, she makes off with it. Later, when the loss is discovered, Braine and Olga realize that it must have been Florence who stole the precious paper.

"Braine at once sets out for the Hargreave mansion. On the way he meets another member of the gang who accompanies him. In the garden they see old Jones, the butler, and another man, whom Braine recognizes as the Russian Minister of Police, conferring on a rustic bench. They are closely examining the much-sought papers. Waiting until Jones goes into the house on an errand, the two conspirators fall upon Servan and after gagging and binding him securely to the bench, recover the papers.

"Florence and Norton, who have just returned from a horseback ride, have left their horses with the groom in front of the stable, and thither Braine makes his way. Before the astonished groom realizes his intention, he has sprung into the saddle of the nearest mount and made off. Running into the house, the groom informs old Jones of what has happened, and the butler, feeling certain that the conspirators again have the precious documents in their hands, sets out in pursuit on the other horse.

"While Jones is galloping madly after Braine, Servan manages to free himself from his bonds and rushing frantically into the house he tells the astonished Norton and Florence of his loss. Norton, whose automobile is at the door, without waiting for the others to follow him, springs into it and sets off in the wake of Jones and the fast fleeing Braine. Unfortunately, however, before he has gone far, he commences to have engine trouble, and after several ineffectual attempts to keep the car running, he leaves it in the road and hastens on foot to a nearby garage, where he engages another machine and continues the mad chase.

"As he comes near a high bridge he sees Jones and Braine engaged in a life and death struggle. Both fall from their horses and continue the battle on the bridge. Old Jones is putting up a game fight, but his years and the superior strength of his antagonist make the struggle one-sided. Leaping from the auto Norton throws himself into the melee, and Braine realizes that his advantage is lost and that he is in desperate danger of capture. Slipping from his coat, although it contains the papers for which he had risked so much, he leaves the garment in the hands of his two antagonists and dives over the bridge-rail into the river 40 feet below. Jones and Norton, content to have regained the precious documents, watch him swim to safety."

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