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Trouble Makers Synopsis

After her husband's death in the West, Mrs. Lehr, a young widow who grew up in Cuttleback, decides to return there with her two daughters, Jane and Katherine, and make her home on the old family estate which had been looked after in her absence by Job Jenkins, a caretaker who had been in the Lehr family's employ since boyhood, and by now he has been the estate's sole occupant for so many years that he regards it as part of his life, and is disturbed when his mistress returns with her children. Daniel Whitcomb, Cuttleback's leading attorney, reads with interest the notice in Cuttleback's newspaper about Mrs. Lehr's intended return, and ponders the romance that connected his and her life before she left for the West. He wonders if her return will awaken the old-time affection he felt she once had for him. He remembered that before she left Cuttleback she asked him to see her, but his mothers desperate illness prevented him. He had written, but his letter did not reach her until she was the wife of another. She replied informing him of her marriage and hinting at her disappointment in his not having seen her before she left, but absolving him from any intention to purposely slight her. It happened that Mrs. Lehr and Mr. Whitcomb did renew their old love story. While this goes on, her little girls make things hum around the estate and tax old Job's patience to its limit. The girls form a warm attachment to slow-witted handyman "Manny," who finds time between chores to amuse them and become their faithful attendant. One day Job's belongings are removed from his room and the faithful old gardener drops out of sight, on a day when a barn on the Lehr estate is destroyed by fire. A charred skull found in the ruins forms the basis for a murder charge brought against dull-witted Manny by the town constable. Mrs. Lehr believes him guiltless, but can't prove his innocence, and the children "just know" he never killed Job or anybody else, but, like their mother, can't prove it. Mrs. Lehr seeks Daniel Whitcomb's aid, but he refuses her plea and states his belief that Manny is guilty. This breaks up his love affair with Mrs. Lehr and earns him the dislike of her daughters. Manny is tried and convicted, wholly upon circumstantial evidence, and he's being led to the electric chair when the girls arrive with the supposed victim Job, whom they had accidentally found and who knew nothing of Manny's predicament. Everything is cleared up and Katherine and Jane get a new daddy.

The Riddle of the Tin Soldier Synopsis

Ethel Andrews is interested in settlement work. Her father refuses to cooperate with her. Ethel kidnaps her five-year-old brother Archie and places him in a tenement as an object lesson. To make the kidnapping appear the work of criminals, Ethel sends her a father a note demanding $10,000. Gangsters learn of the plan. Andrews engages Madelyn Mack, a girl detective, to find his son. Madelyn unearths several clues, among which are fragments of a tin soldier belonging to Archie. She strongly suspects Ethel of being implicated in the matter. Ethel, regretting her rash act, goes back to the tenement to bring Archie home. The gangsters capture them both, and send a note to Andrews telling him his son and daughter are prisoners. One of the gangsters shoots the note into the Andrews' library with a sling shot, just as Madelyn is telling the father of her suspicions concerning Ethel. The note upsets her theories. Madelyn discovers that the paper on which the gangsters' note is written has contained powdered Jasco berry, an Oriental drug used in cigarette form. Later, she succeeds in tracing Ethel and Archie to the tenement, but finds them gone. Passing a crowd collected on a corner, Madelyn scents the odor of Jasco berry and finds the man who is smoking it. She follows him and discovers the cottage in the suburbs where Ethel and Archie have been taken. She slips into the house and enters the room where the two are confined. Discovering a telephone wire outside the window, Madelyn taps the line with a pocket phone and summons assistance. She is discovered by the gangsters, who are just about to break into the room when the police arrive. A desperate battle ensues, which ends in the capture of the kidnappers. Andrews presents Madelyn with a check for $10,000 for her splendid work. The detective gives the check to Ethel for settlement use, but Andrews, returning the check, smilingly donates the money himself.