Held for Ransom
Summary
A Gilded-Age financier, mid-handshake on a sun-dappled boulevard, loses his only child in the span of a breath: a Packard Six swallows Ruth whole while her spaniel yelps at dissipating dust. What follows is a kaleidoscope of Edwardian chicanery—anonymous ink-smudged ransom notes, detectives who moonlight as vaudeville magicians, dwarfs smuggled inside portmanteaux, carrier pigeons that ferry Morse by mirror-flash, and a denouement that scales the iron lattice of the Eiffel itself, where gravity finally invoices the mastermind.
Synopsis
Brewster, a millionaire, and his daughter, Ruth, were out for a walk. Brewster stopped to shake hands with a friend, while Ruth loitered behind and played with her dog. The millionaire turned just in time to see his daughter driven away in an automobile. Hailing another he gave chase, but in vain. He engages Detective Byrnes, and shows him an anonymous letter he has received. The captors of Ruth learn of Byrnes' connection with the case, and devise a plan to capture him. Later three men in a car are detected watching Byrnes' house, and the detective suspects a trap. By a clever ruse he captures two of the crooks, and forces them to tell him the location of their den. He advises Brewster to meet the crooks at the place named in their letter. Disguised as one of the crooks Byrnes is successful in entering their den, but they were warned to be on the lookout by one of the crooks who escaped capture by the detective. As the daring detective enters the room a man springs from behind a door. The detective, on the alert, jumps back, only to fall into a trap. Leaving him, the crooks go to the appointed meeting place with Brewster. By means of a small pocket mirror the detective reflects the sun's rays and attracts the attention of two of his men waiting outside. At the meeting place Brewster is induced by the crooks to enter their car. As they are about to drive away a motorcycle with a chair attachment passes. As it passes the man in the chair, unnoticed by the crooks, drops a mysterious looking bag, from which a dwarf of a man wriggles, and climbs onto the back of the car. At the end of the ride the dwarf sends a note to the detective by means of a carrier pigeon. In the house where they take Brewster his daughter is shown to him, imprisoned in a small cell-like room. The crooks demand $10,000 for her release. Just as Brewster delivers the money, the detective and his men break into the room. In the scuffle which follows Barney Lee, the Master Crook, escapes. A thrilling chase ensues between the crook in his auto, and the detective on his motorcycle. A clever scheme to elude the detective fails. By means of a rope, which his chauffeur lowers from a high bridge, Barney Lee escapes from a motor boat. The detective arrives on the bridge and cuts the rope, and so foils the escape of one of Lee's accomplices. He then follows Barney Lee, who seeks refuge in the Eiffel Tower." The chase up the tower, and the crook, in desperation, climbing out onto the beams, is intensely thrilling, and then, retribution is meted out to the Master Crook, when his foot slips, and his body falls from the dizzy height. The detective recovers the money and restores it to Brewster. Ruth is delighted when Byrnes hands her the beautiful carrier pigeon which enacted such an important part in this thrilling adventure.
