The Apartment House Mystery (1915)

movie

Country: USA
Genres: Mystery, Short
Release: 1915-02-03
Director: James W. Horne
Writers: Hamilton Smith
Language: None | English
Stars: Ruth Roland , R. Henry Grey , Cleo Ridgely , Thomas G. Lingham , Paul Hurst , Edward Clisbee , William H. West
Runtime: min
Awards: N/A
AKA: The Apartment House Mystery (United States of America) , The Apartment House Mystery
Plot: Appointed Special Investigator as the result of her work in rounding up a band of counterfeiters, Ruth finds herself called upon to solve the mystery surrounding the death of a man found on the roof of the Heywood Apartments. The girl detective soon learns that the dead man is Rodger Hastings. A button attached to a piece of cloth clutched in the dead man's hand furnishes the first clue. While interviewing Mrs. Hastings, Ruth discovers a sprayer filled with brandy on Hastings' dresser. Later, while interviewing Warren, who lives in the Heywood Apartments, she sees a similar sprayer on the man's buffet. Clever work by Ruth results in the discovery that Warren is conducting a gambling joint in his apartment. A raid follows. Warren is arrested. The girl detective finds a coat in the man's apartment which the cloth and the button she had taken from Hastings' hand match. Breaking down, Warren confesses that the man had died in his apartment of an attack of heart disease. This was caused by a drug habit formed shortly after Hastings became a habitué of the gambling joint. Fearing less his wife discover his weakness, Hastings sprayed himself with whiskey to make it appear that he was drunk. The man died while begging Warren for some of the drug. In falling, he seized the gambler's coat button, tearing it loose. Fearing lest he be accused of murder, Warren carried the body to the roof. Satisfied with the result of her work, the girl detective returns to Police Headquarters.
IMDB:tt0004903