He Did It Himself (1917) Online
High Spigh, and ambitious but unsuccessful detective, arrives at his office and proceeds to look over his morning paper. In it he finds an account of how Herr Trigger, a scientist, has discovered a powerful explosive and that several foreign nations are bidding for the secret. While he ponders over this a girl enters the office. She tells him that she is Gretchen, the daughter of Herr Trigger, and that she wants him to find her father, who has disappeared. She tells him of the discovery of the explosive, how her father's assistant tried to steal the formula, how Senor Frijoles and a Spanish girl called at the house to buy the secret on the previous day and how, the next morning, she found the laboratory wrecked and her father gone. High Spigh takes the case and Gretchen takes him to her home where he finds a clue in the shape of a huge footprint. He follows the trail down the street till he runs into the owner of the foot, a big Mexican. On seeing the detective's badge the Mex runs. ...