The Pursuing Vengeance (1916)

The Countess Simone, whose jewels are famous, is selected for the first victim of the band. Vantine, a noted connoisseur, has purchased in Paris a wonderfully perfect Bouie cabinet. It is brought to his home in New York carrying with it Death, for Vantine, while examining it, is mysteriously slain, the only marks upon him being two livid stains on the back of his left hand. One after another investigators of the cabinet are slain in an equally unfathomable way. There appears to be no solution of the puzzle till Jack Godfrey, a "cub" reporter tackles the circumstances. Godfrey, armed with steel gloves, undertakes to discover the secret of the murderous cabinet. In the meantime, Crochard, the international crook, who has used the cabinet as a hiding place for part of his booty, pursues it to America, together with Mimi, his accomplice, and others of his retinue. Through a skillful ruse he gains access to the death-cabinet which has become so deadly that the police have seized it and placed it in a cell at "Headquarters." Disgusted as the detective, who has followed him across the Atlantic, Crochard exercises his cunning and his wits and makes a laughing stock of the man set on his trail. The climax is startling.