The Open Drawbridge (1915)

• 79%
• 1915
• Thriller
• J.P. McGowan

Benton, railroad detective, is assigned to run down the crooks who have been breaking into freight cars near Hobart. Helen, the telegraph operator at Hobart, supplies Benton with his first clue. Later in the day, the two see Rand and his band of river pirates rifling a box car. While Benton holds the crooks up, Helen disables the motor of their launch. A moment's carelessness causes Benton to be overpowered by the river pirates. The desperadoes fasten him to the side ladder of the freight car with his own handcuffs. Helen discovers the detective's peril just as the freight train starts. Making a flying leap, the girl boards the train and succeeds in rescuing Benton. As the result of her work, Rand is later captured. The leader of the river pirates is tried and sentenced to prison. The members of his band make a desperate effort to rescue him by raising the drawbridge which the train on which he and Benton are traveling, must cross. Helen, however, frustrates this plot, although it almost costs her life.