The confidence men assume the roles of detectives and try their hand at relieving the town of Spanglerville, which was mixed up in the death and ruination of the father of the Warden girls, from some of the contents of the exchequer. This little town harbors one Henry Closby, a man of mystery, who has patented a clay image called the "Lost Dog," the royalties on which net him a handsome sum every year. On arriving at the only hostelry in town, they register as "Mr. Scotland Yard" and "Mr. S. Holmes." They tell the innkeeper that they are on the trail of a mysterious man, and learn of Closby. The latter aids them in their efforts to hoodwink the town. With the judicious use of the "sneakograph" and "sleuthophone," they give the rubes an exhibition of the latest devices for the detection of crime. So interested are the townspeople in the exhibition that they buy another "invention" of this Closby for the sum of $60,000, just enough to cover the sum stolen from old man Warden.
—Moving Picture World synopsis