"A Man Pulls You from Certain Death—and Instead of Thanking Him You Arrest Him!"

"Out of the Smash-Up."
By Phil. Ashford (?-?).
First appearance: Top-Notch Magazine, February 1, 1912.
Short short story (7 pages).
Online at The Pulp Magazine Project (HERE, slow-load PDF; scroll down to page 30).

"I'm not much on sentiment, and I always scoff at it, but, jingo! she's got the softest hands and the most healing touch Heaven ever gave to woman!"

  Chapter I: "The Hunter and the Game"
  Chapter II: "Difference of Opinion"
  Chapter III: "Not Scheduled"
  Chapter IV: "Professional Honor"
  Chapter V: "A Prisoner Taken"
  Chapter VI: "In the Cigar Case"

Nine hundred dollars are missing and it's Detective Cole's duty to put the cuffs on the malefactor; how far, though, does that duty extend when, contrary to his usual experience, Cole is confronted with genuine contrition from the thief, especially since, as he insists,
he's not the sentimental type . . .

Resource:
- The five stories that FictionMags credits to Phil. Ashford all appeared in Top-Notch, 1910-12, with "Out of the Smash-Up" being the last—and that is, for the moment, all we know about our author.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~