O. Henry

William Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina, during the American Civil War. He changed the spelling of his middle name to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–88), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–65). William's parents had married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died after giving birth to her third child, and he and his father moved into the home of his paternal grandmother. As a child, Porter was always reading, everything from classics to dime novels; his favorite works were Lane's translation of One Thousand and One Nights and Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.[2]

Porter graduated from his aunt Evelina Maria Porter's elementary school in 1876. He then enrolled at the Lindsey Street High School. His aunt continued to tutor him until he was 15. In 1879, he started working in his uncle's drugstore in Greensboro, and on August 30, 1881, at the age of 19, Porter was licensed as a pharmacist. At the drugstore, he also showed his natural artistic talents by sketching the townsfolk.

Porter as a young man in Austin

Porter traveled along with James K. Hall to Texas in March 1882, hoping that a change of air would help alleviate a persistent cough he had developed. He took up residence on the sheep ranch of Richard Hall, James Hall's son, in La Salle County and helped out as a shepherd, ranch hand, cook, and baby-sitter. While on the ranch, he learned bits of Spanish and German from the mix of indigenous and immigrant ranch hands. He also spent time reading classic works of literature.

Porter's health did improve. He traveled with Richard to Austin, Texas, in 1884, where he decided to remain and was welcomed into the home of Richard's friends, Joseph Harrell, and his wife. Porter resided with the Harrells for three years. He went to work briefly for the Morley Brothers Drug Company as a pharmacist. Porter then moved on to work for the Harrell Cigar Store located in the Driskill Hotel. He also began writing as a sideline and wrote many of his early stories in the Harrell house.

As a young bachelor, Porter led an active social life in Austin. He was known for his wit, story-telling, and musical talents. He played both the guitar and mandolin. He sang in the choir at St. David's Episcopal Church and became a member of the "Hill City Quartette", a group of young men who sang at gatherings and serenaded young women of the town.

The Porter family, early 1890s – Athol, daughter Margaret, William

Porter met and began courting Athol Estes, 17 years old and from a wealthy family. Historians believe Porter met Athol at the laying of the cornerstone of the Texas State Capitol on March 2, 1885. Her mother objected to the match because Athol was ill, suffering from tuberculosis. On July 1, 1887, Porter eloped with Athol and they were married in the parlor of the home of the Reverend R. K. Smoot, pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church, where the Estes family attended church. The couple continued to participate in musical and theater groups, and Athol encouraged her husband to pursue his writing. Athol gave birth to a son in 1888, who died hours after birth, and then a daughter Margaret Worth Porter in September 1889.

Porter's friend Richard Hall became Texas Land Commissioner and offered Porter a job. Porter started as a draftsman at the Texas General Land Office (GLO) on January 12, 1887, at a salary of $100 a month, drawing maps from surveys and field notes. The salary was enough to support his family, but he continued his contributions to magazines and newspapers. In the GLO building, he began developing characters and plots for such stories as "Georgia's Ruling" (1900), and "Buried Treasure" (1908). The castle-like building he worked in was woven into some of his tales such as "Bexar Scrip No. 2692" (1894). His job at the GLO was a political appointment by Hall. Hall ran for governor in the election of 1890 but lost. Porter resigned on January 21, 1891, the day after the new governor, Jim Hogg, was sworn in.

Porter as a clerk at the First National Bank in Austin, c. 1892

The same year, Porter began working at the First National Bank of Austin as a teller and bookkeeper at the same salary he had made at the GLO. The bank was operated informally, and Porter was apparently careless in keeping his books and may have embezzled funds. In 1894, he was accused by the bank of embezzlement and lost his job but was not indicted at the time.

He then worked full-time on his humorous weekly called The Rolling Stone, which he started while working at the bank. The Rolling Stone featured satire on life, people, and politics and included Porter's short stories and sketches. Although eventually reaching a top circulation of 1,500, The Rolling Stone failed in April 1895 because the paper never provided an adequate income. However, his writing and drawings had caught the attention of the editor at the Houston Post.

Porter and his family moved to Houston in 1895, where he started writing for the Post. His salary was only $25 a month, but it rose steadily as his popularity increased. Porter gathered ideas for his column by loitering in hotel lobbies and observing and talking to people there. This was a technique he used throughout his writing career.

While he was in Houston, federal auditors audited the First National Bank of Austin and found the embezzlement shortages that led to his firing. A federal indictment followed, and he was arrested on charges of embezzlement.

Porter in his thirties

After his arrest, Porter's father-in-law posted his bail. He was due to stand trial on July 7, 1896, but the day before, as he was changing trains to get to the courthouse, he got scared. He fled, first to New Orleans and later to Honduras, with which the United States had no extradition treaty at that time. Porter lived in Honduras for six months, until January 1897. There he became friends with Al Jennings, a notorious train robber, who later wrote a book about their friendship.[3] He holed up in a Trujillo hotel, where he wrote Cabbages and Kings. Porter had sent Athol and Margaret back to Austin to live with Athol's parents. Unfortunately, Athol became too ill to meet Porter in Honduras as he had planned. When he learned that his wife was dying, Porter returned to Austin in February 1897 and surrendered to the court, pending trial. Athol Estes Porter died from tuberculosis (then known as consumption) on July 25, 1897.

Porter had little to say in his own defense at his trial and was found guilty on February 17, 1898, of embezzling $854.08. He was sentenced to five years in prison and imprisoned on March 25, 1898, at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. Porter was a licensed pharmacist and was able to work in the prison hospital as the night druggist. He was given his own room in the hospital wing, and there is no record that he actually spent time in the cell block of the prison. He had 14 stories published under various pseudonyms while he was in prison but was becoming best known as "O. Henry", a pseudonym that first appeared over the story "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" in the December 1899 issue of McClure's Magazine. A friend of his in New Orleans would forward his stories to publishers so that they had no idea that the writer was imprisoned.

Porter was released on July 24, 1901, for good behavior after serving three years. He reunited with his daughter Margaret, now age 11, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Athol's parents had moved after Porter's conviction.

Porter's most prolific writing period started in 1902, when he moved to New York City to be near his publishers. While there, he wrote 381 short stories. He wrote a story a week for over a year for the New York World Sunday Magazine. His wit, characterization, and plot twists were adored by his readers but often panned by critics.

Porter married again in 1907 to childhood sweetheart Sarah (Sallie) Lindsey Coleman, whom he met again after revisiting his native state of North Carolina. Coleman was herself a writer and wrote a romanticized and fictionalized version of their correspondence and courtship in her novella Wind of Destiny.[4]

Porter was a heavy drinker, and by 1908, his markedly deteriorating health affected his writing. In 1909, Sarah left him, and he died on June 5, 1910, of cirrhosis of the liver, complications of diabetes, and an enlarged heart. According to one account, he died of cerebral hemorrhage.[5]

After funeral services in New York City, he was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina.[6] His daughter Margaret Worth Porter had a short writing career from 1913 to 1916. She married cartoonist Oscar Cesare of New York in 1916; they were divorced four years later. She died of tuberculosis in 1927 and was buried next to her father.

Collections:

• Cabbages and Kings (1904), novel consisting of linked stories. Collection of 19 short stories:

  "The Proem: By the Carpenter", "'Fox-in-the-Morning'", "The Lotus and the Bottle", "Smith", "Caught", "Cupid's Exile Number Two", "The Phonograph and the Graft", "Money Maze", "The Admiral", "The Flag Paramount", "The Shamrock and the Palm", "The Remnants of the Code", "Shoes", "Ships", "Masters of Arts", "Dicky", "Rouge et Noir", "Two Recalls", "The Vitagraphoscope"

• The Four Million (1906), collection of 25 short stories:

  "Tobin's Palm", "The Gift of the Magi", "A Cosmopolite in a Cafe", "Between Rounds", "The Skylight Room", "A Service of Love", "The Coming-Out of Maggie", "Man About Town", "The Cop and the Anthem", "An Adjustment of Nature", "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog", "The Love-Philtre of Ikey Schoenstein", "Mammon and the Archer", "Springtime à la Carte", "The Green Door", "From the Cabby's Seat", "An Unfinished Story", "The Caliph, Cupid and the Clock", "Sisters of the Golden Circle", "The Romance of a Busy Broker", "After Twenty Years", "Lost on Dress Parade", "By Courier", "The Furnished Room", "The Brief Debut of Tildy"

• The Trimmed Lamp (1907), collection of 25 short stories:

  "The Trimmed Lamp", "A Madison Square Arabian Night", "The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Highball", "The Pendulum", "Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen", "The Assessor of Success", "The Buyer from Cactus City", "The Badge of Policeman O'Roon", "Brickdust Row" (made into the 1918 film, Everybody's Girl), "The Making of a New Yorker", "Vanity and Some Sables", "The Social Triangle", "The Purple Dress", "The Foreign Policy of Company 99", "The Lost Blend", "A Harlem Tragedy", "'The Guilty Party'", "A Midsummer Knight's Dream", "According to Their Lights", "The Last Leaf", "The Count and the Wedding Guest", "The Country of Elusion", "The Ferry of Unfulfilment", "The Tale of a Tainted Tenner", "Elsie in New York"

• Heart of the West (1907), collection of 19 short stories:

  "Hearts and Crosses", "The Ransom of Mack", "Telemachus, Friend", "The Handbook of Hymen", "The Pimienta Pancakes", "Seats of the Haughty", "Hygeia at the Solito", "An Afternoon Miracle", "The Higher Abdication", "Cupid à la Carte", "The Caballero's Way", "The Sphinx Apple", "The Missing Chord", "A Call Loan", "The Princess and the Puma", "The Indian Summer of Dry Valley Johnson", "Christmas by Injunction", "A Chaparral Prince", "The Reformation of Calliope"

• The Gentle Grafter (1908), collection of 14 short stories:

  "The Octopus Marooned", "Jeff Peters as a Personal Magnet", "Modern Rural Sports", "The Chair of Philanthromathematics", "The Hand That Riles the World", "The Exact Science of Matrimony", "A Midsummer Masquerade", "Shearing the Wolf", "Innocents of Broadway", "Conscience in Art", "The Man Higher Up", "Tempered Wind", "Hostages to Momus", "The Ethics of Pig"

• The Voice of the City (1908), collection of 25 short stories:

  "The Voice of the City", "The Complete Life of John Hopkins", "A Lickpenny Lover", "Dougherty's Eye-opener", "'Little Speck in Garnered Fruit'", "The Harbinger", "While the Auto Waits", "A Comedy in Rubber", "One Thousand Dollars", "The Defeat of the City", "The Shocks of Doom", "The Plutonian Fire", "Nemesis and the Candy Man", "Squaring the Circle", "Roses, Ruses and Romance", "The City of Dreadful Night", "The Easter of the Soul", "The Fool-killer", "Transients in Arcadia", "The Rathskeller and the Rose", "The Clarion Call", "Extradited from Bohemia", "A Philistine in Bohemia", "From Each According to His Ability", "The Memento"

• Roads of Destiny (1909), collection of 22 short stories:

  "Roads of Destiny", "The Guardian of the Accolade", "The Discounters of Money", "The Enchanted Profile", "Next to Reading Matter", "Art and the Bronco", "Phoebe", "A Double-dyed Deceiver", "The Passing of Black Eagle", "A Retrieved Reformation", "Cherchez la Femme", "Friends in San Rosario", "The Fourth in Salvador", "The Emancipation of Billy", "The Enchanted Kiss", "A Departmental Case", "The Renaissance at Charleroi", "On Behalf of the Management", "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking", "The Halberdier of the Little Rheinschloss", "Two Renegades", "The Lonesome Road"

• Options (1909), collection of 16 short stories:

  "'The Rose of Dixie'", "The Third Ingredient", "The Hiding of Black Bill", "Schools and Schools", "Thimble, Thimble", "Supply and Demand", "Buried Treasure", "To Him Who Waits", "He Also Serves", "The Moment of Victory", "The Head-hunter", "No Story", "The Higher Pragmatism", "Best-seller", "Rus in Urbe", "A Poor Rule"

• The Two Women (1910), collection of 2 short stories:

  "A Fog in Santone", "Blind Man's Holiday"

• Strictly Business (1910), collection of 23 short stories:

  "Strictly Business", "The Gold That Glittered", "Babes in the Jungle", "The Day Resurgent", "The Fifth Wheel", "The Poet and the Peasant", "The Robe of Peace", "The Girl and the Graft", "The Call of the Tame", "The Unknown Quantity", "The Thing's the Play", "A Ramble in Aphasia", "A Municipal Report", "Psyche and the Pskyscraper", "A Bird of Bagdad", "Compliments of the Season", "A Night in New Arabia", "The Girl and the Habit", "Proof of the Pudding", "Past One at Rooney's", "The Venturers", "The Duel", "'What You Want'"

• Whirligigs (1910), collection of 24 short stories:

  "The World and the Door", "The Theory and the Hound", "The Hypotheses of Failure", "Calloway's Code", "A Matter of Mean Elevation", "Girl", "Sociology in Serge and Straw", "The Ransom of Red Chief", "The Marry Month of May", "A Technical Error", "Suite Homes and Their Romance", "The Whirligig of Life", "A Sacrifice Hit", "The Roads We Take", "A Blackjack Bargainer", "The Song and the Sergeant", "One Dollar's Worth", "A Newspaper Story", "Tommy's Burglar", "A Chaparral Christmas Gift", "A Little Local Colour", "Georgia's Ruling", "Blind Man's Holiday", "Madame Bo-Peep of the Ranches"

• Sixes and Sevens (1911), collection of 25 short stories:

  "The Last of the Troubadours", "The Sleuths", "Witches' Loaves", "The Pride of the Cities", "Holding Up a Train", "Ulysses and the Dogman", "The Champion of the Weather", "Makes the Whole World Kin", "At Arms with Morpheus", "A Ghost of a Chance", "Jimmy Hayes and Muriel", "The Door of Unrest", "The Duplicity of Hargraves", "Let Me Feel Your Pulse", "October and June", "The Church with an Overshot-Wheel", "New York by Camp Fire Light", "The Adventures of Shamrock Jolnes", "The Lady Higher Up", "The Greater Coney", "Law and Order", "Transformation of Martin Burney", "The Caliph and the Cad", "The Diamond of Kali", "The Day We Celebrate"

• Rolling Stones (1912), collection of

  23 short stories: "The Dream", "A Ruler of Men", "The Atavism of John Tom Little Bear", "Helping the Other Fellow", "The Marionettes", "The Marquis and Miss Sally", "A Fog in Santone", "The Friendly Call", "A Dinner at ———", "Sound and Fury" (1903), "Tictocq", "Tracked to Doom", "A Snapshot at the President", "An Unfinished Christmas Story", "The Unprofitable Servant", "Aristocracy Versus Hash", "The Prisoner of Zembla", "A Strange Story", "Fickle Fortune, or How Gladys Hustled", "An Apology", "Lord Oakhurst's Curse", "Bexar Scrip No. 2692.", "Queries and Answers"

  12 poems:

  "The Pewee", "Nothing to say", "The Murderer"

  Some Postscripts: "Two Portraits", "A Contribution", "The Old Farm", "Vanity", "The Lullaby Boy", "Chanson de Bohême", "Hard to Forget", "Drop a Tear in This Slot", "Tamales"

  letters: "Some Letters"

• Waifs and Strays (1917), collection of 12 short stories:

  "The Red Roses of Tonia", "Round The Circle", "The Rubber Plant's Story", "Out of Nazareth", "Confessions of a Humorist", "The Sparrows in Madison Square", "Hearts and Hands", "The Cactus", "The Detective Detector", "The Dog and the Playlet", "A Little Talk About Mobs", "The Snow Man"

• O. Henryana (1920), collection of 7 short stories:

  "The Crucible", "A Lunar Episode", "Three Paragraphs", "Bulger's Friend", "A Professional Secret", "The Elusive Tenderloin", "The Struggle of the Outliers"

• Postscripts (1923), collection of 103 short stories, 26 poems and 4 articles:

  "The Sensitive Colonel Jay", "Taking No Chances", "A Matter of Loyalty", "The Other Side of It", "Journalistically Impossible", "The Power of Reputation", "The Distraction of Grief", "A Sporting Interest", "Had A Use for It", "The Old Landmark", "A Personal Insult", "Toddlekins" (poem), "Reconciliation", "Buying a Piano", "Too Late", "Nothing to say" (poem), "'Goin Home fur Christmas'" (poem), "Just a Little Damp", "Her Mysterious Charm", "Convinced", "His Dilemma", "Something for Baby" (poem), "Some Day", "A Green Hand", "A Righteous Outburst", "Getting at the Facts", "Just for a Change" (poem), "Too Wise", "A Fatal Error", "Prompt" (poem), "An Opportunity Declined", "Correcting a Great Injustice", "A Startling Demonstration", "Leap Year Advice" (article), "After Supper", "His Only Opportunity", "Getting Acquainted", "Answers to Inquiries" (article), "City Peril", "Hush Money", "Relieved", "No Time to Lose", "A Villainous Trick", "A Forced March" (poem), "Book Review" (article), "A Conditional Pardon", "Inconsistency" (poem), "Bill Nye", "To a Portrait" (poem), "A Guarded Secret", "A Pastel", "Jim" (poem), "Board and Ancestors", "An X-Ray Fable", "A Universal Favorite", "Spring" (poem), "The Sporting Editor on Culture", "A Question of Direction", "The Old Farm" (poem), "Willing to Compromise", "Ridiculous", "Guessed Everything Else", "The Prisoner of Zembla", "Lucky Either Way", "The Bad Man", "Slight Mistake", "Delayed", "A Good Story Spoiled", "Revenge", "No Help for It", "Riley's Luck" (poem), "Not So Much a Tam Fool", "A Guess-Proof Mystery Story", "Futility" (poem), "Wounded Veteran", "Her Ruse", "Why Conductors Are Morose", "The Pewee" (poem), "'Only to Lie-'" (poem), "The Sunday Excursionist", "Decoration Day", "Charge of the White Brigade" (poem), "An Inspiration", "Coming To Him", "His Pension", "Winner", "Hungry Henry's Ruse", "A Proof Of Love" (poem), "One Consolation", "An Unsuccessful Experiment", "Superlatrives" (poem), "By Easy Stages", "Even Worse", "The Shock", "The Cynic", "Speaking of Big Winds", "An Original Idea", "Calculations", "A Valedictory", "Solemn Thoughts", "Explaining It", "Her Failing", "A Disagreement", "An E for a Knee" (poem), "The Unconquerable" (poem), "An Expensive Veracity", "Grounds for Uneasiness", "It Covers Errors" (poem), "Recognition", "His Doubt", "A Cheering Thought", "What It Was", "Vanity" (poem), "Identified", "The Apple", "How It Started", "How Red Conlin Told the Widow", "Why He Hesitated", "Turkish Questions" (poem), "Somebody Lied", "Marvelous", "The Confession of a Murderer", "Get Off the Earth" (poem), "The Stranger's Appeal", "The Good Boy", "The Colonel's Romance", "A Narrow Escape", "A Year's Supply", "Eugene Field" (poem), "Slightly Mixed", "Knew What Was Needed", "Some Ancient News Notes" (article), "A Sure Method"

• O. Henry Encore (1939), collection of 27 short stories, 7 sketches and 10 poems:
  1. Part one. Stories: "A Night Errant", "In Mezzotint", "The Dissipated Jeweller", "How Willie Saved Father", "The Mirage on the Frio", "Sufficient Provocation", "The Bruised Reed", "Paderewski's Hair", "A Mystery of Many Centuries", "A Strange Case", "Simmons' Saturday Night", "An Unknown Romance", "Jack the Giant Killer", "The Pint Flask", "An Odd Character", "A Houston Romance", "The Legend of San Jacinto", "Binkley's Practical School of Journalism", "A New Microbe", "Vereton Villa", "Whisky Did It", "Nothing New Under the Sun", "Led Astray", "A Story for Men", "How She Got in the Swim", "The Barber Talks", "Barber Shop Adventure"
  2. Part two. Sketches: "Did You See the Circus", "Thanksgiving Remarks", "When the Train Comes in", "Christmas Eve", "New Year's Eve and Now it Came to Houston", "'Watchman, What of the Night?'", "Newspaper Poets"
  3. Part three. Newspaper Poetry: "Topical Verse", "Cap Jessamines", "The Cricket", "My Broncho", "The Modern Venus", "Celestial Sounds", "The Snow", "Her Choice", "'Little Things, but Ain't They Whizzers?'", "Last Fall of the Alamo"

Uncollected short stories:

Uncollected poems: