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= O._Henry =
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Introduction
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William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 - June 5, 1910), better
known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily
for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction.
His works include "The Gift of the Magi", "The Duplicity of
Hargraves", and "The Ransom of Red Chief", as well as the novel
'Cabbages and Kings'. Porter's stories are known for their naturalist
observations, witty narration, and surprise endings.
Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Porter worked at his uncle's
pharmacy after finishing school and became a licensed pharmacist at
age 19. In March 1882, he moved to Texas, where he initially lived on
a ranch, and later settled in Austin, where he met his first wife,
Athol Estes. While working as a drafter for the Texas General Land
Office, Porter began developing characters for his short stories. He
later worked for the First National Bank of Austin, while also
publishing a weekly periodical, 'The Rolling Stone'.
In 1895, he was charged with embezzlement stemming from an audit of
the bank. Before the trial, he fled to Honduras, where he began
writing 'Cabbages and Kings' (in which he coined the term "banana
republic"). Porter surrendered to U.S. authorities when he learned his
wife was dying from tuberculosis, and he cared for her until her death
in July 1897. He began his five-year prison sentence in March 1898 at
the Ohio Penitentiary, where he served as a night druggist. While
imprisoned, Porter published 14 stories under various pseudonyms, one
being O. Henry.
Released from prison early for good behavior, Porter moved to
Pittsburgh to be with his daughter Margaret before relocating to New
York City, where he wrote 381 short stories. He married Sarah (Sallie)
Lindsey Coleman in 1907; she left him two years later. Porter died on
June 5, 1910, after years of deteriorating health. Porter's legacy
includes the O. Henry Award, an annual prize awarded to outstanding
short stories.
Early life
============
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 'The Anatomy of
Melancholy'.
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.
Life in Texas
===============
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.
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.
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.
Flight and return
===================
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. He holed up in a Trujillo hotel, where he wrote 'Cabbages
and Kings', which notably coined the term "banana republic". 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.
Later life
============
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'.
Death
=======
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.
After funeral services in New York City, he was buried in the
Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina. 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.
According to the cemetery, as of 2023, people have been leaving $1.87
in change (the amount of Della's savings at the beginning of "The Gift
of the Magi") on Porter's grave for at least 30 years. The cemetery
says the money is given to area libraries.
Stories
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Most of Porter's stories are set in his own time, the early 20th
century. He had an obvious affection for New York City, which he
called "Bagdad-on-the-Subway", and many of his stories are set there,
while others are set in small towns or in other cities. They
frequently feature working class characters, such as policemen and
waitresses, as well as criminals and social outcasts. In his day he
was called the American answer to French naturalist Guy de Maupassant,
whose work was similarly concerned with the struggles of common people
and often had twist endings.
'Cabbages and Kings' was his first collection of stories, followed by
'The Four Million'. The second collection opens with a reference to
Ward McAllister's claim that there were "...only 'Four Hundred' people
in New York City who were really worth noticing. But a wiser man has
arisen--the census taker--and his larger estimate of human interest
has been preferred in marking out the field of these little stories of
the Four Million."
His final work was "Dream", a short story intended for the magazine
'The Cosmopolitan'. It was never completed.
Among his most famous stories are:
* "The Gift of the Magi" is about a young couple, Jim and Della, who
are short of money but desperately want to buy each other Christmas
gifts. Unbeknownst to Jim, Della sells her most valuable possession,
her beautiful hair, in order to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim's
watch; while unbeknownst to Della, Jim sells his own most valuable
possession, his watch, to buy jeweled combs for Della's hair. The
essential premise of this story has been copied, re-worked, parodied,
and otherwise re-told countless times in the century since it was
written.
* "The Ransom of Red Chief" in which two men kidnap a boy of ten years
old to ransom him. The boy turns out to be so spoiled and obnoxious
that the desperate men ultimately pay the boy's father $250 to take
him back.
* "The Cop and the Anthem" about a New York City hobo named Soapy who
sets out to get arrested so that he can be a guest of the city jail
instead of sleeping out in the cold winter. Despite his best efforts
at committing petty theft, vandalism, disorderly conduct, and
"flirting" with a young prostitute, Soapy fails to draw the attention
of the police. Dejected, he stops in front of a church, where an organ
anthem inspires him to clean up his life; however, he is charged with
loitering, and sentenced to three months in prison.
* "A Retrieved Reformation" tells the tale of safecracker Jimmy
Valentine, a man recently freed from prison. He goes to a town bank to
case it before he robs it. As he walks to the door, he catches the eye
of the banker's beautiful daughter. They immediately fall in love and
Valentine decides to give up his criminal career. He moves into the
town, taking up the identity of Ralph Spencer, a shoemaker. Just as he
is about to leave to deliver his specialized tools to an old
associate, a lawman who recognizes him arrives at the bank. Jimmy and
his fiancée and her family are at the bank, inspecting a new safe when
a child accidentally gets locked inside the airtight vault. Knowing it
will seal his fate, Valentine opens the safe to rescue the child.
However, much to Valentine's surprise, the lawman denies recognizing
him and lets him go.
* "The Duplicity of Hargraves" tells the story of the Talbots, a
father and daughter from the Old South, newly poor after the Civil
War, who move to Washington, DC. An actor, Hargraves, offers Mr.
Talbot money, which he is too proud to accept. But when Talbot is
approached by an old man, a former slave who gives him money to settle
an old family debt, he accepts it. It is later revealed that Hargraves
secretly portrayed the slave.
* "The Caballero's Way" in which Porter's most famous character, the
Cisco Kid, is introduced. It was first published in 1907 in the July
issue of 'Everybody's Magazine' and collected in the book 'Heart of
the West' that same year. In later film and TV depictions, the Kid
would be portrayed as a dashing adventurer, perhaps skirting the edges
of the law, but primarily on the side of the angels. In the original
short story, the only story by Porter to feature the character, the
Kid is a murderous, ruthless border desperado, whose trail is dogged
by a heroic Texas Ranger.
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", "", "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:
*# 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"
*# 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"
*# 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:
* "Tictocq, the Great French Detective" (1894)
* "Tictocq, the Great French Detective; or, A Soubrette's Diamonds"
(1894)
* "A Blow All 'Round" (1895)
* "A Chicago Proposal" (1895)
* "A Fishy Story" (1895)
* "A Foretaste" (1895)
* "A Literal Caution" (1895)
* "A Philadelphia Diagnosis" (1895)
* "A Thousand Dollar Poem, was what the Literary Judgment of the
Business Manager Lost for the Paper" (1895)
* "All Right" (1895)
* "And Put Up a Dime" (1895)
* "Arrived" (1895)
* "As Her Share" (1895)
* "Ballad of the Passionate Eye" (1895)
* "Cheaper in Quantities" (1895)
* "Didn't Want Him Back" (1895)
* "Do You Know?" (1895)
* "Enlarging His Field" (1895)
* "Entirely Successful" (1895)
* "Extremes Met" (1895)
* "False to His Colors" (1895)
* "Family Pride" (1895)
* "He Was Behind With His Board" (1895)
* "Her Reckoning" (1895)
* "His Last Chance" (1895)
* "Making the Most of It" (1895)
* "Might Be" (1895)
* "Military or Millinery?" (1895)
* "No Chestnuts Were Served" (1895)
* "No Earlier" (1895)
* "Not Hers" (1895)
* "Not Official Statistics, However" (1895)
* "Palmistry" (1895)
* "Prodigality" (1895)
* "Professional, But Doubtful" (1895)
* "Prudent Precautions" (1895)
* "Same Thing" (1895)
* "Self Conceit" (1895)
* "Silver Question Settled" (1895)
* "Sunday Journalism, Memoranda of the Sabbath Editor of the New York
Daily for Next Sunday's Contents" (1895)
* "The Fate It Deserved" (1895)
* "The Man at the Window" (1895)
* "The Modern Kind" (1895)
* "The New Hero" (1895)
* "The Odor Located" (1895)
* "The Teacher Taught" (1895)
* "The White Feather" (1895)
* "Uncle Sam's Wind" (1895)
* "Whole Handfuls" (1895)
* "Will She Fight as She Jokes? Here Are Some Translations of Recent
Spanish Humour" (1895)
* "Yellow Specials, Latest Style of News Write Ups adopted by the
sulphur-hued journals" (1895)
* "A Tragedy" (1896, as The Postman)
* "At an Auction" (1896)
* "Telegram" (1896)
* "His Courier" (1902)
* "The Flag" (1902)
* "The Guardian of the Scutcheon" (1903, as Olivier Henry)
* "The Lotus and the Cockleburrs" (1903)
* "The Point of the Story" (1903, as Sydney Porter)
* "The Quest of Soapy" (1908)
* "A Christmas Pi" (1909, as O. H-nry)
* "Adventures in Neurasthenia" (1910)
* "Last Story" (1910)
Pen name
======================================================================
Porter used a number of pen names (including "O. Henry" or "Olivier
Henry") in the early part of his writing career; other names included
S.H. Peters, James L. Bliss, T.B. Dowd, and Howard Clark.
Nevertheless, the name "O. Henry" seemed to garner the most attention
from editors and the public, and was used exclusively by Porter for
his writing by about 1902. He gave various explanations for the origin
of his pen name. In 1909, he gave an interview to 'The New York
Times', in which he gave an account of it:
William Trevor writes in the introduction to 'The World of O. Henry:
Roads of Destiny and Other Stories' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1973)
that "there was a prison guard named Orrin Henry" in the Ohio State
Penitentiary "whom William Sydney Porter ... immortalised as O.
Henry".
According to J. F. Clarke, it is from the name of the French
pharmacist Etienne Ossian Henry, whose name is in the 'U.S.
Dispensary' which Porter used working in the prison pharmacy.
Writer and scholar Guy Davenport offers his own hypothesis: "The
pseudonym that he began to write under in prison is constructed from
the first two letters of 'Ohio' and the second and last two of
'penitentiary'."
Legacy
======================================================================
The O. Henry Award is an annual prize named after Porter and given to
outstanding short stories.
A film was made in 1952 featuring five stories, called 'O. Henry's
Full House'. The episode garnering the most critical acclaim was "The
Cop and the Anthem" starring Charles Laughton and Marilyn Monroe. The
other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of
Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".
'Strictly Business' is a 1962 Soviet comedy film, directed by Leonid
Gaidai, based on three short stories by O. Henry: "The Roads We Take",
"Makes the Whole World Kin", and "The Ransom of Red Chief". The
premiere of the film was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary
of the birth of the writer. Henry was particularly popular in Russia
in the 1920s, and was described by the critic Deming Brown in 1953 as
"remain[ing] a minor classic in Russia". In 1962, the Soviet Postal
Service issued a stamp commemorating O. Henry's 100th birthday.
A 1957 television series, 'The O. Henry Playhouse', was syndicated in
39 episodes to 188 markets. Actor Thomas Mitchell portrayed O. Henry
in each episode as he interacted with his characters or related his
latest story to his publisher or a friend.
The 1986 Indian anthology television series 'Katha Sagar' adapted
several of Henry's short stories as episodes including "The Last
Leaf".
An opera in one long act, 'The Furnished Room', with music by Daniel
Steven Crafts and libretto by Richard Kuss, is based on O. Henry's
story of the same name.
The O. Henry House and O. Henry Hall, both in Austin, Texas, are named
for him. O. Henry Hall, now owned by the Texas State University
System, previously served as the federal courthouse in which O. Henry
was convicted of embezzlement. The O. Henry House has been the site of
the O. Henry Pun-Off, an annual spoken word competition inspired by
Porter's love of language, since 1978. (Dr. Samuel E. Gideon, a
historical architect and professor at the University of Texas at
Austin, was a strong advocate for the saving of the O. Henry House in
Austin.)
Several schools are named for Porter: William Sydney Porter Elementary
in Greensboro, North Carolina, O. Henry Elementary in Garland, Texas,
the O. Henry School (I.S. 70) in New York City, and O. Henry Middle
School in Austin, Texas.
The O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro is also named for Porter, as is US
29, which is O. Henry Boulevard.
Asheville, North Carolina, where Porter is buried, has O. Henry
Avenue, the location of the 'Asheville Citizen-Times' building.
On September 11, 2012, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp
commemorating the 150th anniversary of O. Henry's birth.
On November 23, 2011, Barack Obama quoted O. Henry while granting
pardons to two turkeys named "Liberty" and "Peace". In response,
political science professor P. S. Ruckman Jr. and Texas attorney Scott
Henson filed a formal application for a posthumous pardon in September
2012, the same month that the U.S. Postal Service issued its O. Henry
stamp. Previous attempts were made to obtain such a pardon for Porter
in the administrations of Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower, and
Ronald Reagan, but no one had ever bothered to file a formal
application. Ruckman and Henson argued that Porter deserved a pardon
because (1) he was a law-abiding citizen prior to his conviction; (2)
his offense was minor; (3) he had an exemplary prison record; (4) his
post-prison life clearly indicated rehabilitation; (5) he would have
been an excellent candidate for clemency in his time, had he but
applied for pardon; (6) by today's standards, he remains an excellent
candidate for clemency; and (7) his pardon would be a well-deserved
symbolic gesture and more. The pardon remains ungranted.
In 2021 the Library of America included O. Henry in their list by
publishing a collection of 101 of his stories, edited by Ben Yagoda.
Poems
=======
Uncollected poems:
* "Already Provided" (1895)
* "Archery" (1895)
* "At Cockcrow" (1895)
* "Honeymoon Vapourings" (1895)
* "Never, Until Now" (1895)
* "Ornamental" (1895)
* "The Imported Brand" (1895)
* "The Morning glory" (1895)
* "The White Violet" (1895)
* "To Her" (XRay) Photograph" (1895)
* "Unseeing" (1895)
* "Promptings" (1899)
* "Sunset in the Far North" (1901)
* "The Captive" (1901)
* "Uncaptured Joy" (1901)
* "April" (1903)
* "Auto Bugle Song" (1903)
* "June" (1903)
* "Remorse" (1903)
* "Spring in the City" (1903)
* "To a Gibson Girl" (1903)
* "Two Chapters" (1903)
* "A Floral Valentine" (1905)
Non-fiction
=============
* 'Later Definitions' (1895)
* 'The Reporter's Private Lexicon' (1903)
* 'Letter 1883' (1912)
* 'Letters 1884, 1885' (1912)
* 'Letters 1905' (1914)
* 'Letters from Prison to his Daughter Margaret' (1916)
* 'Letter 1901' (1917)
* 'Letters' (1921)
* 'Letters to Lithopolis: from O. Henry to Mabel Wagnalls' (1922)
* 'Letters' (1923)
* 'Letter' (1928)
* 'Letters 1906, 1909' (1931)
* 'Letters, etc. of 1883' (1931)
External links
======================================================================
*
*
*
*
* [
http://www.austintexas.gov/department/o-henry-museum O. Henry
Museum]
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20070503205457/http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/o_henry/
Biography and Works] at LiteratureCollection.com (archived)
*
[
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704852004575258824174766374
"His Writers' Workshop? A Prison Cell"], John J. Miller, 'The Wall
Street Journal', June 8, 2010
*
* [
http://texashistory.unt.edu/search/?fq=untl_collection:OHENRY O.
Henry item search] at the Portal to Texas History
(texashistory.unt.edu)
*
License
=========
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License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry
