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William Sydney Porter
A.K.A.
O. Henry
O. Henry was the pen name of the American short story writer William Sydney Porter, who was born in Greensboro, N.C. in 1862. A prolific writer in his later years, O. Henry wrote some 600 short stories which were published in 1917 in 14 volumes. Porter was reared by an aunt in Greensboro, where, at the age of fifteen, he went to work in an uncle's drugstore. Five years later he developed a cough which indicated the onset to tuberculosis. Because of his health, he was invited by friends to Austin, Texas, where he first worked as a druggist, later as a draftsman and finally as a teller in the First National Bank. He married in 1887 and his wife gave birth to a daughter in 1889. Porter supplemented his work at the bank, a demanding but unfulfilling job, with work on a weekly humor paper he owned, called The Rolling Stone.
 Amidst cascading troubles, he resigned his post at the bank and left for Houston, where he worked for the Houston Post. It was at this time that he was summoned to Austin to stand trial for embezzlement. It is presumed he would have been pardoned, because the shortage discovered in his accounts at the bank was likely due to bad bookkeeping rather than criminal intent. However, while making a train connection from Houston to Austin for the trial, he decided to board a train heading in the other direction. Leaving his wife and child in Houston, he made his way to New Orleans, where he unloaded banana boats. He eventually ended up in Honduras and South America consorting with famous criminals; In fact, his travels were funded by the $ 30,000 proceeds from a robbery committed by one of them. These two years on the run provided the initial fuel for his stories.
In 1897, after learning of his wife's serious illness, Henry returned to Austin knowing that it meant a prison term. His wife died that year, and in March of 1898 he was sentenced to five years in the federal penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his term he began his serious writing. He'd used a score of pseudonyms in his career to this point, but his favorite was borrowed from Orrin Henry, a prison guard.
After his release, he headed to New York City, where he worked as a journalist. The collection of colorful characters in his writing was enhanced by O. Henry's habit of wandering the streets and parks, taking to people of all conditions. He wrote sixty-five short stories in 1904 alone, and fifty the next year including The Gift Of The Magi. A remarkable feat in itself, his output is even more amazing considering that he worked under the influence--an average daily consumption of two quarts of whiskey. His one venture into theatre, Lo, written in 1909 was not a success. He remarried in 1907, but his new star was short-lived: he died of tuberculosis, complicated by alcoholism and diabetes, in 1910.
O. Henry's popularity reached its height after his death. His writing was seen as straightforward and simple, written in the plain vernacular of his readers. His stories may rely on a sameness of plot, but the sharp, unexpected twist at the end (as in The Gift Of The Magi) is still his distinctive trademark today. Critics have singled out O. Henry as one of the greatest American short story writers--describing him as a "writer's writer" who also possesses universal appeal. A critic traveling early in the century fell into a conversation with a Midwest farmer. When asked if he ever read O. Henry, the farmer replied, "Professor, that's literature, that's REAL literature."
--Courtesy of Actors Theatre of Louisville, Literary Department
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