Edit O. Showing all 23 items. Arrested and convicted of embezzling funds from the bank that employed him, he was sent to the penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio to serve a five year sentence. He began writing his by-now famous short stories in prison in order to help support his daughter, Margaret. He was released after three years and soon after changed his pen name to O.
Though many sources indicate O. Henry's real name as "William Sydney Porter", his middle name at birth was actually Sidney with an "i". He changed the spelling of his middle name to "Sydney" when he began working for newspapers in the s. Porter is said to have derived the pen-name O. Henry from the name of a girlfriend's cat. His only formal education was received at the school of his Aunt Lina, where he developed a lifelong love of books.
Died at the age of forty seven. An alcoholic, he died virtually penniless. Licensed as a pharmacist at 19 He worked as a pharmacist during his imprisonment for embezzlement In , his wife gave birth to a premature son, who died a few hours later.
Their daughter Margaret Worth Porter was born on September 30, From to , William would experience two traumatic events that would eventually spur the true writings from the fledging author. In William worked as a columnist at the Houston Daily Post , but he was soon ordered to court in Austin on charges of embezzlement during his employment at First National Bank. Upon hearing the charges against him, William made his way to New Orleans where he boarded a boat for Honduras.
Honduras, at that time, had no extradition treaty with the U. While in Honduras, William became friends with Al Jennings, the notorious train robber. Jennings would later write a book about his relationship with the author, and he even claimed that William and his posse had toured across South America. After 7 months in Honduras, William returned to Austin in because his wife was very ill. Upon his return to Texas, William was formally charged with embezzlement, and his wife died several months later.
In February , William, now thirty-five years old, was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison at the Ohio Penitentiary. Allowed a higher status than the normal prisoner, William was given more free time, and it was during these long night hours that William adopted the pseudonym O. Henry and penned some of his best short stories. Henry wrote numerous short stories while in prison. The mysterious author grew in fame and recognition, but publishers and readers alike were clueless regarding O.
William would send his stories to the wife of another incarcerated banker who would then send them along to magazines in the U. Henry received widespread acclaim because of his trademark tales of gentle, warm-hearted characters and ironic plot twists at the end of the story. Henry Endings. Released in on good behavior, O.
Henry moved to New York at the request of his editor in the big city. While living in the city, O. Henry was finally free to experience the urban lifestyle and write about his time in North Carolina, Texas, and his new life in the city. His first creative expressions came while working in the pharmacy where he would sketch the townspeople that frequented the store.
The customers reacted warmly to his drawings and he was admired for his artistry and drawing skills. Henry moved to Texas in March of hoping to get rid of a persistent cough that he had developed. While there, he took up residence on a sheep ranch, learned shepherding, cooking, babysitting, and bits of Spanish and German from the many migrant farmhands.
He had an active social life in Austin and was a fine musician, skilled with the guitar and mandolin. Over the next several years, Porter -- as he was still known -- took a number of different jobs, from pharmacy to drafting, journalism, and banking. Here's where the twists and turns really started. Banking, in particular, was not to be O.
Henry's calling; he was quite careless with his bookkeeping, fired by the bank and charged with embezzlement in His father-in-law posted bail for him, but he fled the day before the trial in , first to New Orleans, then to Honduras, where there was no extradition treaty. He befriended a notorious train robber there, Al Jennings, who later wrote a book about their friendship.
Henry sent his wife and daughter back to Texas, after which he holed up in a hotel to write his first collection of short stories, Cabbages an Kings published in He learned his wife was dying of tuberculosis and could not join him in Honduras, so he returned to Austin and turned himself in to the court.
His father-in-law again posted his bail so he could remain with his wife until her death in He was sentenced and served in Federal prison in Ohio for five years from During his jail time, he returned to practicing pharmacy and had a room in the hospital, never having to live in a cell.
Henry was always a lover of classic literature, and while pursuing his many ventures, O. Henry had begun writing as a hobby. Henry collected ideas for his column by loitering in hotel lobbies and observing and talking to people there.
He relied on this technique to gain creative inspiration throughout his writing career; which is a fun fact to keep in mind while reading an imaginative masterpiece of a story like Transients in Arcadia.
The many twists and turns of his own life, including his travels in Latin America and time spent in prison, clearly inspired his stories' twists and wordplay. Henry's prolific writing period began in in New York City, where he wrote short stories. Some of his best and least known work is contained in Cabbages and Kings , whose title was inspired by Lewis Carroll 's poem, The Walrus and the Carpenter.
The stories were set in a midwestern American town in which sub-plots and larger plots are interwoven in an engaging manner. His second collection of stories, The Four Million , was released in The stories are set in New York City, and the title is based on the population of the city at that time.
The collection contained several short story masterpieces, including The Gift of the Magi , The Cop and the Anthem , and many others. Henry had an obvious affection for New York City and its diversity of people and places, a reverence that rises up through many of his stories. Henry's trademark is his witty, plot-twisting endings, and his warm characterization of the awkward and difficult situations and the creative ways people find to resolve them.
His most famous short story, The Gift of the Magi , epitomizes his style. It's bout a young married couple, short on money, who wish to buy each other Christmas gifts. That problem -- their lack of funds -- finds a famously endearing and ironic resolution. The Cop and the Anthem is about A New York City hobo with a creative solution for dealing with the cold city streets during winter.
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