Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published July 28, 2004

The mystery of O Henry, part II

Last week's column ended with William Sidney Porter fleeing to Honduras to evade being tried for bank embezzlement.

He had hoped his wife would join him there but he received word that her tuberculosis had worsened and heartsick he returned to Texas in three months. Six months later Athol, his beloved wife, was dead.

Will stood trial seven months after that, was convicted and sentenced to five years in the federal penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. There has always been a question about the charges and even today judges and attorneys who have studied the case believe he was innocent.

Still in mourning for Athol, Porter's thoughts during those first few weeks in prison were often of suicide. He turned to writing and one biographer said, "Prison was the crucible that turned William Sidney Porter into O. Henry.

With no job, no prospects and no saloons to dilute his talent, he molded a distinctive style into mature fiction."

The shame he felt over his imprisonment made him choose a pseudonym when he sent stories to editors. There are a number of versions as to why he chose O. Henry but that became his name for the rest of his life.

In July 1901, after 39 months as a model prisoner, he was released early. Editors knew nothing of his prison time but they urged him to come to New York.

It was there he did his best work. He found stories everywhere in the city but he also found friendly taverns where he would drink two quarts of whisky a day. This habit kept him broke and even though he was paid $500 for each story he was constantly asking for advances.

In 1908 he was diagnosed with diabetes but he refused to stop drinking. Just at the time when he had an eager public waiting to read his next story he was unable to write more than a few pages at a time. He collapsed in his hotel room and was rushed to the hospital in June 1910. He gave a false name and joked with the staff as he was admitted. "Here I am going to die and only worth twenty-three cents" he said as he emptied his pockets. The next morning he died, age 47.

In his short lifetime O. Henry had produced almost 300 stories, most with surprise endings.

One literary critic said, "His stories are significant social documents, artistically told." Among the gems are The Last Leaf and that moving Christmas classic The Gift of the Magi which his editor said was written in three hours.

After his death, collections of his stories were published in book form. For a decade five million copies of those books were sold. As new writers came on the scene O. Henry's works were trashed by some critics but a century later his stories have been translated into 10 languages and he has many fans in Russia and Japan. A postage stamp commemorating him was issued in Russia in 1962 and in the late 1980s a special presentation of his life appeared on Japanese television.

In Austin, TX the home where Will and Athol lived for two years was restored in 1934 by the city and converted into the O. Henry Museum. Open to visitors the museum also sponsors four annual events centered around O. Henry's writings. The Austin Visitor's Center provides brochures for a self-guided walking tour of the downtown and it notes that 16 of the buildings played an important role in O. Henry's life.

In the author's hometown of Greensboro, NC there is a memorial sculpture which includes a statue of O. Henry and another of a book opened to a scene from his most famous story, The Gift of the Magi.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.