“William Sydney Porter- later known as O. Henry was born in North Carolina.”
O. Henry wrote many colorful and dramatic short stories. The inspiration for the
many stories that he wrote came from his experiences through life. Some of these
include working in a “drugstore, sheep ranching, bronco busting, living as a
fugitive in Honduras” (Zwerger #1) William Sydney Porter’s mother died when
he was only about three years old. After her death William moved in with his
aunt and his grandmother. While he was living with his aunt and grandmother will
started to enjoy reading books and drawing sketches. “Will was influenced a
lot by his Aunt”. When will was seventeen he got his first real job. Will
worked in a Drugstore with his Uncle Clark. “His Uncle Clark was the owner of
the store”. “Will liked working as a Pharmacist got licensed as a practicing
pharmacist”. .(Current-Garcia, pg13 #2) In 1882 will decided to leave home and
come along to Southwest Texas as a guest of Mr. and Ms. Hall. They were going to
visit their four boys that lived out in Southwest Texas. “Will enjoyed Texas
very much he learned the ways of the west and while out in the west he started
to develop talent as a cartoonist”. Will also learn how to raise cattle and
work on a cattle ranch. Will enjoyed working on the ranch, he worked on the
ranch for about two years. . (Current-Garcia, pg13 #2) “In 1884 will decided
it was time for a change of pace and moved to Austin Texas”. Will still kept
his interest for drawing cartoons and drawing sketches. At age twenty-five, he
married a beautiful nineteen-year-old lady named Athol Estes. A year after there
marriage their first child was born. Sadly their son died shortly after his
birth. “Will and Athol were devastated by this”. One year later they had
another baby and it was a healthy girl, they named her Margaret. Margaret became
ill after the second child (Current-Garcia, pg13 #2) “In 1891 will worked as a
teller in The First National Bank of Austin”. Will was not making enough money
so in 1894, he bought a printing press and started publishing his own a comic.
The paper was printed weekly and put in the Rolling Stone paper. A year later he
decided to give up the paper. He was suspected and later questioned by the
authorities embezzlement charges. “In 1985 will wrote short stories and drew
many sketches for the Houston Post. (Current-Garcia, pg14 #2) In 1896 will was
arrested on charges of embezzlement. “While awaiting trial will fled to New
Orleans and than on to Honduras”. After about a year of being away from the
states will came back to Austin only to find his very sick wife who dies only a
short time upon his return. Will went and turned himself into the Authorities
shortly after he returned. He was tried and found guilty and sentenced to five
years in the Federal Penitentiary in Ohio. (Current-Garcia, pg14 #2) “While in
prison will wrote more than a dozen short stories”. These stories were
published in many national magazines. Will was released two years early from
prison due to good behavior. Will moved to New York and became famous under the
pen name O. Henry. O. Henry singed a contract with The New York Sunday World for
a weekly feature short story. Over the next two years will produced over a
hundred stories and for this he gained national fame. (Current-Garcia, pg14 #2)
In 1904 will published his first book, Cabbages and Kings. This book was a book
of short stories. The stories were about his adventures and experiences in
Central America. Four years later Will Publishes his second book “The Four
Million” it was a collection of twenty-five of his stories that were his most
famous in New York. This book was a huge success for will. (Current-Garcia, pg14
#2) In 1910 William Sydney Porter died In New York.