Editing O. Henry (section)

==Biography==
{{more citations needed section|date=September 2014}}

===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 novel]]s; his favorite works were [[Edward William Lane|Lane]]'s translation of ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'' and [[Robert Burton|Burton]]'s ''[[The Anatomy of Melancholy]]''.<ref name="eb">{{Cite EB1922|wstitle=Henry, O.}}</ref>

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===
[[File:William Sydney Porter as young man in Austin.jpg|thumb|Porter as a young man in Austin]]

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, Texas|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 (Austin, Texas)|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.

[[File:Ohenry family 1890s.jpg|thumb|left| The Porter family, early 1890s – Athol, daughter Margaret, William]]
Porter met and began [[courtship|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 (Austin, Texas)|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 [[General Land Office Building (Austin, Texas)|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.

[[File:O. Henry in the tellers cage.jpg|thumb|Porter as a clerk at the First National Bank in Austin, {{circa|1892}}]]
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 [[embezzlement|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===
[[File:William Sydney Porter.jpg|thumb|left|Porter in his thirties]]
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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biography: O. Henry|url=http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/631/entry/|work=North Carolina History|access-date=March 10, 2014|archive-date=March 10, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310053544/http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/631/entry/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He holed up in a [[Trujillo, Honduras|Trujillo]] hotel, where he wrote ''[[Cabbages and Kings (novel)|Cabbages and Kings]]'', which notably coined the term "[[banana republic]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=Peter |year=2008 |location=[[Cannongate, New York]] |title=Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World |pages=68–69, 108}}</ref> 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''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Current-Garcia|first1=Eugene|title=O. Henry: A Study of the Short Fiction|date=1993|publisher=Twayne Publishers, Macmillan Publishing Co.|location=New York City|isbn=0-8057-0859-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/ohenrystudyofsho00curr/page/123 123]|edition=First|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ohenrystudyofsho00curr/page/123}}</ref>

===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.<ref name="Brown_1967">{{cite journal | vauthors = Brown CT | title = O. Henry the pharmacist | journal = Mil Med | pages = 823–825 | date = October 1967| volume = 132 | issue = 10 | pmid = 4965475 | doi = 10.1093/milmed/132.10.823}}</ref>

After funeral services in New York City, he was buried in the [[Riverside Cemetery (Asheville, North Carolina)|Riverside Cemetery]] in [[Asheville, North Carolina]].<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5cBHDwAAQBAJ&dq=o+henry+riverside&pg=PA47| title = ''Asheville's Riverside Cemetery''| isbn = 9781467128193| last1 = Darty| first1 = Joshua| year = 2018| publisher = Arcadia}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://avlwatchdog.org/answer-man-what-happens-to-coins-on-o-henrys-gravesite-in-riverside-cemetery-any-hope-for-dangerous-riverside-drive-interchange/|title=Answer Man: What happens to coins on O. Henry's gravesite in Riverside Cemetery? Any hope for dangerous Riverside Drive interchange?|last=Boyle|first=John|work=Asheville Watchdog|date=November 30, 2023|access-date=December 3, 2023}}</ref>