O. Henry Biography

His real name is William Sidney Porter; he was born in the north of California in 1862.

As a young man, he moved to Austin, Texas where he worked as a bank teller. He moved again to Houston, Texas in 1895 and became a newspaper columnist.

In 1896, however, he was called back to Austin, where he was charged with money laundering from the bank where he had worked. Not wanting to go to prison for his crime, O. Henry decides to escape to Honduras, and stayed there for six months to keep hidden but before returning to the United States. Finally after that he was captured and taken to prison when he started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret.

O. Henry was a heavy drinker, and his health deteriorated strongly in 1908, He had complications of diabetes, and an enlarged heart, He died on June 5, 1910, of cirrhosis of the liver. After funeral services in New York City, he was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina. His daughter, Margaret Worth Porter, who died in 1927, was buried next to her father.

He create different book for example The Green Door, The Last Leaf, The Gift of the Magi and Map of Ellsa.