Selected Stories

O. Henry (1862-1910) had a short but colourful life. Born William Porter in Greensboro, North Carolina, he initially worked as a pharmacist before moving into journalism. In 1896 he was arrested for embezzling funds while working as a bookkeeper for a bank. In a moment of madness, he absconded on his way to the courthouse before his trial and fled to Honduras for six months. He returned to face trial after learning that his wife was dying of tuberculosis and served three years in jail. While in prison, he adopted the pen name O. Henry, and after his release he found great fame and popularity as a short story writer.

Selected StoriesIntroduction Suggestions for Further Reading From The Four Million (1906) The Coming-Out of Maggie A Service of Love Between Rounds An Unfinished Story After Twenty Years By Courier From The Trimmed Lamp (1907) The Pendulum The Buyer from Cactus City Brickdust Row The Foreign Policy of Company 99 The Count and the Wedding Guest The Country of Elusion From Heart of the West (1907) The Ransom of Mack The Higher Abdication A Call Loan The Princess and the Puma The Indian Summer of Dry Valley Johnson The Reformation of Calliope From The Voice of the City (1908) The Complete Life of Johns Hopkins Doughtery's Eye-Opener While the Auto Waits The Defeat of the City The Plutonian Fire Squaring the Circle The Fool-Killer Transients in Arcadia Extradited from Bohemia From Each According to His Ability The Memento From The Gentle Grafter (1908) Jeff Peters as a Personal Magnet Modern Rural Sports The Man Higher Up Hostages to Momus From Roads of Destiny (1909) The Guardian of the Accolade Phoebe A Double-Dyed Deceiver A Retrieved Reformation Friends in San Rosario The Emancipation of Billy A Departmental Case The Renaissance at Charleroi Two Renegades From Options (1909) "The Rose of Dixie" Schools and Schools Thimble, Thimble The Moment of Victory No Story From Strictly Business (1910) The Gold That Glittered The Day Resurgent The Thing's the Play A Municipal Report Proof of the Pudding The Venturers From Whirligigs (1910) The Theory and the Hound The Ransom of Red Chief The Whirligig of Life The Roads We Take A Blackjack Bargainer One Dollar's Worth Madame Bo-Peep, of the Ranches From Sixes and Sevens (1911) Witches' Loaves The Duplicity of Hargraves October and June The Church with an Overshot-Wheel From Rolling Stones (1912) The Atavism of John Tom Little Bear The Marquis and Miss Sally From Waifs and Strays (1917) Out of Nazareth Hearts and Hands