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O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney 
Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), whose 
clever use of twist endings in his stories 
popularized the term "O. Henry Ending."

O. Henry was released from prison in Columbus, 
Ohio on July 24, 1901 after serving three years 
for embezzlement from a bank. On release he settled 
in New York City and began his writing career.

It is believed that Porter found his pen name while 
in jail, where one of the guards was named Orrin 
Henry. Other sources say that the name was derived 
from his calling "Oh Henry!" after the family cat, 
Henry.

His stories are famous for their surprise endings 
and ironic coincidences, but do not lose their 
interest after the surprise is known. His best are 
full of genial warmth and wistful sadness. The great 
ones, such as "The Gift of the Magi", "The Last 
Leaf", "The Skylight Room", "Springtime a la Carte", 
"The Third Ingredient", and "The Green Door" seem to 
get better with repeated rereadings.

Most of his stories are set in his contemporary 
present, the early years of the 20th century. Many 
take place in New York, notably those in The Four 
Million (a reference to the population of New York 
at that time). O. Henry had an obvious affection 
for the city, which he called 
"Bagdad-on-the-Subway." But others are set in small 
towns and in other cities. His famous story A 
Municipal Report opens by quoting Frank Harris: 
"Fancy a novel about Chicago or Buffalo, let us 
say, or Nashville, Tennessee! There are just three 
big cities in the United States that are 'story 
cities'—New York, of course, New Orleans, and, 
best of the lot, San Francisco." Thumbing his nose 
at Harris, O. Henry sets the story in Nashville.

His stories deal for the most part with ordinary 
people: clerks, policemen, waitresses. He opens 
The Four Million with a reference to Ward 
McAllister's "assertion that there were only 
'Four Hundred' people in New York City who were 
really worth noticing. But a wiser man has 
arisen—the census taker—and his larger estimate 
of human interest has been preferred in marking 
out the field of these little stories of the 
'Four Million.'"

[Spoilers in next two paragraphs]
His most famous story, "The Gift of the Magi" 
concerns a young couple who are short of money but 
desperately want to buy each other Christmas gifts. 
Unbeknownst to Jim, Della sells her most valuable 
possession, her beautiful hair, in order to buy 
a platinum fob chain for Jim's watch; unbeknownst 
to Della, Jim sells his most valuable possession, 
his watch, to buy jewelled combs for Della's hair.

The Ransom of Red Chief concerns two men who 
kidnap a boy of ten. The boy turns out to be so 
obnoxious that the men ultimately pay the boy's 
father two hundred and fifty dollars to take him 
back.

O. Henry said "There are stories in everything. 
I've got some of my best yarns from park 
benches, lampposts, and newspaper stands."

The O. Henry Awards are yearly prizes given to 
outstanding short stories.