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The early 1900's were more calm then things are today. Not as many gangs and it was an new century and America believed that they had world power. So O.Henry might have wanted some more action in his stories.

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O.henry ( William Sydeny Porter ) wrote many short stories. He wrote one called " A Retrieved Reformation " which was based on a criminal Jimmy Valentine starting a new life. O.Henry short story might have encouraged people to focus on the good things in life instead of making money, the #1 priority.

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Life in the early 1900s, at the dawn of the 20th century, as one can imagine, was a lot more simpler than life is today, despite not having any of today's modern technology.

After being released from prison in three years O'Henry moved on to the next chapter of his life; NYC. This is where he used pervious life experiences  to wight his stories.

1.) http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/everyday-life-in-america-in-the-early-1900s-8056/

2.) http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/

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O. Henry, or William Sydney Porter was a man who has written hundreds of short stories including, "A Retrieved Reformation". In the story, "A Retrieved Reformation", a man named Jimmy Valentine becomes a reformed criminal after meeting a woman who changed him from a thief, to a shop owner. In relation to the story, O. Henry's story may have been inspired by the war and immigration issues being a big part of crime.

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O. Henry or William Sydney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, he was a skilled short story Author who wrote a variety of genres. he had a very interesting life that some of his stories were based off of. He worked in many different professions and even got arrested. He is a classic American short story writer.

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Follow the fascinating life of William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry, prodigious short story writer, on Biography.com.

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Mariana Ambrose

William Sydney Porter also known as O. Henry, wrote short stories well known throughout the world; noted for their witticism, clever wordplay, and unexpected endings.

The early 1900's was an much more peaceful time than it is today. Crime was not as common as it is today because most people had respect for the law and tended to fear the consequences, which in many cases could be very severe.Children were children; they looked like children, played the games the children normally played then and acted like children.  Juvenile delinquency was exceptionally rare, there were no "Juvenile Justice" laws then, child offenders got the same punishment as adult offenders, which could also incur the death penalty.

Link #1

http://americanliterature.com/author/o-henry/bio-books-stories

Link #2 http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/everyday-life-in-america-in-the-early-1900s-8056/

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The O. Henry Page at American Literature, featuring a biography and Free Library of the author's Novels, Stories, Poems, Letters, and Texts.

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O'Henry wrote the story " A Retrieved Reformation." This story is mainly, partly talking about his life story. O'Henry went to jail but he was released from Jail after serving three years in jail for embezzlement/robbing from a bank in Austin, Texas. After he got released from jail he fled to New York to write his first book, "New York World." In February 1896 he was indicted for embezzlement of bank funds. born Sept. 11, 1862 Greensboro, N.C., U.S.—died June 5, 1910, New York, N.Y.

in the 1900s: Americans were optimistic in 1900. For most of them, life was better materially than it had ever been. This was a time of prosperity. when he December 16th, 1907 - The United States Great White Fleet of sixteen battleships and twelve thousand men begin their first round the world cruise.

( 1. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/o-henry-is-released-from-prison )

(2. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/261395/O-Henry )

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William Sydney Porter , known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer.

Born: September 11, 1862, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

Life in the early 1900s, at the dawn of the 20th century, as one can imagine, was a lot more simpler than life is today, despite not having any of today's modern technology.

"There was no television, radio was only in its experimental stages, motion pictures were still in its infancy, there were no computers, no Internet, no Facebook or MySpace, no MTV, no airplanes, telephones were in existence then, but very few people owned them..."

http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/everyday-life-in-america-in-the-early-1900s-8056/

http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/everyday-life-in-america-in-the-early-1900s-8056/

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After being released from prison in just three years,  O' Henry  moved on to the next chapter in his life: New York City. This was where he really came into his own and all his previous life's experience served to inspire stories.

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O. Henry, pseudonym of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), noted American author of hundreds of short stories including "The Ransom of Red Chief" (1910), "The Duplicity of Hargraves" (1902), and "The Gift of the Magi" (1905);

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

William Sidney Porter was born 11 September, 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina, to physician Algernon Sidney Porter (1825-1888) and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim (1833-1865). The two brothers of William were Shirley Worth (1860) and David Weir (1865) who both died in early childhood. Mary was a graduate of Greensboro Female College (founded in 1838) now Greensboro College. She wrote poetry and had a promising artistic temperament with a natural eye for drawing and painting, surely a talent which young Will inherited. She ran her household with a firm but loving hand. Tragically she died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty when Will was only three years old. His father Sidney was a gentle and good humoured man, gregarious, and generous to a fault. Absent-minded with a long flowing beard, he travelled Guilford county visiting his patients. As was the custom of the time, he never sent invoices to his patients; they were expected to settle once a year. Without his wife to stay on top of their accounts, finances dwindled and Sidney started to drink.

After Mary's death, widower Sidney and his shy, freckle-faced son moved to his mother's farm, that of Will's paternal grandmother Ruth Coffyn Worth Porter (1805-1890). Sidney became increasingly occupied with various inventions he was developing, poking about in his workshop with such contraptions as a perpetual motion water wheel. Also living at the farm was Will's aunt, Evalina Maria Porter or "Miss Lina" as she was known. She would become the most influential person in the first 20 years of Will's life. She became teacher, parent, and mentor to him. She had started a school at her mother's home that was soon established in it's own building on the Porter property. Will studied the basics there, writing and arithmetic, and he read classic literature and poetry. He was very clever with a pencil and loved to draw caricatures.

At the age of fifteen Porter began working as a clerk in his uncle Clark Porter's store. The combined pharmacy, soda fountain, tobacco shop, and newsstand was the local gathering spot. Porter became immersed in the social scene, entertaining the customers with stories and drawing caricatures of them for which he became well known. He saw the humour in the everyday, and made notes of all the colourful characters he encountered, fodder for his future stories. He also obtained a pharmacist license in 1881. Small town life was not to hold him for long, however, and he had developed a persistent cough. Thinking that a change of climate would do him well, at the age of eighteen he moved to Texas, settling in Austin in 1884. He was already writing short stories while he held a number of jobs including pharmacist before working with the Texas Land Office. Around this time he met Athol Estes Roach. They married in 1887 and had a daughter, Margaret Worth (d.1927), in 1889. With a steady income Porter was now able to focus on his writing. In 1891 he began work as a bank teller with the First National Bank. The Porter's were living in the house which is now known as the O Henry House Museum. In 1894 Porter launched a humorous weekly magazine The Rolling Stone (no relation to the current magazine, founded in 1967.) It featured political and every day satirical articles and cartoons, all by Will himself, which he also published. 1895 found the Porter's living in Houston, Texas, where Porter started a column in the Houston Post.

After time spent in Honduras, during which Porter coined the term "banana republic", he had to return to Texas to face charges of embezzlement. His wife was also was suffering from tuberculosis and he rushed to see her. Athol died in July of 1897. At that time Margaret was living with Athol's parents. They then moved to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Margaret never knew that her father had spent time in prison. She was always told he was away on business. After inconsistencies were found with Porter's First National Bank records, Porter was charged with embezzlement. In 1898 he began a five-year sentence in Columbus, Ohio federal prison. Around this time he changed his name to Sydney. The following year, in 1899, from prison, Porter began his short story career by contributing "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" to McClure's Magazine. Thereafter a number of his stories written in prison appeared in print, always under a pseudonym, his favourite being "O. Henry". The general public did not know of his prison term until after his death.

After being released from prison in just three years, Porter moved on to the next chapter in his life: New York City. This was where he really came into his own and all his previous life's experience served to inspire stories. Porter crafted everyday tales of myriad characters, many recurring, based in New York City with humour, wit, and realism. His stories often have a surprise or twist ending, and Porter's fans looked forward to more in such publications as World, Ainslee's, and McClure's. Porter has been compared to other masters of the short story including Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Bret Harte, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, and French author Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893). Porter also wrote numerous stories set in Western and South and Central America. Despite many of his works being panned by the critics he was becoming one of America's most popular short story authors. So much so that several collections were published including Cabbages and Kings (1904), The Four Million (1909), Options (1909), Roads of Destiny (1909), The Trimmed Lamp (1910), Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million (1910), Whirligigs (1910), Sixes and Sevens (1911), The Gentle Grafter (1919) and Rolling Stones (1919).

Troubled by ill-health and heavy drinking for many years, surely Porter was happy when he married his childhood sweetheart from Greensboro, Sara (Sallie) Lindsey Coleman, in 1907. But Porter was living an extravagant lifestyle amid increasing pressure to keep his commitments to publishers for more and more stories. This stress plus added financial problems led to Sara leaving in him in 1909. William Sidney Porter died of cirrhosis on 5 June, 1910. A funeral was held in New York City. He now lies buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina. His daughter was later buried beside him. His last complete short story is "Let Me Feel Your Pulse". The O. Henry Museum in Austen, Texas, open to the public, serves to preserve artifacts and archival materials related to O. Henry.

"You can tell your paper," the great man said,
"I refused an interview.
I have nothing to say on the question, sir;
Nothing to say to you."

And then he talked till the sun went down
And the chickens went to roost;
And he seized the collar of the poor young man,
And never his hold he loosed.

And the sun went down and the moon came up,
And he talked till the dawn of day;
Though he said,"On this subject mentioned by you,
I have nothing whatever to say."

And down the reporter dropped to sleep
And flat on the floor he lay;
And the last he heard was the great man's words,
"I have nothing at all to say."--"Nothing To Say", poem by O. Henry

Biography written by C.D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc 2013. All Rights Reserved.

The above biography is copyrighted. Do not republish it without permission.

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O. Henry, pseudonym of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), noted American author of hundreds of short stories including "The Ransom of Red Chief" (1910), "The Duplicity of Hargraves" (1902), and "The Gift of the Magi" (1905); One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies.

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William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name, O'Henry, was a writer born on September 11, 1862, who wrote in a rather odd, dry, humorous style and used many coincidences and surprise endings.

Early 1900's

Not many crimes happened during the time range of the late 1800's to the early 1900's, mostly because life was very easy back then like it is now, and because most people would not commit a crime without a gang.

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Follow the fascinating life of William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry, prodigious short story writer, on Biography.com.

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William porter as we know as O.Henry had wrote nearly 600 novels about his life Also O.Henry left his education at the age of 15 he had numerous of jobs and as a job as a bank clerk. in 1896 he had robed a bank and was sentenced to jail for 5 years in 1898 we was sent to penitentiary in Columbus Ohio

(Penitentiary: A prison for people convicted of serious crimes.)

In 1899 O.Henry had published his first novel "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" in order to support his daughter. ever since his book came out he had used a pseudonym so his readers wouldn't know he went to jail for busting in a safe

(pseudonym a fictitious name, especially one used by an author.)

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O. Henry was an American writer whose short stories are known for wit, wordplay and clever twist endings. He wrote nearly 600 stories about life in America.

He was born William Sidney Porter on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. His father, Algernon Sidney Porter, was a medical doctor. When William was three his mother died and he was raised by his grandmother and aunt. He left school at the age of 15 and then had a number of jobs, including bank clerk. In 1896 he was accused of embezzlement. He absconded from the law to New Orleans and later fled to Honduras. When he learned that his wife was dying, he returned to US and surrendered to police. Although there has been much debate over his actual guilt, he was convicted of embezzling funds from the bank that employed him, he was sentenced to 5 years in jail. In 1898 he was sent to the penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio.

While in prison he began writing short stories in order to support his young daughter Margaret. His first published story was "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" (1899). He used a pseudonym, Olivier Henry, only once and changed his pen name to O. Henry, not wanting his readers to know he was in jail. He published 12 stories while in prison. After serving 3 years of the five-year sentence, he was released for good behavior. He moved to New York City in 1902 and wrote a story a week for the New York World, and also for other publishers. His first collection of stories was "Cabbages and Kings" (1904). The next collection, "The Four Million" (1906), included his well-known stories "The Gift of the Magi", "The Skylight Room" and "The Green Door". One of his last stories, "The Ransom of Red Chief" (1910), is perhaps the best known of his works. Among its film adaptations are Ruthless People (1986) with Danny DeVito and Bette Midler, The Ransom of Red Chief (1998), The Ransom of Red Chief (1911) and Delovye lyudi (1962) (aka "Business People") by director Leonid Gayday, starring Georgiy Vitsin and Yuriy Nikulin

In his lifetime O. Henry was able to see the silent film adaptations of his stories; The Sacrifice (1909), Trying to Get Arrested (1909) and His Duty (1909). His success brought the attendant pressure, and he suffered from alcohol addiction. His second marriage lasted 2 years, and his wife left him in 1909. He died of cirrhosis of the liver, on June 5, 1910, in New York, New York.

O. Henry is credited for creation of The Cisco Kid, whose character alludes to Robin Hood and Don Quixote. The Arizona Kid (1930) and The Cisco Kid (1931) are among the best known adaptations of his works.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Shelokhonov

Sara Lindsey Coleman

( 27 November 1907 - 1908) ( separated)

Athol Estes

( 5 July 1887 - 25 July 1897) ( her death) ( 2 children)

Arrested and convicted of embezzling funds from the bank that employed him, he was sent to the penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio to serve a five year sentence. He began writing his by-now famous short stories in prison in order to help support his daughter, Margaret. He was released after three years and soon after changed his pen name to O. Henry.

Though many sources indicate O. Henry's real name as "William Sydney Porter", his middle name at birth was actually Sidney with an "i". He changed the spelling of his middle name to "Sydney" when he began working for newspapers in the 1880s.

Porter is said to have derived the pen-name O. Henry from the name of a girlfriend's cat.

His only formal education was received at the school of his Aunt Lina, where he developed a lifelong love of books.

Died at the age of forty seven. An alcoholic, he died virtually penniless.

Licensed as a pharmacist at 19 (1881). He worked as a pharmacist during his imprisonment for embezzlement (1898-1901).

In 1888, his wife gave birth to a premature son, who died a few hours later. Their daughter Margaret Worth Porter was born on September 30, 1889.

Second wife Sara Lindsey Coleman was his childhood sweetheart.

Worked as a draftsman in the Texas General Land Office (Austin), and is believed to have illustrated J. W. Wilbarger's "Indian Depredations in Texas" (1889).

Inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 1996 (inaugural class).

Write what you like; there is no other rule.

Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of life.

Life is sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

If man knew how women pass the time when they are alone, they'd never marry.

[his reported last words] Please turn on the light. I don't want to go home in the dark.

A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows.

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O. Henry was an American writer whose short stories are known for wit, wordplay and clever twist endings. He wrote nearly 600 stories about life in ...

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William Porter, commonly known as O. Henry, is an American author of many short stories. His stories are known for having brilliant plot twist endings, such as "Ruthless People". Plenty of his stories, such as that one, were adapted into silent films and most were based on his life experiences. He was put in prison for embezzlement, and while in there, he published up to 12 stories. During the early 1900's,

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0377958/bio

http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/

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William Sydney Porter or otherwise known as O. Henry wrote hundreds of short stories in his lifetime. Before he was a writer he had man professions. One of the stories is "A Reformed Reformation" is based on real life experiences. Transportation in the early 1990's consist of trains. This relates to the story because Jimmy Valentine got to to Elmore by train.

http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/

http://www.hope1842.com/transportation1900s.html

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Incapable of integrating a book-length narrative, O. Henry was skilled in plotting short ones. He wrote in a dry, humorous style and, as in "The Gift of the Magi," frequently used coincidences and surprise endings to underline ironies. Released from prison in 1902, Porter went to New York City, his home and the setting of most of his fiction for the remainder of his life. He was in prion for embezzlement in Austiin Texas    This is probably what he based his short story "A Retrieved  Reformation".  http://www.biography.com/people/william-sydney-porter-9542046#profile

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Bio: William Sydney Porter, known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer. O. Henry's short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.

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O. Henry quotes - It ain't the roads we take; it's what's inside of us that makes us turn out the way we do.

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Just a little something to get you thinking about the theme of "A Retrieved Reformation." Did O. Henry experience anything in his own life that may have led him to turn his life around? If so, what did he do that was so awful? I mean, he's an author, right? Being an author seems like a pretty respectable job to me. Hmmm.