Strictly business

O. Henry (1862-1910) was originally born William Sydney Porter in Greensboro, North Carolina. 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 embezzling money from the bank where he had worked. Not wanting to go to prison for his crime, O. Henry fled to Honduras, and stayed there for six months before returning to the United States. Upon his return, the court tried him and put him in an Ohio prison for three years. While in prison, he began writing short stories and it is there that he took the pen-name O. Henry for his writings. After his release from prison in 1901, he moved to New York, which is the setting for many of his stories.

Strictly Business, praised by historians for its authentic sociology of derelict life, featured “A Municipal Report, ” which has appeared in anthologies of short stories more often than any other story written in America. In this tale O. Henry demonstrates perfect management of picturesque dialect and sharp descriptive detail. His figures, Casesar, the black cabby, and Major Caswell, the professional Southern bore, are full of humanity.