The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-06-06

He had suffered for several years
from complication of diseases, of
which cirrhosis of the liver was the
most dangerous factor. His physician,
DR.. Charles Russell Hancock. realized
when he sent Porter to the hospital on
Friday last that there was practically
no hope of his recovery. DR.. Hancock
performed an operation Saturday, in
sorting a drainage tube, but the doctor
had no hope that any permanent ben
eft would result.
Mr.. Porter lived for two years OF
more at the Hotel Caledonia. Friday
| last DR.. Hancock, after brief exam
nation, had Mr.. Porter removed to
the Polytechnic and telegraphed to
Mrs. Porter, who was at Greensbor-
ough, N. c., where Mr.. Porter was
born. She arrived in New York Sun
day evening. He was conscious just
before he died, and smiled at the doc
tor and the nurse, the only ones at
the bedside.
For the past eight years few con-
tributors to the magazines have been
lie than was o. Henry.
He was one of the masters of short
story writing in this country, possess
ing gift of fine humor as well as an
ability for dramatic narration. AL
though he could write a tale in ire
proachable English. he was one of the
few who could make slang really
funny. He had, too, a knack of coin
| ing slang words ana slang phrases
that stuck in the mind and became a
part of our lighter language. He was
essentially a humorist.
His Literary Alias.
It was while he was in New Orleans
some ten years ago that he adopted
the name of 80. Henry" a nom de
plume which seemed, somehow, to fit
his works perfectly. In later years
there were comparatively few people
who knew what his real name was.
In New Orleans he had sent stacks
| of manuscript to unappreciative
| as they nearly always were, he put
| new stamps on the envelopes and sent
them on their travels again. But he
| decided one day that he ought to Sc
| lect a literary alias. He said to a
| friend:
Pm going to send out some stuff,
and I think 1 ought to have a new
| name. Help me to pick up one.''
His friend suggested that he get a
| newspaper and run over the first list
| of notables he came to in the society
columns. They got a paper and came
across the account of a fashionable
| Henry"
That's good enough for me-" he
said. Now for a first name. 1 want
something short, none of your three
syllabled names for me-"
| "Why don't you use a single mi
| tial?" said the friend.
''All right said Porter "The let
ter 90 is about the easiest letter writ
| ten, so 90 it is
Sketch of His Life.
| He was born forty-three years ago
| in Greensborough, n. c.. Several of
his ancestors had been governors of
| the state. His health was delicate
when he was a boy, and that was one
of the reasons he never went to col
| lege. He went to Texas while he was
| still In his teens and spent two years
and half on cattle ranch.
| But he got tired of the cattle bust
ness and made up his mind that he
wanted either to write or draw Writ
ing seemed easier to begin and he got
| job at SIS a week on the Houston
| Post. Within two weeks his salary
was jumped to 500 and in another two
weeks it became s25 1t impressed him
then as munificent when the editor said
one day:
Porter. within five years you'll be
earning 800 week on a New York
newspaper" and he made up his mini
that he was really cut out to be a
writer.
He hadn't special preparation. A
common school education and consid-
cradle reading of the classics from his
| thirteenth to nineteenth year was the
! education with which he started
While he was on the Houston Post.
| Brann had been publishing the Icono-
clast at Houston and failed. Porter
bought the whole plant, name and ali.
| for $3.50 and started a ten-page weekly
story paper. He wrote most of the
stories himself and did all of the illus
trating. Brann wrote from Waco ask
ing if he could get back the title
| 'tIconoclast-" Porter. as he said, didn't
think much of it, so he handed it back
and renamed his paper THE Rolling
Stone" He kept it going for another
year and then sold out.
In Spanish America.
With a friend he visited Central
America, where he got the material for