A Retrieved Reformation

William Sydney Porter, the man who would become O. Henry, brought much of his own life to the more than 600 short stories he wrote between 1899 and his death in 1910. In “A Retrieved Reformation,” he draws on personal experiences—as diverse as a stint working in a bank and several years in prison—to paint a picture of the dapper safecracker Jimmy Valentine and his transformation into the upstanding businessman Ralph D. Spencer.

Porter was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, on September 11, 1862. When he was three, his mother and brother died of tuberculosis. His father was a physician whose drinking and penchant for inventing strange devices made him an inattentive and often absent parent, so he was raised by his grandmother and aunt, who educated him at home. At age 17, Porter began apprenticing in his uncle’s drugstore and eventually became a licensed pharmacist.

In 1881, Porter developed a mysterious cough. Believing that a drier climate might benefit his health, he left for West Texas, where he worked a variety of jobs, including a stint as a ranch hand. Those experiences inspired many of his early stories of the Wild West, including the beloved “The Ransom of Red Chief” (“