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FOUND TALENT IN PRISON. Famous Short Story Writer Began While Serving Sentence. The late William Sidney Porter, known by the pen name of O. Henry, as the greatest short story writer of his generation, served three years and three months in the State penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio, for embezzlement. This fact has just come to light, six years after his death. He was charged with having embezzled $">54.48 on October 10. 1894; $299.60 on November 12, 1894, and! ?9QQ Cft r?n Vnupmhpr 12. 1S95. He I V vw A* V ? ~ J . was found guilty on February 17, 189S, and sentenced on March 25 of that year to five years' imprisonment. He entered the penitentiary on April 25, 1898, and came out on July 24, 1901, his term of confinement having been reduced from five years to three years and three months on account of good behavior. Ever since O. Henry's death there have been rumors that at some time in his career he suffered for some violation of the law of the land, says the New York Times, but nothing definite about it has appeared in print and his friends have endeavored to kill the rumors. But, believing the facts of the case nnthine to the grreat author's & W*vs. v ?v-? ?? ?0 w discredit, Professor C. Alphonso Smith, of the University of Virginia, has decided to publish the complete story of 0. Henry's trial and imprisonment. It will be given in the "O. Henry Biography," to be published next Friday by Doubleday, Page & Co., and it is expected that Professor Smith will refer to it this afternoon in his address on O. Henry at Chickering hall. On January 21, 1891, O. Henry, or as he was then called, William Sydney Porter, became paying and receiving teller of the First National bank, of Austin, Texas. He had written anecdotes and jokes for the papers, but was not at that time known as an author. It appears that the bank was carelessly managed. The patrons used to enter, go behind the counter, take out one hundred or two hundred dollars and say a week later, "Porter, I took out $200 last week. See if I left a memorandum of it. I meant to." The affairs of the bank were managed so loosely that Porter's predecessor was driven to retirement and his successor to attempt suicme. Did Not Go to Austin. According to Professor Smith's record, O. Henry resigned from the bank in December, 1894?which is nearly a year before the date of the third of the misappropriations with which he was charged. Leaving Aus, tin, he went first to San Antonio, where he edited a humorous weekly which was called The Rolling Stone, and later to Houston, Texas, where he joined the staff of the Daily Post, conducting a column of verses and paragraphs. When he left Houston, never to return, he left because he had been summoned to go immediately to Austin and stand trial for alleged embezzlement of funds from the First National bank of that city. Professor Smith believes that had he gone to Austin, he would have been acquitted. He protested his innocence to the end, and many of his fellow townsmen believed him. But he did not go to Austin. When his train reached Hempstead, about a third of the way to Austin, O. Henry left it and took the last train to New Or. leans. After a brief stay in New Orleans, he took a fruit steamer for the Hon4 r>.. ri/%? auran COasi, arriving ui ruenu Vyuitez or Criva or Trujillo. On the wharf at Trujillo he met another fugitive from the law, A1 Jennings, now a citizen prominent in public affairs, but at that time a fugitive of law. whose gang of train robbers terrorized the Southwest. O. Henry joined A1 Jennings and his brother, and with them circled the entire coast of South America. When the money gave out, the Jennings brothers decided to go back to Texas and rob a German trading store and a bank, and asked O. Henry to join them, but he refused. In 1887 O. Henry had married Miss Athol Estes, and she was now living with their daughter in Austin. He corresponded with her through Mr. Louis Kreisele, and in February of 1897 he learned that she was dangerously ill. At once he started for Austin, determined to give himself up and take whatever punishment the courts had in store for him. Accord ing to the trial record, he arrived in Austin on February 5, 1S97. His bondsmen "were not assessed, but the amount of the bond was doubled, and 0. Henry went free until the next meeting of the federal court. His wife died on July 25, 1897. In February of the following year his case came to trial. Apparently the error in the indictment by which he was charged with having embezzled $299.60 on November 12, 1895, whereas at that time he was living in Houston, having resigned his position in the Austin bank in December, 1894, went unnoticed. The fore NATION TO RETURN THANKS. President Wilson Issues His Thanksgiving Proclamation. Washington, Nov. 17.?President Wilson today formally by proclamation designated Thursday, November 30, as Thanksgiving day. Here follows the president's proclamation: "It has long been the custom of our people to turn in the fruitful autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for His many blessings and mercies to us and the nation. 1 ,3 r-Cv, i ne year mat nas eiaiJiscu we last observed our day of thanksgiving has been rich in blessings to us as a people, but the whole face of the world has been darkened by war. In the midst of our peace and happiness our thoughts dwell with painful disquiet upon the struggles and sufferings of the nations at war and of the peoples upon whom war has brought disaster without choice or possibility of escape on their part. "We cannot think of our own happiness without thinking of their pitiful distress. "Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States of America, do appoint Thursday, the 30th day of November, as a d..'* of national thanksgiving and prayer, and J - _ _ 11 ~ ~ .O ? ^ urge anu auvise me yeupie iu i c?ui i to their several places of worship on that day to render thanks to Almighty God for the blessings of peace and unbroken prosperity which He has bestowed upon our beloved country in such unstinted measure. "And I also urge and suggest our duty in this our day of peace and abundance to think in deep sympathy of the stricken people of the world upon whom the curse and terror of war has so piteously fallen and to contribute out of our abundant means to the relief of their sufferings. "Our people could in no better way show their real attitude towards the present struggle of the nations than by contributing out of their abundance to the relief of the suffering which war has brought in its train. "In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States be affixed. "Done at the city of Washington this 17th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1916, and of the independence of the United States the 141st. WOODROW WILSON, "By the president. "ROBERT LANSING, "Secretary of State." had miraculous escape. Four Men Fall From Great Height; None Killed. Greenville, Nov. 16.?Four men in Greenville are trying, but can't explain how their lives were saved when a scaffold on which the men were at work broke and fell from the sixth story of the new court house. When the scaffold swung downward all the men were spilled from their perch, but luck seemingly took care of each in her own way. As the structure fell each man, in frantic effort, caught at the nearest object to him and three succeeded in getting hold of a large cable wire. The fourth man, a negro, was not so fortunate. He missed grabbing the cable and f^ll through the air. However, he landed on a roof of the court room, and escaped serious injury. Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, is a town of some historic interest, while its cathedral is regarded as the handsomest church on the American continent. The foundation stone of this edifice was laid in 1593 on the site of the former heathen temple. The national museum is filled with treasures of Aztec civilization, and the various memorials of the hapless Maximillian and the beautiful Carlotta lend a luster to the attractive city. man of the grand jury and the foreman of the trial jury are reported to have said afterward that they regretted they had voted to convicf him. When O. Henry entered the peni tentiary on April 25, 1898, he was set to work as a drug clerk?a position that he had filled in Texas before his bank clerk days. He proved very useful in this capacity and made many friendships with the prison officials and with his fellow convicts. He collected much literary material while he was in prison, listening especially to the convicts from Arizona, Texas and the Indian Territory. This was the material which he used in "The Gentle Grafter." Found "Jimmy Valentine." It was in the penitentiary that he found the original of Jimmie Valentine, the hero of the famous storv, "A Retrieve Reformation," and later of the play, "Alias Jimmy Valentine." He was Jimmie Connors, day drug clerk in the prison hospital where 0. Henry worked as night drug clerk. He was a notorious safe blower, and spent hours telling O. Henry of his experiences. |r "Cured" | ft Mrs. Jay McGee, of Steph- m enville, Texas, writes: ' For R & nine (9) years, I suffered with A womanly trouble. I had ter- W 9 riblc headaches, and pains in Wj 1 [1 my back, etc. It seemed as if I|5i 5J I would die, I suffered so. At Jfi j? last, 1 decided to try Cardui, g the woman's tonic, and it 3i 8 helped me right away. The SI !full treatment not only helped Kg me, but it cured me." MB TAKE y| | The Woman's Tonic LJ R Cardui helps women in time S ? of greatest need, because it 9 contains ingredients which act ft J specifically, yet gently, on the A weakened womanly organs, gi So, if you feel discouraged, feu blue, out-of-sorts. unable to K] do your household work, on A account of your condition, stop Ml W worrying and give Cardui a IV] K trial. It has helped thousands I jjj S of women,?why not you ? LSI 9 Try Cardui. E-71 W Whenever You Need a General Tonic Take Grove's The Old Standard Grove's Tasteless chill Tonic is equally valuable as a General Tonic because it contains the well known tonic properties of QUININE and IRON. It acts on the Liver, Drives out Malaria, Enriches the Blood and Builds up the Whole System. 50 certs. MASTER'S SALE. By virtue of a decretal order directed to me out of the Court of Common Pleas, in the case of Mrs. L. M. Sledge, plaintaiff, against D. M. Eaves, et al., defendants, I, the un- ? dersigned Master, will on the 4th day of December, 1916, the same being sales day in said month, during the legal hours of sale in front of the i Court House door at Bamberg, South Carolina, offer for sale to the highest bidder the following described real estate, to wit: "All that certain piece, parcel, or tract of land, situate, lying, and being in the. county and State aforesaid, measuring and containing, three hundred and thirty-six (336) acres more or less, bounded South by Charleston and Augusta Public Road, Eat i by lands of A. J. Bennett and Sons, North by lands of Ed Williams, and TCTftaf Ktt lonHo nf "EM Williams knnwn TV UOC VJ J lUUUO V1 \A ? I w y ..Mv as the Brooks-Rice tract." 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