Mr. A. E. Clarkson, secretary-treasurer of the Houston Post, authenticates the O. Henry column from his personal knowledge.
Houston, Texas.
October 16, 1922.Miss Florence Stratton,
2020 Harrison,
Beaumont, Texas.My dear Miss Stratton:
In reply to your letter of October 15, I find that Mr. Porter, afterward known as O. Henry, was on the payroll of the Houston Post from October 1895 to June 1896.
During that time Mr. Porter wrote, and there was published from time to time in the columns of the Post various articles headed “Some Postscripts” and “Postscripts and Pencillings.”
The writer was also connected with the Post during this period, being in the business office. He was personally acquainted with Mr. Porter and knows of his own knowledge that the articles headed as stated above were written by him.
Yours truly,
THE HOUSTON POST
(Signed) A. E. Clarkson,
Business Manager.
Neither the compilation, verification, nor publication of these newspaper writings of O. Henry would have been possible without the co-operation of Mr. Roy G. Watson, present proprietor and publisher of the Houston Post, whose consent for their publication has been generously given; and of Governor William P. Hobby, Colonel R. M. Johnston, and Mr. A. E. Clarkson, all associated with the Post during O. Henry’s employment, and to these, whose attestation of authenticity of this work is herewith given, the compiler is grateful. The doing of this work has been a labor of love, and if the result is to add to the luster of O. Henry’s name the writer shall have been repaid.
No pen is so facile as to add to or detract from the fame of William Sidney Porter. The flame of his genius has been extinguished, but what he wrought in a vast understanding of humanity will ever illuminate American literature.
Florence Stratton.
April, 1923.
O. Henry on the Houston Post
With respect to O. Henry’s services, the Houston Post states as follows:
Between musty covers of the Post files from October, 1895, to July, 1896, are cross-sections of life drawn by a master artist; vignettes as perfect and as beautiful as the finest Amsterdam diamond. Only they are comparatively unknown because they have been overshadowed by larger and more brilliant creations of the same master hand.
Verses beautiful and appealing; description, touched by wonderful imagery; dialogue, the lines of which sparkle with wit and understanding of human frailties!