Life — May 31, 1923 — page 34: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

32 O. Henry lunged forward, the don flashed his stiletto, the senorita screamed ~ but — LIFE Al Jennings, outlaw and train-robber, was too quick on the trigger. Let him tell you the amazing story of O. Henry’s bohemian career. HE was a born flirt, the Senorita. Just the glance of a dark eye over her fan, behind the back of a princely don. In its wake came livid passion, death, riot—and breathless flight for O. Henry and Al Jennings, the most pic- turesque pair of adventurers since the days of Captain Kidd. Al Jennings and his brother Frank had stepped off a boat at Honduras. They wore top hats and dress suits—the only garb they had. They were outlaws, with prices on their heads. Al walked up to the American consulate. On the veranda sat a figure dressed immacu- lately in duck. It was O. Henry, pen- niless yet unconcerned. O. Henry was not there for local color. He, too, was a fugitive from justice. For what crime? Let Al Jennings tell you, as only he cen, in his inimitable memoirs. “Colonel, we meet again”’ Years later, after Jennings had been trapped and lay in a cell in the Ohio Penitentiary, one day he heard a familiar voice. He looked up and there—in prison stripes, too—was O. Henry. “Colonel,” said O. Henry, in his Southern drawl, “it seems we meet again.” Then follows what is certainly the most remarkable biography in American literature. Why was O. Henry impris- oned? There is no doubt he was inno- cent, but the story is too long to be told here. In any case, in the midst of the degrading prison life, O. Henry began to write. Jennings tells about his first story, how when he read it to two hardened convicts they blubbered for the first time in their lives. He tells how there, in prison, O. Henry got the material for some of his most famous stories. Among other things you read the pathetic story of the original im- mortal Jimmy Valentine. Out of Prison into Fame All through his career O. Henry was an enigma. Editors could never make him out. The Four Hundred opened its doors to him, but he was not to be netted. A strangely reserved figure, ex- cept to the few who knew him. Now at last Al Jennings gives the world the key to this enigma. You see what the incidents were that shaped O. Henry’s character—not only in colorful Central America, and in the penitentiary, but later also in all the 30 Irving Place REVIEW OF REVIEWS CORP’N byways of that modern Bagdad—New York—where O. Henry wandered tire- lessly, as did Haroun Al Raschid of old. How Can Such Things Be? “Through the Shadows with O. Henry” is a book of life, not fiction. In that fact lies its inexpressible fascina- tion. One gasps at every page. Here is, truly, a picture of his country that no American can afford not to read. For Al Jennings is, in his way, no less a remarkable man than O. Henry. You read of a childhood as pathetic as that of Oliver Twist, a young manhood more exciting than any Western fiction ever penned, full of tales of wild Western feuds, of train and bank robberies, of hairbreadth escapes. And it is about real men and women, not puppets of fiction; you see on one page the lovable but always strange character of O. Henry—you see Roose- velt, Mark Hanna, prominent New Yorkers—and then on other pages are the figures of desperados, convict bankers, pickpockets, fallen women, burglars, murderers. Each one with a personality so picturesque, with a his- tory so vivid and often pathetic that one marvels that such things can be! It is an astonishing tour de force! A Few Autographed Copies— Send No Money “Through the Shadows with O. Henry” is a book that belongs in the library of every intelligent American Only a limited edition has been printed and of these Al Jennings has auto- graphed a few hundred copies. Pos- sibly you have read the enthusiastic praise given this book by reviewers, and no doubt decided to read it. If so, here is an exceptional opportunity to obtain a copy, with Al Jenning’s own signature in it. Years from now the autographed copy of a book like this will be worth ten times the price you now pay. Do not send any money. Simply mail the coupon or a letter. When the book arrives, pay the postman only $1.95 plus postage. If you are disap- pointed, for any reason or no reason, send the book back within seven days and your money will be refunded im- mediately. Please remember that this special Review of Reviews edition is limited; immediate action therefore is essential. Clip and mail the coupon. New York CAREY PRINTIN New York City-Bethlebem- 7 1G CORPORATION Philadelphia “A little bun- dle of energy, flaming and with red hail pierce eyes” of ning s,ex- outlaw, who has’ written this t+ ing. account of his own, and 0, Hen: ry’s career. 7 se send me phed ep you agree to refund whatever I h comicbooks.com Review t 7 ‘weviews cap 730° ieving Plat 4 New York. “Thro the |: with O. Henry," by 7 ings. “When it arrives I will ray the postman $1 powage. {have the privilege of 7 examining the book seven divs A the end of that period. any reason to return it, i may