ALIAS O. HENRY (294 pp.) Gerald LongfordMacmHlan ($5).
William Sidney Porter was an alcoholic, a liar, a convicted embezzler. He betrayed his friends, deserted his family, fled the U.S. to escape prosecution, seldom paid his debts, deceived both his wives, and led many a simple shopgirl down the garden path. Yet, as O. Henry, he also wrote some of literature's most engaging short stories, and he had a grace of mind and manner that won nearly all who met him. Even one of his mothers-in-law said fervently: "Will was a noble man with a...
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