O'Quinn, Trueman E., 1905-1990

Trueman E. O'Quinn (1905-1990) was a distinguished Austin jurist and a recognized authority on O. Henry who amassed a diverse and extensive collection of O. Henry artifacts, books, and printed editions of O. Henry's works, manuscripts, photographs, and related materials by and about the writer. A highlight of O'Quinn's fascination with O. Henry is that he conducted personal interviews with every identifiable surviving associate of O. Henry's in Austin, Texas. Trueman O'Quinn and Jenny Lind Porter collaborated on the 1986 biographical work Time to Write: How William Sidney Porter Became O. Henry .

William Sydney Porter, pseudonymously O. Henry (1862-1910), is the famed short story writer noted for his "twist" endings, and for whom the prestigious O. Henry Awards annual literary competition is named. Porter lived in Austin from 1882-1898 with several brief interludes of absence. While in Austin, Porter met and married Athol Estes, and with her had two children, a son who died and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in East Austin, and a daughter, Margaret, with whom he maintained a lifelong closeness and who was his only surviving child. His wife Athol died of tuberculosis in 1897. During the span of his fourteen years in the Texas capital Porter worked at a variety of local establishments, including the General Land Office (in the building currently serving as the Capitol Visitors Center, at the southeast corner of the capitol grounds at 112 East 11th Street; Morley Brothers Drugs, a pharmacy (formerly on East Sixth Street); and First National Bank, formerly on the northwest corner of Sixth and Congress, which became notable as the place of employment where Porter's work as a bank teller resulted in charges of embezzlement and ultimate conviction. He eventually left Austin to serve a prison sentence at the Ohio Penitentiary for crimes of bank embezzlement. One of Porter's residences in Austin serves as the O. Henry Museum, and contains numerous artifacts and literary publications.

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