Makes the Whole World Kin
short story by O. Henry
"Makes the Whole World Kin" is a short story written by O. Henry (a pen name for William Sydney Porter), allegedly at Pete's Tavern on Irving Place in New York City. It was originally published in the September 25, 1904 New York Sunday World.
Plot
The story starts with a young thief walking through a neighbourhood, scouting for his next house. The thief is described as an ordinary man, with no extreme tendencies:
The burglar wore a blue sweater. The police would have been baffled had they attempted to classify him. They have not yet heard of the respectable, unassuming burglar who is neither above nor below his station. He wore no masks, dark lanterns, or gum shoes.
This burglar of the third class began to prowl. He carried a .38-calibre revolver in his pocket, and he chewed peppermint gum thoughtfully.Once he finds a respectable house, the thief climbs inside through an open window. Once inside, he scouts for valuable items.
The public source identifies “Makes the Whole World Kin” as short story by O. Henry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Makes, Whole and World.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6739312. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1904.
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This entry incorporates text from “Makes the Whole World Kin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.