O. Henry went to the Houston Post at the invitation of its editor and his first column appeared in the Post on October 18, 1895, entitled Tales of the Town. The caption soon changed to Postscripts and Pencillings and later still to Some Postscripts. O. Henry went to the Houston Post under his real name of Sidney Porter, but it was as "The Post Man" that he referred to himself in his writings.

Favorite haunts in Houston were the lobby of the old Hutchins House, The Grand Central Depot, and street corners. He used to sit for hours in the hotel, his eyes playing over the faces of guests. Certain, though, it is that hotel attaches grew to love the author of Some Postscripts, and they frequently went out of their way to send him word of stories on the old hotel's ancient register. The last columns of O. Henry's brilliant paragraphs appeared in the Post of June 22, 1896.