The Ransom of Red Chief
O. Henry
Genre(s): Comedy, Crime
First published: The Saturday Evening Post, July 6, 1907
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Two small-time crooks think they’ve found the perfect scheme—kidnap a wealthy man’s son and demand ransom. But they’ve made one miscalculation: their young hostage, who calls himself “Red Chief,” is a wild, imaginative terror with the energy of a dozen boys and none of the discipline. As the supposed captors become desperate to escape their captive, O. Henry delivers a hilarious satire of criminal misadventure, child-rearing, and parental negotiation—all with his trademark ironic twist.