Cabbages and Kings

O. Henry (whose real name was William Sydney Porter) was awaiting trial over bank embezzlement changes, and his father in law posted bail to keep him out of jail -- but the day before Porter was due to stand trial he fled, first to New Orleans and later to Honduras. While holed up in a Trujillo, Honduras, hotel for several months, he wrote Cabbages and Kings. This is the book where Henry coined the term "banana republic" to describe the country; the term went on to be used to describe almost any small, unstable tropical nation in Latin America. Then his wife's long-term illness took a turn for the worse: she was dying of tuberculosis. Porter packed his bags and went back to face trial in Houston.