Book excerpt: E. B. Fleming was in a heap of trouble. His business failed. His mind was gone. He had been committed, quite against his will-- incarcerated in the North Texas Hospital for the Insane, at Terrell, Texas. This book is his own true account of what transpired before and after his escape from the lunatic asylum. This book from 1893 will give the modern reader plenteous insights into life in the late 19th century. It gives a perspective on the treatment of the mentally ill from a patient's point of view. It immerses the reader in the racial attitudes of the day. And it depects a style of life in a largely agrarian America that has vanished for all time.