and opium dens, of bull pens and cat burglars and hobo jungles. I learned about the Johnson Family of good bums and thieves, with a code of conduct that made more sense to me than the arbitrary, hypocritical rules that were taken for granted as being 'right' by my peers." Disappearance He disappeared in 1932 and is believed to have committed suicide by drowning, as he reportedly told his friends that if life got too grim, he would row out into New York Harbor and, with weights tied to his feet, drop overboard. In You Can't Win Black describes this state of mind as being "ready for the river". Quoted excerpts about Black and his memoir Bibliography Black, Jack. You Can't Win. New York: Macmillan Company, 1926. Foreword by Robert Herrick. _. You Can't Win: the Autobiography of Jack Black. New York: Amok Press, 1988. Foreword by William S. Burroughs. _. Du kommst nicht durch. Berlin : Kramer, 1998. _. You Can't Win. 2nd edition. Edinburgh: AK Press/Nabat books, 2000. _. You Can't Win. [S.l.] : BN Publishing, 2007. See also List of people who disappeared References Cited sources Further reading "Out of prison", San Francisco Bulletin, February/March 1917. "The big break at Folsom", San Francisco Bulletin, January 1917. Black, Jack "What's wrong with the right people?", Harper's Monthly Magazine, June 1929. Black, Jack "A burglar looks at laws and codes", Harper's Monthly Magazine, February 1930. "Jack Black's Tales of Jail Birds", New York World, December 21, 1930. Jamboree, with Jack Black and Bessie Beatty; Elizabeth Miele, producer, 1932. External links San Francisco Call, Volume 111, Number 36, 5 January 1912 1871 births 1930s missing person cases 1932 deaths American autobiographers American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American memoirists American people convicted of burglary Canadian autobiographers Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian memoirists Hoboes Missing person cases in California 1932 suicides