Black was born in 1871 in New Westminster, British Columbia[1] and was raised from infancy in the U.S. state of Missouri in the town of Maysville and eventually Kansas City.

He was also rumored to have received a stipend of $150 a week to draft a screenplay titled Salt Chunk Mary with co-author Bessie Beatty, based around the vagabond ally and fence of the same name in You Can't Win.

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.

[8]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.

A deeper question is also raised, and that is regarding the validity of the practical aims and ideals of the majority of people in our modern world.Jamboree author Black is a graduate of five penitentiaries, was pried loose from a 25-year prison term and helped to overcome his addiction to narcotics by mustachioed Editor Fremont Older of the San Francisco Call-Bulletin.