You Can’t Win – Jack
Black (1926)
Books are magic. Every time I enjoy a new one I am reminded of
this fact. Before humans assigned
symbols to the sounds made as they spoke, all knowledge and information was dispersed
orally. For you to learn how to braid
rope, for example, you had to live near someone who knew how to braid rope, and
have them teach you the technique through spoken words and physical
demonstrations. This allowed knowledge
and wisdom to pass along familial and then tribal lines, as humans shared their
ever-growing store of knowledge with their offspring and neighbors. Everything changed once humanity figured out
how to use symbols to communicate information.
This was a change infinitely more monumental than the current change
from physical media (books, magazines, DVD’s, LP’s) to digital file-storing
media.
The ability to write down your
experiences, have them printed or published, and put them out into the world at
large changed us for the better. It removed the old taboos about sharing
knowledge with outsiders. Anyone can
pick up a book by Mark Twain and gain a deep understanding of what life was
like at the time he wrote his books.
This is time-travel, pure and simple.
A human consciousness reads the symbols on the page, and instantly, they
are conversing in a very real manner with a person from the past. Far too often humans assume that everyone’s
lives are the same, that what happens to “me” is bound to happen to “you” as
well. This is a fallacy. The world is so infinitely complex that no
two individuals, even if identical twins, will have the same life and the same
experiences. Reading personal memoirs
and accounts helps us realize the infinite variety of human life, and human
experience.
I found this book while scrolling
through the Project Gutenberg website (I love Project Gutenberg!!). Jack Black wrote a memoir about his life and
his long-standing years as a Bum and Thief, riding the rails, visiting Hobo
encampments, and surviving on the fringes of society. He travelled multiple times across the US,
and into Canada. He describes his life
and its many ups and downs in an honest, heartfelt matter, never bragging about
the crimes he committed, or the people he stole from. Instead, he often discusses reaching
crossroads in his life, moments and situations where he could have chosen to go
“straight,” and instead went back into the transient criminal life. He also covers the “mistakes” he made, times
when his greed or hunger got the best of him, despite the many warnings given
and lessons taught to him by older road-warriors.
As
with any and all memoirs, these tales must be taken with a grain of salt. Our narrator is a self-defined criminal,
transient, and ex-convict. While he does
not shy away from bluntness when it comes to himself, it is inescapable that
such an author would omit specific details, either to protect himself, or
someone close to them. Even so, Jack
Black’s account of his life does not hide away the self-reflection,
understanding, and wisdom gained through suffering and hardship, even the
self-created kind. It makes perfect
sense that, in reading about this book, I found out it was a seminal piece of
writing for many of the Beat poets, William S. Burroughs specifically. Black’s
tales of riding the rails, escaping police, finding big scores, losing big
scores, and the general ability to live an outlaw life appealed to the
counterculture writers of the 40’s and 50’s.
As
with many things, such a life was much easier to achieve in the past. Small towns did not have the type of bank
safes, police, or any other preventative to deter petty crime. Mr. Black details the many methods he used in
acquiring a “bank roll.” From
pickpocketing and petty thievery, to burglary, breaking and entering, and
safe-cracking, it appears that not a single moment was spent in leisure
activity. Every second was either an attempt to get information on a new mark,
casing out a joint to either rob it or help someone else rob it, finding out
the best “hop-joints” in town (for 25 years Jack Black nursed an addiction to
smoked opium), secreting away stolen material, laying low for days or weeks
until the stolen goods can be safely recovered, finding people to buy such stolen
goods, etc. It is a busy life, and Jack
Black himself states that if any of his fellow “yeggs” (thieves specializing in
safecracking), and hobos would just get a normal square job, they would have
had far more free time, leisure, money, and prestige after ten years than what
normally happens a decade into that outlaw life. However, the goal is not safety and societal
prestige. It is complete and total
autonomy. To live in total autonomy in
America means becoming an outlaw. The
government does not allow one to live without oversight of a thousand kinds, or
so felt Jack and his fellow rail riders.
While
Black was definitely a criminal, he details repeatedly the many ways that their
subculture would provide and look out for each other. They were fastidious about paying their debts
to one another. Those that did not were
quickly ostracized. This meant that
every time Black scored big, he would first off send money to various people
whom he owed, whether it was someone doing time in Folsom prison, or some kind
underworld person that had previously lent Black some money or assistance. As Black put it, an honest hobo would give
you his last dollar if you needed it. He
details many occasions were this was true.
He also describes the kindnesses paid to him by his fellow
rail-riders. Once, while serving a long
term in an unfamiliar prison, Jack began to receive care packages with food and
money. He did not find out who paid him
this kindness until way later, and he busted his ass to repay every cent of it. When you live on the rails, you own nothing,
and your only collateral is your word.
Are you an honest thief? Do you
pay back your debts? Do you keep your
mouth shut? These traits are far more
valuable than a fancy car or a big home when you live life outside of normal
society.
Jack
Black wrote only one book, this one, after ten-plus years going straight,
working as a librarian in a newspaper office owned by and old friend. It became a giant bestseller, affording him
an affluent life he never dreamed of. The
1920’s saw a rise in the popularity of “true tales” of crime, prisons, and all
aspects of the underworld. It was not to
last and the transient life does not provide lessons in saving and
frugality. The Great depression
destroyed the last of his wealth and he sadly committed suicide sometime in the
late 1930’s.
Reading
“You Can’t Win,” it was evident that the author was an intelligent, conscious
human being, despite all the obvious flaws of a criminal life. I believe he owes it to his life-long love of
reading and learning. During an early
stay in a Canadian jail, far out in the country, he found the jail to have a
tremendous library, containing all of the best English authors. He devoured these books. In this jail, a very interesting policy was
in effect. Based on an English method,
the entire population of inmates was kept silent. Any speaking was met with severe
punishment. Ironically, it is this jail
that Black describes as the most peaceful, safe, and orderly he ever saw. There were no beatings, no fights, and no
contraband because without the ability to speak to each other the inmates could
not plot or set up schemes. The only
options for the prisoners were reading the classics, or silent contemplation of
their lives and crimes. I wish the USA
would try this method, but it probably works only in jails or prisons
containing 200 or less inmates. In a
world that currently seeks to close libraries, both public and in prisons, and
to prevent access to books and ideas, Jack Black’s words of warning are
key. He states that a world that focused
on inmates reading, expanding their minds, and creating new dreams, such as the
jail in Canada, would do more to stop crime and suffering in the world than a
thousand lashes. At one point, sometime
during a different decade-long stay in prison, he discusses reading an entire
Encyclopedia Britannica, something I tried to do in Middle School. Books can help you create yourself anew.
It is nearly one hundred years since this book was published, and I was able to find it as it is now in the public domain, and the wonderful saints at the Project Gutenberg provided all of us with a digital version. Jack Black is immortal. He now lives in my head, and in anyone’s head who’s read this great book. I highly recommend it.
(This book can be downloaded here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69404 )
