James Hopper (1876-1956) was an American footballer, journalist, and author, penning some 450 short stories and six novels, one of which he co-authored with fellow journalist and author Frederick Ritchie Bechdolt (1874-1950). Inspired by true events, their unsentimental "fact-story" tells of John Collins, 9009, a convict fully deserving of his sentence, who enters prison with the sincere hope that he can make good. What he discovers, however, is a wholly corrupt system hell-bent on breaking him little by little, injustice by injustice, until he erupts with a calculated, bloodthirsty vengeance.