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IT'S QUITE A STORY, AL. UNTIL I STARTED TO PROBE INTO IT, I MYSELF DIDNT REALIZE JUST WHAT A STORY IT WAS. LIKE OTHERS I USED
TO THINK SLEEPY LAGOON WAS ONLY THE TITLE OF A SONG - NOW I NOW[sic] IT IS THE NAME OF A DISGRACE WHICH SHOULD BE ON THE CONSCIENCE
OF EVERY DECENT AMERICAN - AND ESPECIALLY EVERY DECENT PERSON WHO LIVES IN LOS ANGELES - BECAUSE WE ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN HERE.
IF YOU WERE LIKE THE AVERAGE MAN, AL, YOU PROBABLY HEARD SOMETHING ABOUT THE 22 YOUNG MEXICAN-AMERICAN BOYS WHO WERE ON TRIAL
IN THE FALL OF 1942. MAYBE YOU REMEMBER THAT 17 OF THEM WERE CONVICTED — 5 OF ASSAULT AND 12 OF MURDER. AND MAYBE YOU SAID
TO YOURSELF WHEN YOU HEARD OF THAT CONVICTION - "GOOD. THEY GOT WHAT THEY DESERVED. THIS OUGHT TO TEACH THEM A LESSON!" AND
THEN MAYBE YOU FORGOT ABOUT THEM. THERE WEREN'T TOO MANY WHO REMEMBERED THEM AFTER THAT DAY IN JANUARY 1943 WHEN THE JUDGE
SET THE SENTENCES — 5 CONVICTED OF ASSAULT - ONE YEAR IN THE COUNTY JAIL. 9 CONVICTED OF SECOND DEGREE MURDER - 5 YEARS TO
LIFE. 3 CONVICTED OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER - LIFE IMPRISONMENT.
BUT THERE WERE SOME WHO COULDN'T FORGET. THEY WERE THE ONES WHO HAD SAT THROUGH THE TRIAL. THEY WERE THE ONES WHO HAD NOT
BEEN MISLED BY THE HYSTERICAL NEWS STORIES. THEY WERE THE ONES WHO HAD SPOKEN WITH THE BOYS ON TRIAL AND TO THEIR FAMILIES.
THEY WERE THE ONES WHO KNEW THAT THOSE BOYS HAD BEEN CONVICTED NOT OF THE CRIME OF MURDER, BUT OF THE
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CRIME OF BEING OF MEXICAN EXTRACTION.
THIS WAS THE GROUP WHICH WAS MADE UP OF SOME ATTORNEYS, SOME LABOR LEADERS, CHURCHMEN AND SOME CIVIC-MINDED INDIVIDUALS. THEY
HAD BECOME ALARMED WHEN THEY SAW THE FARCICAL TRIAL THAT WAS TAKING PLACE IN DEPT. 49 OF THE SUPERIOR COURT, BUT THEIR EFFORTS
ON BEHALF OF THE BOYS DURING THE TRIAL WERE NOT SUCCESSFUL. SO CAME THE CONVICTION WHICH THE PROSECUTION COULD BRAG ABOUT
AS THE LARGEST SINGLE CONVICTION IN THE HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA LAW.
SOON AFTERWARD THE 12 BOYS CONVICTED OF MURDER HAD THE CHAINS PUT AROUND THEIR ANKLES AND AROUND THEIR WRISTS AND TOOK A TRIP
NORTH - TO SAN QUENTIN.
I THINK I CAN BEST DESCRIBE THE FEELINGS OF THOSE BOYS BY QUOTING FROM A LETTER WHICH ONE OF THEM SENT TO A FRIEND ON THE
DAY HE WAS CONVICTED OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER. HE WROTE: "I HOPE YOU WILL PARDON ME FOR THIS VERY SHORT LETTER. I AM SORRY THAT
THINGS TURNED OUT THE WAY THEY DID, AS I HAD VERY ROSY EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FUTURE. DID YOU EVER MAKE A CASTLE OUT OF SAND
OR MUD WHEN YOU WERE A VERY SMALL GIRL IN PIGTAILS AND TOOK MUCH PAINS AND TROUBLE TO ERECT IT, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN A BIGGER
KID CAME OVER AND DESTROYED IT FOR YOU? WELL, MY FEELINGS ARE SOMEWHAT SIMILAR. IT SEEMS LIKE
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THE WHOLE WORLD JUST FOLDED UP ON ME AND THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT."
WELL, THERE WAS NOTHING THAT HE COULD DO ABOUT IT - NOT WHERE HE WAS GOING. BUT THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO COULD....THERE WAS A
MEETING OF THE SLEEPY LAGOON DEFENSE COMMITTEE. CAREY MCWILLIAMS, THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE SPOKE ABOUT THE CASE TOLD
OF THE ANTI-MEXICAN [illegible data] ORSON WELLES PRESIDED. WHAT CAME OUT OF THAT MEETING WAS THE DECISION TO FIND SOME WAY
OF LETTING THE PEOPLE OF LOS ANGELES KNOW WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO THOSE BOYS - AND WHY THEY SHOULD BE INTERESTED IN THE CASE.
I WAS ASKED TO WRITE THE STORY.
THE SLEEPY LAGOON WAS MY FIRST STOP. WHAT DOES THAT MAKE YOU THINK OF? SOUNDS NICE DOESN'T IT? THE SLEEPY LAGOON. IT WASN'T
AT ALL NICE. IT WAS FILTHY. IT WAS THE KIND OF PLACE KIDS USE FOR A SWIMMING POOL WHEN THEY HAVE NO OTHER PLACE TO GO. CALLING
IT THE SLEEPY LAGOON WAS A BEAUTIFUL BIT OF IRONIC HUMER. THE NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS USED TO HANG AROUND THE SLEEPY LAGOON ALL
THE TIME, AND THAT'S HOW THE CASE CAME TO BE KNOWN BY THAT NAME. HAVING THE LOCALE WELL IN MIND, I BEGAN THE JOB OF PLOWING
THROUGH 6032 PAGES OF THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE TRIAL. THEN I SPENT A FEW WEEKS TALKING TO PEOPLE - NEWSPAPERMEN, JUVENILE AUTHORITIES,
MEMBERS OF THE GRAND JURY WHICH HAD INDICTED THE BOYS, ATTORNEYS — ANYBODY WHO MIGHT GIVE ME A CLUE TO THE TRUE FACTS OF THE
CASE. THE LAST STOP WAS SAN QUENTIN PRISON WHERE I TALKED TO THE BOYS. I PUT IT ALL TOGETHER AND IT SPELLED FANTASTIC. SEVENTEEN
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BOYS SENTENCED IN THIS CASE — TWELVE OF THEM FOR MURDER...AND NOWHERE ISTHERE PROOF THAT ANY OF THE BOYS COULD DEFINATELY
BE LINKED WITH THE DEATH OF JOE DIAZ WHO WAS FOUND DEAD ON THE NIGHT OF AUGUST 1, 1942 AFTER A BRAWL AT A PARTY. NO WITNESSES..
NO WEAPONS...NOTHING. ONLY A CONVICTION. THE MYSTERY IN THIS CASE IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT FROM THE MYSTERY YOU ORDINARILY READ.
THE MYSTERY IS WHAT WAS BEHIND THE TRIAL AND CONVITION OF THOSE BOYS? WHY WERE THEY CONVICTED BEFORE THE JURY EVER WENT OUT
TO DELIBERATE. WHO WANTED IT THAT WAY? AND WHY?
I'VE TRIED TO ANSWER THAT IN MY BOOK. I'VE TRIED TO ANSWER THAT AND WITH IT THE REASON WHY EVERY PERSON WHO LIVES IN THIS
COMMUNITY HAS A SPECIAL INTEREST IN THE SLEEPY LAGOON CASE.