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Brooke Hart (June 11, 1911 – November 9, 1933) was the oldest son of Alexander Hart, the owner of L. Hart and Son Department Store in San Jose, California. His kidnapping and murder was reported throughout the United States, and the lynching of his murderers, Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes (the last public lynching in California), sparked political debate.
Brooke Hart had worked in his family's department store during much of his youth, and was well known and liked by the local community. After graduating from Santa Clara University, his father had made Brooke a junior vice president in the store and began grooming him to take over when he retired. Brooke Hart was considered one of the most desirable bachelors in the Bay Area.
Kidnapping and murder
On the afternoon of November 9, 1933, the twenty-two year old Hart was kidnapped while retrieving his Studebaker roadster from a Downtown San Jose garage. He was driven in the car by his captors to what is now Milpitas. There they abandoned the Studebaker for another car, drove to the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, where Hart was hit over the head with a concrete block and dumped into San Francisco Bay. At the time, the tide was out and only a few feet of water was at the base of the bridge, so Thurmond and Holmes shot Hart, killing him. A few hours later, the Hart family was telephoned by Thurmond and Holmes, who demanded $40,000 for Brooke's return with further instructions to follow.
The San Jose Police, the Santa Clara County Sheriffs office, and the U.S. Division of Investigation (the forerunner of the FBI) were quickly brought in to the case. Hart's wallet was discovered in San Francisco, on the pier where the daily passenger ship to Los Angeles had just departed. The ship was stopped and searched upon arrival, but nothing was found. The Division of Investigation installed wire taps on the Hart phone, and had all calls to the home traced.
On the evening of November 15, Thurmond called the Hart home from a garage in South San Jose. Alex Hart was instructed to keep him talking while police officers drove to arrest him. The officers arrived at the garage as Thurmond was hanging up the phone, and took him into custody. After five hours of interrogation, Thurmond admited to killing Hart, named Holmes as his accomplice, and provided the police with the San Jose hotel where Holmes was staying. Holmes at first denied any involvement, but later also admitted to kidnapping and murdering Hart.
Police officers from Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, and Alameda County began searching the Bay in the area of the bridge, hoping to find Hart's body. On November 26, two Redwood City residents discovered a badly decayed and crab-eaten body about a mile south of the bridge. Hart's body was identified by one of his friends later that day.
Thurmond and Holmes lynching
Meanwhile, local newspapers reported that Holmes and Thurmond had met with psychiatrists and would attempt to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. An angry crowd met in St. James Park, across the street from the county jail where Holmes and Thurmond were held. Sheriff William Emig contacted Governor James Rolph, asking that the National Guard be deployed to protect the prisoners. Rolph refused.
By midnight, November 27, thousands had gathered outside the jail, while the sheriff's deputies fired tear gas into the crowd in an attempt to disperse them. However, the crowd became angrier and larger. The nearby construction site at the Post Office (intended to replace the previous post office which is now the San Jose Museum of Art) was raided for materials to make a battering ram. Emig ordered his officers to abandon the bottom two floors of the jail, where Thurmond and Holmes were being held. The mob, by this time estimated at 6,000-10,000, stormed the jail, took Holmes and Thurmond across the street to St. James Park, and hanged them.
Impact of the case
Governor Rolph praised the action, stating that California had sent a message to future kidnappers, and promised to pardon anyone involved in the lynching. However, Rolph died in 1934 before any charges had been filed in the case. Alameda County District Attorney Earl Warren was the strongest supporter of prosecution for the lynching; eventually seven people were arrested for the lynchings, but none were convicted.
In 1934, the Nazis used photographs of the lynchings as propaganda to show that lawless mobs in America were supporting the interests of Jews -- Brooke Hart's father was Jewish, his mother Catholic. The 1936 movie Fury was based on a fictionalized version of the story.
Films
At least two films were made based on this story:
References
Further reading
- Harry Farrell, Swift Justice: Murder and Vengeance in a California Town, 1992, ISBN 0312089015
American murder victims | San Joseans | 1911 births | 1933 deaths
"Brooke Hart"