Brooke Hart

Who was Brooke Hart?

Brooke Hart was the oldest son of Alexander Hart, the owner of Leopold Hart and Son Department Store at the SE corner of Market and Santa Clara Street in downtown San Jose, California. His kidnapping and murder were reported throughout the United States, and the lynching of his murderers, Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes sparked political debate. This incident is sometimes referred to as "the last lynching in California", though the last California lynching actually occurred on January 6, 1947 in Callahan, California.

When Hart's body was discovered in San Francisco Bay on the morning of November 26, 1933, word of a lynch mob spread quickly throughout northern California. On the evening of Sunday, November 26, 1933, four days before Thanksgiving, a crowd gathered in St. James Park across from the Santa Clara County Courthouse. The lynching was broadcast as a 'live' event by a Los Angeles radio station. Scores of reporters, photographers, and news camera operators, along with an estimated 3,000 to 10,000 men, women, and children, were witness to the lynching.