  brooke hart (june 11, 1911 â november 9, 1933) 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 downtownhttp://www.scscourt.org/general_info/contact/och_history.shtml hart department store location san jose, california. his kidnapping and murder were reported throughout the united states, and the lynching of his alleged murderers, thomas harold thurmond and john m. holmes, sparked political debate. this incident is sometimes referred to as "the last lynching in california",, p. 300. though the last california lynching actually occurred on january 6, 1947 in callahan, california.kulczyk,david. (2008). california justice: shootouts, lynching and assassinations in the golden state. word dancer press. p115 isbn 1-884995-54-3 when hart's body was discovered in san francisco bay on the morning of november&nbsp;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. when newspapers published photos of the lynching, identifiable faces were deliberately smudged so that they remained anonymous; the following monday, local newspapers published 1.2 million copies, twice the normal daily production. 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 he graduated from santa clara university, his father made him a junior vice presidenthttp://leonardoricardosanto.blogspot.com/2010/08/alex-hart-he-was-philanthropist.html hart family history in the store and began grooming him to take over when his father retired. thumb|harts department store, san jose, california 1926 ==kidnapping and murder== on the afternoon of thursday, november&nbsp;9, 1933, the 22-year-old hart was 
1911_births 1933_deaths American_murder_victims Deaths_by_firearm_in_California Milpitas,_California People_from_San_Jose,_California People_murdered_in_California Santa_Clara_University_alumni