I invited my neighbor over for coffee and a chance to get to know each other better. Ron has lived in San Jose all his life and grew up in the house across the street where he now lives. He had lots of good stories to tell about the area - future blog material. But, for the second time, he talked about the lynching in St. James Park. His parents went down to watch the lynchings and remembered it well. So I decided to do a bit more research into the details...... Brooke Hart, 22 yrs old, was kidnapped in November, 1933 as he walked from his father's department store in downtown San Jose to a carpark. Two men took him in his studebaker to what is now Milpitas, hit him in the head with a concrete block and threw him into the bay. Apparently that didn't kill him. So they then shot him. And then they asked the family for $40,000 in ransom. They were eventually caught - they were staying near the police station - and put in the county jail. The Hart family was well-loved in San Jose. And Brooke, a handsome bachelor was especially liked. People were outraged. Before the body was found, it seemed that the kidnappers were going to avoid prosecution. They were accusing each other of the murder and then pled insanity. On Saturday November 27, the body was found and identified. Radio stations as far away as Los Angeles began announcing that a lynching would occur in St. James Park across from the jail at midnight. When the kidnappers' attorney called the governor asking for protection from the National Guard, Governor Rolf refused and even added that he would pardon any lynchers that might be convicted. He also postponed a trip to Boise so that the Lt. Governor could not order out the Guard while Rolf was away. By midnight, the park was full of men, women, and children. The neighboring streets were jammed with abandoned cars. The mob, estimated to be between 3,000 and 10,000, stormed the jail. The sheriff and his deputies had tried to use tear gas to keep the mob at bay. When that failed, the men retreated to the upper floors leaving the prisoners below. The mob took the 2 men out to the park and hung them. After the bodies were taken down, the mob wanted souvenirs and began to strip the trees. Eventually the city decided that the safest thing would be to cut the "gallows trees" down.
While researching details of this event, I also found that President McKinley spoke there 4 months before he was assassinated and Bobby Kennedy spoke there 4 days before he was killed. In 1918, George Koetzer was taken from his bed, tried by the Knights of Liberty and found guilty of being pro-German. He was tarred and feathered by the black-cowled group and chained to the brass cannon at the base of the McKinley monument.... in St. James Park.
Today, the park is a large expanse of green lawn, big shady trees, a children's playground and benches full of the homeless who use the park as a home. The light rail passes on either side and the post office I use fronts the park. How many people travel by and through this lovely space each day and have no idea what history it holds..... what stories it could tell.
Click here for Wikipedia entry on Brooke Hartt
Brooke Hart
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