Taking the law into your own hands is generally frowned upon, especially when it involves battering down the jailhouse door, trampling the sheriff, and lynching a pair of suspects.
But in 1933 in San Jose, Calif., such an act of violence drew applause from the state's highest officials. In fact, to hear the governor talk about it, he'd have pinned medals on the chest of each and every member of the bloodthirsty mob, if anyone had made much of an effort to find them.
The case was the murder of Brooke Hart, the handsome, affable 22-year-old scion of a department-store empire. It was the depths of the Great Depression; Hart had money, others did not. And that made him a target.
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