Comedian Jackie Coogan had a long, storied career spanning the 1910s to the 1980s. He rose to prominence as a child actor alongside Charlie Chaplin in films like A Day’s Pleasure and The Kid. He’s arguably most recognizable today for playing Uncle Fester on the original TV version of The Addams Family, which ran for two seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1966. In between those gigs, however, Coogan tried his hand at being a typical college student, but was unable to avoid publicity due to an unfortunate series of events.
In November 1933, Coogan’s friend from Santa Clara University, Brooke Hart (who was the son of the owner of the L. Hart & Son department store), was kidnapped and held for ransom. The two men who allegedly kidnapped him, Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes, later confessed to throwing Hart off the San Mateo Bridge into San Francisco Bay. One of them also reportedly shot him multiple times. Residents of San Jose were so outraged by the 22-year-old’s murder that thousands of them gathered outside the jailhouse where the killers were being held one night. Police tried to disperse the crowd using tear gas, but that only made matters worse.
Finally, the angry mob broke into the jail and grabbed hold of the two kidnappers. Thurmond was dragged across the street and beaten before being hanged. Holmes was attacked with clubs, fists, fingernails, and just about everything imaginable. Women pressed lit matches into his skin as a man prepared the rope that was ultimately used to hang him. According to journalist Harry Farrell, who spent eight years researching the case for his book Swift Justice: Murder and Vengeance in a California Town, the man in question was identified as Jackie Coogan.
When Holmes tried to free himself from the rope Coogan apparently tied up, the crowd lowered his body, broke his arms, and successfully killed him during their second attempt. California Governor James Rolph Jr. later referred to the lynch mob as “fine, patriotic citizens,” and said that if any of them were arrested, he would pardon them. No one was ever convicted for the murders of Thurmond or Holmes. Coogan eventually flunked out of Santa Clara University and returned to acting by 1935.
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