A mob using improvised rams , battered a way into the gaol at San Jose , California , to remove John M Holmes and Thomas H Thurmond , who had confessed to the kidnapping of Mr Brooke Hart , who was found murdered . Bricks and stones hurled by the furious crowd flew constantly at the building and tear gas was used in reply . The two men were eventually dragged from the prison and hanged from trees . Phohto sows ; Part of the mob battering down the doors of the gaol at San Jose , California . A cloud of tear gas is hovering over the building in centre of picture . 6 December 1933