Originally published as “The Lonesome Vigilante” in an October 1936 edition of

magazine, “The Vigilante” later became the eighth story in Steinbeck's short story collection entitled

, which appeared two years later in 1938. Most critics associate the tale with an actual event, a lynching which took place in San Jose, California on November 16, 1933 when two men (John Holmes and Thomas Thurmond) were forcibly dragged from their jail cells and were hung in a public park. Holmes and Thurmond had been accused of killing and mutilating young Brooke Harte, the son of a local businessman, whose body was found in San Francisco Bay after a ransom plan for his safe return failed.

An estimated crowd of 5,000-10,000 people were said to have watched the lynching, and the

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Citation: Meyer, Michael J.. "“The Vigilante”". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=25831, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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