Occasionally something from outside Madera grabbed the attention of its citizens. On Feb. 19, 1926, it was a masked robber who got away with $3,448 of the Chowchilla National Bank’s funds that made Maderans sit up and take notice.
The thief was described as a young man about 35 years of age and about five feet, 10 inches in height. He made his escape in a Dodge touring car on Robertson Boulevard.
Sheriff John Barnett was immediately notified and a posse was quickly formed. The thief was thought to have made his entrance through the back door of the bank about 8 o’clock Friday morning before it opened. Hiding in a closet till the cashier arrived, the robber then covered him with a gun and forced him to open the bank’s vault.