Madera almost had a lynching

For The Madera Tribune

Justice came quickly for Walter Yeager after he murdered police officer Clarence Pickett in 1923. Fourteen months later he was hanging at the end of a rope in San Quentin Prison.

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Today, there are more than 700 men and women on death row in California. The average wait for an execution is well more than 20 years. While some oppose capital punishment, many in this state decry the delays in executions brought on by appeals of various sorts. 

For those who think the wheels of justice might be grinding too slowly, a look at Madera’s past might send them longing for the “good old days” when justice was meted out at a furious and unforgiving pace. 

One has only to look at the 1920s for proof.