Died in jail or a lockup
Thomas Yoakum
Thomas Yoakum was held in the jail at Bakersfield, California, in May 1879. A San Francisco dispatch reprinted in the Louisiana Capitolian said a mob broke into the jail, overpowered the jailer and hanged him in his cell. The Canton Register reported that a band of masked men took him from the jail and hanged him from the gratings of his cell after overpowering the jailer. The two accounts differ on the date and on whether another man was also hanged.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody