It is 6:00am June 23rd 1947. There is only one prisoner in the county jail. It is John Elliott Bascomb a notorious and dangerous gunman. In the anteroom connecting the jail with the sheriff’s office deputy George Keaton dozes snoring at the end of a long and up until now uneventful nights duty.

Sheriff Grissel soon discovered the bodies of his night deputy and the courthouse janitor when he came in to his office at 8 o’clock. He immediately telephoned the Texas Rangers and a short time later ranger Jays Pearson arrived.