Based on the events of June 23, 1947. A convict escapes from a small jail. The manhunt is aided by the prisoner's white jail clothes and a small walkie-talkie. 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.