Dead or Alive

Presenting Joel McCray as Jace Pearson in Tales of the Texas Rangers. Tales of the Texas Rangers, authentic stories from their official files. Texas more than 260,000 square miles, and 50 men who make up the most famous and oldest law enforcement party in North America.

Now from the files of the Texas Rangers come these stories based on fact. Only names, dates and places are fictitious for obvious reasons. The events themselves are a matter of record. Tonight's transcribed case, dead or alive.

At exactly 9.13 am on Wednesday, April 16, 1947, the French freight agrancant, carrying a highly explosive cargo of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, blew up in the harbor at Texas City, Texas. It was the first in a chain of explosions as chemical plants, tin smelters and oil refineries disappeared in blasts and flame.

Shortly after 1 a.m. the next morning the major chain reaction was set off. The explosions rocking the city of Galveston ten miles across the bay were excited crowds gathered in the streets watching the raging flame-pierced sky.

X-ray, X-ray, Texas city death tolls 300, hundreds more. Missed and scored some bodies unidentified. Paper, Mr. H. Yeah, give me one. Here. Read about it, unidentified dead tolls. Don't want to get me out of here.

Where are the names, Vance? Where's the list of the dead? I only got a few of my debtified. Well, his Ralph's name there. Wait a minute. No, no, he's probably all right. A work in square like him would be.

But he worked at one of the refineries that burned him. Stop blubbering. Want to attract attention to me? No. No, Ben, no, but... He is my brother. I gotta worry about him too, don't I?