1947 — Dec 25, gas thrown on stove/explosion, Washoe tribe gambling house, Dresslerville, NV –14-15
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard 10-10-2023 for upload to: https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–14-15. Blanchard range. While it appears to us by a reading of the accounts below that there
were 14 deaths, two sources note 15. It is not clear to us that “the body of an unborn
child” is among the 15 reported deaths.
–15 National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.
–15 Nevada State Journal, Reno. “Carson Rotarians Conduct Meeting.” 1-11-1948, p. 12.[1]
–14 Nevada State Journal, Reno. “Details of Gambling Hall Brawl…Revealed.” 12-31-1947, 2.
–14 Nevada State Journal, Reno. “Toll in Indian Village Fire 14.” 12-27-1947, p. 12.
–14 Washo Chronology, Washoetribe.us, 2017.
Narrative Information
Washo Chronology, Washoetribe.us: “1947: Christmas Eve Fire at Dresslerville, 14 Washo people died in fire at Gambling House. Other casualties were taken to Gardnerville for treatment. Some were taken to Reno and were turned away because they were Indian and were taken to Schurz Indian Hospital over a hundred miles away.” (Washo Chronology, Washoetribe.us.)
Newspapers
Dec 26: “Carson City, Dec. 26. (CNS) – Tragic death toll of Dresslerville’s[2] Christmas morning disaster climbed to 14 today as four more victims died in Reno and Schurz hospitals. Listed among today’s dead is Greeley Jim, 24-year-old operator of the razed Indian gambling house and alleged perpetrator of the gasoline explosion. Jim died in the Schurz Indian hospital, as did Donald Cox, 17, and Lorena James, 26. Mattie Duchey, 61-year-old Indian woman, succumbed in Washoe General Hospital. According to hospital authorities, at least two more of the remaining victims are given slight chance of recovering. Those that survive will be scarred and perhaps crippled for life.
“With the death of Greeley Jim, two whole families, his and his fathers, have perished from the fire. The body of an unborn child is also listed among the final dead.
“Headed by Charles Buell, Indian officials have launched an intensive investigation into the source of the whiskey run into the federal reservation town of Dresslerville. It was learned here today that a white man, known by at least five different names, is the object of the Indian officials’ search. To date, questioned Indians have refused to give an accurate description of the wanted man.
“The Indian shanty town of Dresslerville was the recent target of a bitter expose by investigating social workers. Although it is listed as a federal reservation, it is no more than a cluster of tumble-down shacks. Fire-fighting, medical, or even telephone and telegraph facilities are not available in the destitute village. According to the social workers’ report, water must be carried into the town by hand, while the nearest food supply is in Gardnerville three miles away. Indians too old to walk to Gardnerville or those not in possession of automobiles live in a half-starved condition. The road itself to Gardnerville is a dusty, rocky desert rod that is almost impassable in times of heavy rain and snow.
“In the case of the recent disaster, first aid came from Gardnerville and Minden only after Indian youths had covered the intervening three miles. Until the medical aid arrived, the living burned victims were forced to lie on the frozen ground, covered only by thin blankets.
“The explosion that took one of the nation’s heaviest Christmas tolls of human life occurred at about 3:30 a.m. According to eye-witnesses and to Douglas County Sheriff James Farrell, Greeley Jim had been brawling with another Indian when his father, Willie Jim, attempted to intervene. Greeley threw his father out of the shack, and in a drunken rage, re-entered the cabin, kicked over a small gasoline stove and hurled a gasoline container into the flames. The explosion blew him through the roof and trapped the remaining occupants with the flash flames that followed. A broken door-knob prevented exit, so some dived headlong through the shack’s windows. All told, nine blackened bodies were originally recovered from the ashes, while 11 persons lived to reach hospitals. The shack itself burned to the ground.
“Those who died in the flames or a short time later were Tom Fillmore, 74, Whitney Washoe, 60, Flora Jim, 21, Ada Jim, 40, Violet Jim, 6, Mildred Jim, 3, Lyle Jim, 14, John Christensen, 60, and Myrtle Frank and her unborn child….” (Nevada State Journal, Reno. “Toll in Indian Village Fire 14.” 12-27-1947, p. 12.)
Dec 30: “Carson City, Dec. 30. (CNS) – Grim story of the brawl that precipitated Dresslerville’s Christmas morning tragedy was revealed here today by Indian official Charles Buell following interviews with eyewitnesses and living victims of the gambling house fire. According to the combined accounts, Greeley Jim, 24-year-old operator of the gambling house, had a long-standing feud with another Indian, Albert Washoe, age 24. About 3 o’clock Christmas morning, Greeley Jim saw Washoe standing outside the shack and leaped outside to fight him. The battle was broken up by two other persons gambling inside….
“Greeley Jim, reportedly drunk for the past week, re-entered the cabin in a rage. His father, Willie Jim, attempted to pacify him, but Greeley threw him and Garfield Frank outside the shack and slammed the door. Greeley then went completely berserk, breaking chairs and kicking over tables. Grabbing a broom, he broke the handle off and knocked down the stovepipe of the wood stove in the corner. He then kicked the stove itself over and turned to face the room’s other occupants. In the far corner, he spotted a container of white gasoline used to light lamps and made a dash for it. As the gamblers and children cowered in the corner, Greeley Jim hurled the gasoline into the flames. A violent explosion rocked the shack, and victims report that the whole room was a raging inferno before they could move. They stumbled to the door, and finding the lock broken, they groped madly through the flames for the windows. Those that made it through the windows reached back in for others but those in the middle of the room were burned to death before they could escape.
“One youth, previously not listed as one of the shack’s occupants, escaped with very slight burns. Identified as Ivan James 16, he reported to Buell that when he saw Greeley Jim run for the gasoline, he jumped to a table and dived headlong through a window….
“In all, 14 persons died from burns received in the Dresslerville disaster….”
Schurz, Nev., Dec. 30 (UP) – Attendants at the Walker River Indian hospital said today that two of the four Indians being treated there for burns are in very serious condition. They said 14-year-old Quinlan Winters and Marguerita [unclear] Frank, 26, who both appeared to be doing well yesterday, had suffered slight relapses and were in critical condition. Two other Indians, Doonie Cornbread and George Dutchey, were described as ‘improving.’ The four Indians are all that remain of the occupants of a crowded dance hall that burned to the ground in an explosion and flash fire on the Dresslerville reservation early Christmas morning.” (Nevada State Journal, Reno. “Details of Gambling Hall Brawl that Caused Death of Indians are Revealed,” “Indians’ Condition Remains Critical.” 12-31-1947, p. 2.)
Sources
National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1
Nevada State Journal, Reno. “Carson Rotarians Conduct Meeting.” 1-11-1948, p. 12. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=10993699&sterm=dresslerville
Nevada State Journal, Reno. “Details of Gambling Hall Brawl that Caused Death of Indians are Revealed.” 12-31-1947, p.2. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=13751960&sterm
Nevada State Journal, Reno. “Toll in Indian Village Fire 14.” 12-27-1947, p. 12. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=13751398&sterm=dresslerville
Washo Chronology, Washoetribe.us, 2017. Accessed 10-10-2023 at: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwivg6WbuOyBAxXVD1kFHeG0CVcQFnoECBkQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwashoetribe.us%2Fdocuments%2F1020%2FWasho_Chronology_2017.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0CNSLMYeFd-DHdVgixL9Kp&opi=89978449
[1] References a petition concerning “the catastrophe at Dresslerville in which 15 Washoe Indians lost their lives…”
[2] Douglas County.