Omaha, NE Jackson Hotel Fire, Mar 1968

FIVE DIE IN OMAHA HOTEL FIRE.

Omaha, Neb. (AP) -- Five persons died in a fire at the Jackson Hotel in downtown Omaha late Tuesday, the city's worst fire tragedy in eight years.

The three-story brick hotel building at Sixteenth and Jackson streets was across the street from the city's fire headquarters.

The alarm was turned in by firemen who saw smoke pouring from the windows as they sat on the veranda of the fire headquarters.

"The place was an inferno when we got there," said Assistant Fire Chief VERNON VANSCOY, who answered the first alarm.

Acting Douglas County Coroner GEORGE SULLIVAN identified three of the victims as:
MRS. MARIETTA VIESCAS, 55.
EDWARD L. JANSA, 51.
JAMES G. KILLION, about 65.
Police tentatively identified the others as JACK MURRAY, 58, and PEARL W. TOWNE, age unknown.

Four other persons were taken to a hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation. None were held.

Cause of the fire was undetermined.

Waterloo Daily Courier Iowa 1968-03-27
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!