Seven Undergraduates Die Over Christmas Holidays

Seven undergraduates died during vacation--three in a ski hut fire at Mont Tremblant, Que., two in a head-on auto collision in Indiana, and two by suicide.

Accidental deaths were:

William C. Boyden, III '57, of Eliot House and Chicago.

Thomas S. Gates III '56, of Eliot House and Devon, Pennsylvania.

Myron T. Herrick '57, of Eliot House and Paris.

Jededish H. McLane '58, of Lowell House and Millbrook, New York.

William 8. North III '58, of Winthrop House and Lake Forest, Illinois.

Listed by police respectively in Radnor, Pennsylvania and Los Alamos, New Mexico as suicides were:

Winthrop P. Smith '58, of Kirkland House and Pelham, Massachusetts.

John J. Woodward '59, of Straus Hall and Los Alamos.

Gates, Herrick and McLane all perished when flames swept through their Quebec chalet early Tuesday morning. They had just arrived after an 800 mile drive, for three days skiing.

Attempts to arouse the three by four College companions proved futile. The fire completely destroyed the interior of the building before a makeshift volunteer brigade, drawn from the resort's help and guests, could quell the flames. All were members of the A.D. Club.

Smoke at 1:30

Lawrence Coolidge '58, of Lowell House and Topsfield, Mass., smelled smoke about 1:30 a.m. Coolidge said that after useless attempts to beat out flames from a blazing sofa, "I went back to my bedroom to wake my partner, Tim Herrick. He wouldn't wake no matter what I tried to do.

"I wanted to carry him out the window but he was too heavy and I just couldn't get the leverage. I don't remember how long it was before I started to feel myself slipping, and I just barely made it to the door," he said.

Others who escaped the house with Coolidge were Marshall M. Jeanes '57, of Eliot House and Devon, Pa., David S. Lee '56, of Winthrop House and Westwood, Mass., and Peter deL. Swords '57, of Eliot House and North Castle, N.Y.

"It was horrible having to leave Herrick there alone. I went out through the window and around the cottage smashing all the windows with a wastepaper basket and hollering 'fire'," Coolidge continued. "But I couldn't get back." He was praised by Quebec provincial police for his rescue attempts.

Accident in Indiana

Two weeks earlier, on Dec. 21, North and Boyden were killed instantly near Goshen, Ind., when the car in which they were riding collided unavoidably with two trucks on the brow of a New York Central overpass. John Fell Stevenson '58, of Leverett House and Libertyville, III., driver of the car, suffered severe face cuts and a broken right kneecap. Doctors said yesterday at Chicago's Passavant Hospital, where Stevenson is confined in a wheelchair, that his progress was "fine." His return to Cambridge is as yet indefinite.

Gilligan Returns Saturday

James F. Gilligan '57, of Eliot House and Nebraska City, Neb., was riding in the back seat of the Stevenson vehicle. He suffered a brain concussion and a double fracture in his left arm. He expects to return on Saturday.

James Gill, driver of the truck which was on the left side of the road, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Both apparent suicides died by carbon monoxide poisoning. Smith was visiting relatives at Radnor when he was found in a garage on Christmas Eve, dead from the fumes of the family's automobile. Radnor Police Surgeon Dr. A. J. Pitone gave a verdict of suicide and burial was on Dec. 28, in Whitemarsh, Pa. Smith lived near Amherst, Mass., with his father, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Massachusetts. He was an editor of the CRIMSON.

Woodward was found dead in an automobile in an isolated area near Los Alamos. Coroner's jury determined the cause of death as self-inflicted carbon monoxide poisoning after friends testified he often spoke of the "thin line between life and death."