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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.

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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.

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