Lexington Gazette Lexington, Virginia Wednesday, 1 June 1921 Page 2 Student R.R. Hall Drowned Sunday Afternoon in North River North River claimed another stu- dent victim Sunday afternoon about 5 o'clock. Mr. Rutherford Roland Hall of Moorefield, W. Va. , was drowned near the mouth of Whistle Creek while enjoying a swim with Mr. Fitzgerald Flournoy of Bay View, Va., a fellow student. All efforts on behalf of Mr. Flourny to rescue his companion, who had been siezed with cramps, were futile. The two young men went to the river Sunday afternoon for a dip, at a point about two miles from town. After a short time in swimming, Mr. Flournoy felt that the water was too cold and was about to get out, when he heard his companion cry for help. Turning, he saw young Hall about forty feet away, struggling in the water. Going at once to his side young Flournoy attempted to swim to the shore with his companion. The burdeu becomming too great, and find- ing himself weakening, Mr. Flournoy attempted to shift his hold on his companion, when the latter slipped loose and sank into deep water, out of sight. Young Flournoy at- tempted to locate his companion by diving for him, but he could not be found. Exhausted, excited and thor- oughly collapsed, Mr. Flournoy could scarcely reach the rocky shore and climbed the precipitous bank to safe- ty. Hastily dressing, he hurried back to town and told of the accident. President Henry Louis Smith and hundreds of students secured auto- mobiles and other vehicles and rush- ed to the scene of the drowning. Pro- vided with grappling irons, fire hooks, and boats, the work of rescue was be- gun. The searchers were handicapped by the deep water, estimated at twen- ty feet, and the rocky bottom of the river. The large rocks and deep holes made search very difficult, and after several hours of baffling effort, as dusk began to interfere with clear vision, a grappling hook caught the body and brought it to the surface for a breif moment, but slipped loose and sank back again among the rocks. The search continued until nine o'clock, when President Smith suggested that the search be discon- tinued for the night, but the stu- dents refused to abandoned the work. With lanterns to guide their efforts the boats continued to ply up and down the river, and at last, shortly after nine o'clock, the body was re- covered. The body was taken to the un- dertaking establishment of Varner & Pole and prepared for burial. Monday afternoon short services were held over the remains in Lee Memorial Chapel at six o'clock, conducted by Dr. Thomas K. Young, who was assisted by Dr. J. R. Howerton. The body was taken to the station, escort- ed by six hundred students, to be taken to Moorefield, W. Va. , for burial. Messrs. E. B. Shultz, sec- retary of the University Y.M.C.A. and W. B. Patterson, a senior at the University and a cousin of Mr. Hall, accompanied the body to Moorefield. Mr. Hall is a son of the Rev. Sam- uel O. Hall, a Presbyterian minister, of Moorefield, W. Va. He was in the graduating classs of this year and in two weeks would have received his A. B. degree. A hard student, and popular on the campus, he had won many honors at the University. He was editor-in chief of the Ring-tum Phi, the student weekly newspaper, and his work on that publication showed unusual ability. His four years in college did not lessen his in- terest in Christian activity, and he was an earnest worker in the Chris- tian Endeavor Society of the Presby- terian church, and a regular attend- ant on church services. A fine young man, his untimely death has cast a gloom over the entire student body. He was about twenty-one years of age.