“The greatest tragedy of our class [1922] was Lloyd Hartman. Lloyd’s life was music and those who knew music said he had talent. While in high school he conducted a choir of 50 voices which sang in various churches. Supplementing his talent, he had unlimited devotion to music and the determination to succeed in it to the exclusion of all else. He would never have been satisfied to play in an orchestra or sing in a choir – he would have led it. I have no doubt that he would have led a great orchestra had he lived. After graduation he studied music at a college in Rochester. There, in his first year while jumping a low fence he caught his foot, throwing him to the walk where he struck his head. He got up, walked into a building, a dropped dead.” — Robert Woodside, My Live and Town, 1979.
From the Lykens Standard, October 24, 1924:
MILLERSBURG BOY KILLED AT COLLEGE
Rochester, New York, October 20 [1924] — Lloyd Ambrose Hartman, 20 years old, of Millersburg, was fatally injured on the campus of the University of Rochester this afternoon.
Hartman was a freshman in the university and as he was approaching Anderson Hall, he attempted to vault over a low iron fence surrounding a circle in front of the hall. One of his feet caught in the fence and he fell backward, his head striking the cement walk.
Hartman was stunned for a moment, but arose and walked to the gymnasium. There Dr. Edwin Fauver, of the physical education department, dressed an injury to one of his hands and Hartman then went to the shower bath.
It was while taking the bath less than fifteen minutes following the accident that the young freshman suddenly became dizzy and collapsed. He was hurried to the General Hospital where he soon died. Coroner David Atwater said death was due to a fractured scull.
Hartman’s death has brough about a feeling of gloom at the university, where he was well-liked. Dr. Arthur S. Gale, freshman dean, referred to the youth as a manly and most likeable young student with every promise of success in college life.
______________________________________
Woodside quote from My Life and Town.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.