Student Fails In Attempted Suicide Jump

A 22-year-old Leverett House senior who escaped death yesterday morning after plunging before an MTA train at the Harvard Square station, was reported in "fairly good" condition late last night at McLean Hospital in Belmont.

The student, William K. Beatty '50, had previously swallowed the contents of a bottle of iodine, according to doctors who first treated him at 10:30 a.m. at Cambridge City Hospital. They termed the incident a suicide attempt.

Ralph E. Harris '50, one of Beatty's roommates in Leverett G-43, last night stated he had heard Beatty leave the room early yesterday morning. Doctors were unable to ascertain the exact time that he consumed the iodine-a regular household brand.

Spilled Iodine

Dr. Robert Brendze, who first treated the student at the hospital, revealed that Beatty had spilled most of the iodine and would probably suffer no more than a sore throat from the amount he actually drank.

In leaping before an oncoming train at the Harvard Square station shortly before 10 a.m., Beatty struck the 550-volt third rail and then slumped on the tracks. The motorman succeeded in stopping the train just as the wheels of the first car brushed the student's legs.

When they attempted to remove Beatty to a waiting police ambulance, MTA officials discovered that one of his arms was sprawled across the unprotected third rail. They were forced to cut off the power before carrying him upstairs.

Beatty's life was never in danger once he entered the ambulance, doctors at McLean hospital revealed last night. They ventured that the insulating effect of his coat and jacket may have saved him from electrocution.

A graduate of Kent School in Connecticut, a Classics major, and a veteran of the Field Artillery, Beatty was a Group I student last term. He had been depressed for the last several months, according to doctors who spoke to him yesterday