CLASS OF 1899

Dr. Ralph Spencer Wilder, for five years past assistant physician at the Medfield Insane Asylum, Medfield, Mass., was found in his room at that institution April twenty second, dead from a self-inflicted bullet wound in the head. Doctor Wilder was a sufferer from tuberculosis, and at the best his hope for life was for a period of but a few months. It is believed that the knowledge of his surely approaching end, together with the intense pain he was suffering, unbalanced his mind, with the sad result that he took his own life. Doctor Wilder was born in Winchendon, Mass., October 9, 1877, being the son of Benjamin Oliver and Ella Walker Wilder. He was fitted for college at the Murdock High School, Winohendon, where he was graduated in 1894. Entering Dartmouth under much financial difficulty, he succeeded in earning his own way through college. His rank as a scholar was commendable, and he was-one of the most popular athletes Of his time, being the holder of the intercollegiate record in the pole vault, as well as a leader in other events. After graduation he entered Dartmouth Medical School, where he received his degree in February, 1902. He then served for a year as house physician at the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, and at the end of that time went to Medfield, Mass., where he accomplished five years of faithful and efficient service as assistant physician. His death was a great shock to many friends in Medfield and in Winchendon, and brings profound sorrow to many in college circles who admired him for his strong and noble qualities. Doctor Wilder was unmarried, but is survived by his father and mother and one sister. Funeral services were held at Old Winchendon, and he was buried with simple rites near the place of ' his birth. Owen A. Ho ban of Gardner represented the class at the funeral, and conveyed the sympathy of the men of '99 to the sorrowing family. Mr. Hoban has written as follows to the class secretary: "You will be surprised when I tell you that his once strong body was but a shadow, so wasted had it become by consumption. It would be impossible for me to tell you how much like his whole life was the blunt simplicity of the last rite performed over his dead body. I went to high school and to college with Wilder, and perhaps know as much about his beginnings and struggles as any of our class. No man of us had any more humble beginnings or worked harder for the victory than he. All Dartmouth men in our time honored and loved him, but not any more so than did everyone who came in contact with this simple-minded, whole-souled man."

Secretary, Elmer W. Barstow, New Britain, Conn.