Thank for the discussion

When I translated this line I made wild guesses. First "Ther" = "There". Second "say't" = "sayst". "Sayst" is another form of "Sayest" that is an archaic form of the second person singular of say. I have to assume that "you" was omitted and that Sayst is the past tense. In addition I need to assume that "'" can replace consonant. So I was well aware of all of the problems. In my mind 'you' refers the reader--Hudson's death and his deed were well known around campus so I assumed some readers of this poem might have the same thought as the speaker of the poem.

But after I read your comments I did a further research. This time I did find an entry that used 'there be that say". I put the screenshot below.

I think what I found supports your suggestion. Put in the context it seems to say "there is a saying .., "或 “有這麽個說法”。    I have made corresponding  change.

Thank again for the discussion.