Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-05-31
M'LANE A SUICIDE.
Mayor of Baltimore Shot Him.
 self Dead Yesterday.
NO KNOWN REASON, POSSIBLY INSANE
Married Secretly Two Weeks Ago to the Beautiful Mrs. Van Bibber. Monumental City Is Dazed
 by Tragedy.

by Tragedy.
 BALTIMORE, May 31.-The mayor of Baltimore, Robert NJ. McLane, while his bride of two weeks was asleep in an adjoining room, shot himself last evening in the head and died an hour later. So great is the excitement at the McI4ane home, % West Preston street, that no information can be ob- tained. Mrs. McLane is prostrated. Coroner Hazen has taken charge of affairs at the house.
 Immediately after the shooting Dr. A. Trego Hertzer, Dr. William D. Green and Dr. Van Isibber, the latter a brother-in-law of Mrs. NfcLane, were called in. but the wound was of such a nature that their services were of no avail.
 If the shooting was accidental, there is considerable mystery as to how the wound was inflicted. The foreman of the grand jury says that there is noth- ing to investigate.
 The bullet entered the right temple and, crashing through the head, es- capped in the rear of the left ear. Mrs. McLane and other members of the household rushed to the mayors as sistance, but lie did not regain con- sciousness after he fell to the floor and expired within an hour, a number of physicians who were immediately sum- moned having at once expressed the opinion that the wound was neces- sarily fatal
 No cause can be assigned for the act by the members of MT. McLane's fam fly. Since the fire of last February he has been kept assiduously at work administering the affairs of the city. besides endeavoring to direct the re- mobilization and rebuilding of the burn ed district. This, together with criti- cisms by his political opponents, is thought by many to have caused . temporary aberra ton of mind.
 The suicide is thought by some to have been caused by physical and mental collapse due to excessive la bors during and after the fire, adverse criticism of some of his acts in rehabili- tating the city, the defeat of his pet project of widening Baltimore street and family opposition to his elopement with Mrs. Mary Van Bibber.
 Mrs. McLane in her statement to the coroner said that few minutes before the shooting she and Mayor McLane were in her apartment talking. He appeared to be in good spirits, and they were laughing over package he was tying.
 Coroner Benjamin F. Hayden has signed a certificate giving suicide as the cause of death.
 Since the great fire which swept this city Mayor McLane has been criticised considerably for what some called his lack of firmness in dealing with the problem of rebuilding the fire swept district
 Various interests have been at log gerheads as to what course should be pursued in handling the situation, and some held that the mayor failed to ex- arcise the rights vested in him as the city's chief executive.
 Mayor McLane, who had been in of. ace little less than year, was about thirty-six years old.
 The McLanes are prominent socially in Baltimore. On May IA the mayor went away to Washington secretly and was married to Mrs. Mary Van Bibber, who is as well known in Mary land society as her husband.
 The ceremony was performed, with the sexton and two workmen as wit nesses, in St Andrews Protestant Episcopal church.
 When asked why he had been so se- cretive about his plans he explained that he had gone away from his home city to elude reporters, who for several weeks had been ''shadowing' him.
 For several years the mayor had been attentive to Mrs. Van Bibber, who was about his own age, and while the manner of their marriage was a surprise their friends had predicted the event.
 She is a very beautiful woman. She entertained very much at her home in Preston street, and she was we'll known at Narragansett Pier, where she spent several seasons
 During the great fire Mayor McLane took personal charge of the fire fight ing and afterward of the relief work. When offers of money were made after the first great shock to the city had passed he sent out word that Bal tfmore did not need the contributions and was able to care for herself.
 
 FMMwHfar Accident Fatal