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Show DEATH OR DISHONOR. General McDonald Suicides in Paris to Escape Trial. Paris, March 25. Major General Hector Hec-tor MacDonald, commanding the British Brit-ish forces in Ceylon and one of the foremost officers in the British army,' against whom charges. ; based on immoral im-moral acts .were filed some time ago, committed suicide today at the Regina here. He .shot himself in the right temple shortly after noon, and expired a few minutes later. The general was alone in his small chamber at the time of the tragedy. One of the female attendants at-tendants heard the, pistol shot, and, opening the door, saw the general's figure stretched out on the floor with blood gushing' from a, bullet wound in in the head. She ran screaming to the balcony overlooking the lobby of the hotel, where many ' 'guests, including a number of ladies were assembled. The proprietor of the hotel; was the first ot reach the expiring man. Medf-cal Medf-cal help was immediately summoned, but was found 'to be useless; death ensuing en-suing quickly on ' the fatal act. The commissary" of , police -was -notified, and, accompanied by a ..doctor.'proeeeded to make a preliminary 'Investigation. No money or papers of , any kind ..were found in Sir Hector's baggage. Two Notes Found. Two notes written in English were found lying on a table in his room, and these were .taken possession of by the authorities, but it is understood that their contents have no bearing on the suicide.' In the general's coat, lying on the bed, were found some photographs. The British embassy and consulate were, notified later; and Consul General Ing-lis Ing-lis visited the hotel and took charge of the body, which was placed on the bed. The door was then locked, the consul creneral takintr the Irov Tho French officials took, possession of the revolver, which was of nine mllome-tres mllome-tres caliber, and apparently new. Had Started For Ceylon. Sir Hector Macdonald arrived in Pa-' ris last Friday evening from' London on his way back to Ceylon, where it was understood that an immediate court-martial would be held to clear up the charges made against him. On reaching the hotel at n o'clock at night he was told that only , a small and indifferent room was available. He replied that that was quite sufficient. He was not accompanied by any aide-de-camp or valet. He said he intended intend-ed to stay only a day or two in Paris. Little was seen of him after his arrival. ar-rival. He was, however, in the lobby this morning about noon and it is believed be-lieved that a . newspaper printed in English, containing a resume of the grave charges brought against him and embellished with the general's' portrait in full uniform, came under his attention. atten-tion. He left the, lobby, going to his room, and the pistol shot followed soon after. ; Causes a Shock, -No. arrangements have yet been made as to the disposition of the body, which' is subject to the order of the British authorities. . . Both the British embassy and General Gen-eral Inglis have advised London of the tragedy and are awaiting: definite instructions. in-structions. The general's suicide ha3 profoundly shocked the British officials here. Those about the hotel who had conversed with Sir Hector Macdonald recently say he showed no signs of excitement ex-citement or mental worry. They describe de-scribe him as' of soldierly bearing, slightliy under middle height, with bronzed face and a slight gray mustache. mus-tache. He was dressed in a dark gray traveling suit. In contrast to the circumstances surrounding sur-rounding the death of General Macdonald Macdon-ald was the gaiety of the scene tonlgh? near hi? death chamber. Owing to precautions pre-cautions taken to conceal the death few people in the hotel were aware of it, and the corridors and lobbies in the hotel were filled with joyous parties of guests going to and returning from theatre the-atre and opera. The body lay in an adjoining ad-joining chamber. There are no watch- ers by the side of the corpse. 1 |