the adjoining Somerset County and was being held prisoner by police in Princess Anne. However, a mob overran the police and kidnapped Armwood, badly beating, stabbing and mutilating him before the hanging, then burning his body in front of the nearby courthouse. Local police did not pursue prosecution of the lynch mob, but Lane took charge of the investigation. The Maryland State Police and militia were called out by Governor Ritchie to assist, which resulted in further mob violence and arrests on the Eastern Shore, which damaged Lane's reputation. As Attorney General, Lane also pleaded two cases before the United States Supreme Court involving the assessment of submerged lands and the state's right to tax condemned federal lands. Lane chose not to seek re-election in 1934. After his tenure as Attorney General, Lane remained very active in state and national politics. From 1940 to 1950, he served as a member of the Democratic National Committee from Maryland, and he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from 1928 to 1948. In 1944, Lane managed Franklin Roosevelt's Maryland campaign for re-election as President of the United States. Lane also remained active in business, serving as president of an aircraft corporation and a bridge company. He also kept active in law as a member of the firm Lane and Mish. Governor of Maryland In 1946, Lane decided to run for governor. In the Democratic primary election, he defeated challengers J. Millard Tawes and H. Streett Baldwin, and then defeated Republican Theodore R. McKeldin in the general election 54% to 45%. As governor, Lane and his administration worked towards improving the public education, mental health, and highway systems of the state. A newspaper report published in 1949 exposed serious flaws in the treatment of the mentally ill in the state, which resulted in the creation of the Department of Mental Hygiene and turned Maryland's mental hospitals by the end of the Lane administration into some of the best in the nation. Major highway improvements which had been deferred by World War II were also put in motion by Lane, which were funded by the enactment in 1947 of Maryland's first state sales tax. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which now carries his name, was completed in 1952 under this plan. Several historic state facilities were also renovated during Lane's tenure, including the Maryland State House which had not been adequately preserved since its