Mirabeau Lamar, the second President of the Texas Republic, dies in Richmond, Texas

Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar was born in Georgia where he been secretary to the governor and a newspaper editor. He arrived in Texas just before the revolution and distinguished himself as the commander of cavalry at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. He went on to serve in the first Texas cabinet and became the second President of the Republic in 1838. He fought in the Mexican War and was later in his life as United States minister to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. He died of a heart attack and was buried in Richmond, Texas. (By John Osborne)