WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1842
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balance, according to law, out of the proper appropriation, hold- ing the receipt or certificate as a voucher against the warrant, should it be presented at the Treasury. Sam Houston. 1 Executive Record Book, No. 40, p. 174, Texas State Library. For Brig- ham, see Houston to the Texas Senate, December 20, 1836. :?John G. Chalmers (August 25, 1803-January 1, 1847), was born in Halifax County, Virginia. He was the eldest son of Captain Ronald Chalmers of Ayreshire, Scotland, and of Sai-ah Lanier (Williams) Chalmers, the daughter of an eminent lawyer and colonial judge of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Judge William's ,vife was a daughter of Samson Lanier of Huguenot blood, who came to Virginia at an early day. John Gordon Chalmers was educated for a physician. In 1827 he married Mary Wade Henderson of Milton, North Carolina. They moved to Jackson, Tennessee, where Chalmers entered the mercantile business. He also established a plantation and raised blooded stock. He moved to Texas in 1840, settling first at La Grange, then at Austin, where he lived until his death. In 1841 David G. Burnet, Vice President of the Rcpubiic, in the absence of the President, appointed Chalmers Secretary of the Treasury, the Senate con- firming. See Winkler (ed.), Secret Journals of the Senate, Republic of Texas, 1886-1845, p. 200. He was killed by his friend, Joshua Holden, about where the old Federal Building now stands on West Sixth Street. The two men with their wives had eaten New Year's dinner together at Bullock's Hotel, not far from the scene of the tragedy; the men had both drunk too much wine and had disagreed over a political question of the day. They continued their argument as they walked down the street; both became excited, and Chalmers became abusive. At ar:. insulting, personal remark, Holden quickly drew a knife from his walking cane and stabbed Chalmers behind the ear. He died immediately. Holden surrendered to the police, but soon was permitted to escape. He went to California, where he died a few years later. Dr. Chalmers left a number of children: Eliza, wife of General J. P. Major; Sarah, wife of Dr. Riddle; Anne, wife of T. W. Masterson; Fanny, wife of General Albert Roberts; Mary Wallace, wife of General Tom Green, and two sons, Alex and Leigh Chalmers. John G. Chalmers and his wife are buried in the Tom Green burial lot in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Texas. The greater part of this information was acquired from letters from Mrs. Laura Hodges, a granddaughter of John G. Chalmers, and from the grave stones in Oakwood Cemetery. See also, E. W. Winkler (ed.), Secret Jounwls of the Senate, Rep11blic of Texas, 1836-1845, 200, and Lamar Papers, III, 527, 555, 657, 586, 587, IV, Pt. 1, 157, VI, 83. A PROCLAMATION REVOKING A PROCLAMATION THAT ABOLISHED DUTIES ON FRENCH WINES, DECEMBER 21, 1842 1 Whereas, by a Proclamation issued on the eleventh day of February, 1840, in contravention of law and Treaty stipulations, by Mirabeau B. Lamar ( then President) " the duties on all wines
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