The front page of The Sun on August 20, 1876, reveals a scandal that shook the Grant administration to its core: Attorney General George H. Williams was forced to resign from the Cabinet after his wife, Mrs. George M. Williams, was discovered to be the author of a series of vicious anonymous letters sent to President Grant, Cabinet members, and their families. The letters made serious accusations against Secretary of War William W. Belknap and Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow, alleging corruption involving French arms sales, Santo Domingo bonds, and improper conduct. The investigation, led by Solicitor of the Treasury Bluford Wilson and General Porter, revealed that the handwriting on letters to Grant, Belknap, and Bristow bore striking similarities to Mrs. Williams's own script. The scandal forced Williams's withdrawal from the Cabinet before May 1876, just as Grant was heading to the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.

This story captures the Grant presidency at its most turbulent moment—the final two years of his second term, when his administration was engulfed in multiple corruption scandals. The Williams affair exposed not just personal vengeance but the vulnerability of high office to schemes and intrigue. Mrs. Williams had allegedly orchestrated the letters partly out of jealousy after her husband's nomination as Chief Justice was blocked by the wives of Cabinet members and Supreme Court judges—a reminder that in 1876, women wielded power through social influence even without formal political voice. This scandal was one of several that plagued Grant's legacy, alongside the Whiskey Ring, the Indian Bureau frauds, and Belknap's later impeachment trial.

• The investigation notes that one anonymous letter demanded the removal of a Treasury Department employee, claiming the President himself had expressed 'great dissatisfaction with her course'—showing how personal grievances could weaponize executive authority.
• Col. Whitley, the famous Chief of the Secret Service Division, became a key suspect partly because his writing exhibited 'very strong marks of similarity' to the anonymous letters and because he was on 'intimate terms at the house of the Attorney-General'—intimate government relationships were viewed as inherently suspicious.
• Three separate attempts were made to burn down the old Navy Yard Department building and Winder's building to destroy records, allegedly connected to the threats in the anonymous letters about exposed French arms deals—suggesting the scandal involved cover-ups of potentially treasonous transactions.
• The article notes that Mrs. Williams 'rode through the streets in a carriage with Whitley' and 'visited the detective office in Bleecker street' to examine counterfeiter photographs and rogues' galleries—a startling image of a Cabinet wife inserting herself into federal detective work.
• Ex-Solicitor Bluford Wilson, when questioned in Philadelphia, refused to be interviewed beyond confirming the truth of the report, saying he would 'positively say nothing' more—the kind of official stonewalling that would haunt the investigation's credibility.

• Mrs. Williams's scheme partly targeted women in Washington society who had blocked her husband's nomination as Chief Justice, revealing that in 1876, the wives of political figures wielded enough influence to derail presidential appointments—women had no vote but could still topple careers through social coordination.
• The Solicitor's memo mentions General Hancock as a key figure who 'will tell the President' and 'will insist upon' specific action—Hancock would go on to run as the Democratic presidential candidate just three months later in November 1876, making his involvement in this scandal politically delicate.
• The article references the 'Islington Centennial' (Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876), America's first major world's fair celebrating 100 years of independence—Grant attended while his Cabinet imploded, trying to project national pride amid personal corruption.
• The investigation was conducted by General Porter and General Bristow among others, using handwriting analysis and mail collection techniques that were cutting-edge detective work for the 1870s—this scandal helped pioneer federal investigative methods.
• The entire affair hinged on the Postmaster-General being asked to help collect all letters from city post office street boxes to trace the writer—an early example of federal authorities systematically monitoring mail, raising privacy questions that echo today.