Lafayette's Second Mayor Assaulted by Prominent Citizens Colonel John S. Williams, who served as Lafayette's mayor from 1856 to 1859, founded the Sunday Times newspaper in 1879. This led to clashes with political opponents like suffragette Helen Gougar, who once beat him with an umbrella, and Captain DeWitt Wallace, whose attack upon Williams was violent and bloody. What sparked such hostility? Did politics play a role between a Democrat mayor and some Republican community leaders? Who was this notorious man? Born on December 14, 1825, in Lockport, New York, he was the son of George and Elizabeth Williams. He completed his education at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary and studied law at Ransom & Holmes. Admitted to the bar in 1848, he worked as an attorney for the Rochester, Lockport & Niagara Falls Railroad. In 1849, he moved to Washington, D.C., serving as a principal clerk at the post office for two years. Returning to Lockport in 1851, he co-owned the Daily Courier u...