[232]
The check on Forbes' authority at Perryville was Dr. Sawyer, Harding's physician and chairman of the Federal Hospitalization Board.[233] Sawyer told Harding that Forbes was selling valuable hospital supplies to an insider contractor.[234] At first Harding did not believe it, but Sawyer secured proof in January 1923.[205] A shocked Harding, who alternated between rage and despondency over the corruption in his administration, summoned Forbes to the White House and demanded his resignation. Harding did not want an open scandal and allowed Forbes to flee to Europe, from where he resigned on February 15, 1923. In spite of Harding's efforts, gossip about Forbes' activities resulted in the Senate ordering an investigation two weeks later,[235] and in mid-March, Cramer committed suicide.[236]
Mortimer was willing to tell all, as Forbes had been in an affair with his wife, which also broke up the Forbes' marriage. The construction executive was the star witness at the hearings in late 1923, after Harding's death. Forbes returned from Europe to testify, but convinced few, and in 1924, he and John W. Thompson, of Thompson–Black, were tried in Chicago for conspiracy to defraud the government. 