Francis A. Mallison
| Francis Avery Mallison | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 13, 1832 Rome, New York, United States |
| Died | June 22, 1877 (aged 45) Brooklyn, New York |
| Cause of death | Jaundice |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Francis O'Pake |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Known for | Longtime reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle; he and editor Joseph Howard, Jr. organized the "Great Civil War Gold Hoax". |
| Political party | Democrat |
Francis Avery Mallison (March 13, 1832 – June 22, 1877) was an American journalist, editor and public servant. A longtime reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle, known under his pen name Francis O'Pake, he and then city editor Joseph Howard, Jr. were responsible for publishing a forged document to manipulate the price of gold on the resulting in the "Great Civil War Gold Hoax".
Francis Mallison was born in Rome, New York to a Connecticut Methodist family, his father being a local schoolteacher. He attended the Oneida Conference Seminary, the Polytechnic School at Chittenango and the Seminary at Lowville. Mallison received common school training and began contributing to the Rome Sentinel shortly after leaving school. Mallison also traveled to the western United States in 1849 and the southern United States in 1851-1852, studying the culture and economic issues in these areas. He also worked as a telegraph operator in Central New York.
He eventually gained editorial control of the Rome Sentinel and remained editor until he moved to Brooklyn in November 1859, whereupon he took a position at the City News. He became acquatinted with many prominent New Yorkers while on the paper and, upon its reorganization, joined the Brooklyn Eagle. While Mallison was with the Brooklyn Eagle, he and city editor Joseph Howard, Jr. conspired to forge a document, under the guise of an Associated Press dispatch, which claimed that President Abraham Lincoln was calling for 400,000 men to be conscripted into the Union Army. The news of the draft caused the stock market to crash, while the price of gold went up. Mallison and Howard made a large profit, but detectives managed to track down Mallison two days after the document had been published. He implicated Howard in the deception, and the two were arrested. Mallison was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Lafayette for six months before his release on September 23, 1864.
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