Francis A. Mallison

Francis Avery Mallison was an American journalist, editor and public servant. A longtime reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle, known under his pen name Francis OPake, he and then city editor Joseph Howard, Jr. were responsible for publishing a forged document to manipulate the price of gold on the New York Stock Exchange 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 18511852, studying the culture and economic issues in these areas. He also worked as a telegraph operator in Central New York.

Source: Wikipedia