In the Bob Ford – Jesse James photo hoax formerly written about HERE, a cabal of hoaxers assembled to perpetrate a case of identity theft, at the expense of factual history and in violation of the identity of the Jesse James family.
Through an ample misapplication of fantasy, imagination, slight of eye magic, chicanery, and purposely deceitful tabloid and broadcast journalism, the cabal sought to beguile, hoodwink, and defraud an unknowledgeable audience for the purpose of promoting fake imagery of Bob Ford and Jesse James and for reaping an imaginary million dollar windfall.
THE CABAL OF HOAXERS
Sandy Mills, owner of the fraudulent tintype
Lois Gibson, a drawing artist who claims to have authenticated the bogus image
Dylan Baddour, writer for the Houston Chronicle. He wrote two deceptive stories about the hoax. When presented with factual information and the objection of the James family, Dylan Baddour cowardly vanished into silence.
Houston Chronicle, that broke the story. The Chroncle published two features about the claimed image. Absent from both stories was any reference to factual balance known to counteract the fraudulent claim.
Sarah Laskow of Atlas Obscura. Laskow promoted the fraud by cutting and pasting elements of the Houston Chronicle story, with complete disrgard for facts made known to her.
Atlas Obscura. The web publication replicated the Houston Chronicle story as a curiosity and ephemera.
Arden Dier of Newser. Dier may not be an actual person at all. No personal information about her can be found.
Newser, another news aggregator. In their motto, Newser betrays any pretense to factual journalism. “Read Less Know More.”
Ollie Gillman, a tabloid tattler of the UK’s Daily Mail. Gillman possesses no serious journalism credentials. With a pickpocket’s penchant for stealing, Gillman appropriates the writing of others, presenting it as his own.
News reader & TV personality Jane McCarthy of KREM TV in Spokane, Washington. McCarthy read KREM’s fraudulent story on air. When alerted to the fraud in her story, Jane McCarthy felt forced to defer the James family’s complaint to her new director.
Noah Cooper, news director at KREM-TV in Spokane, Washington. Cooper is a product UK style of tabloid journalism. Cooper stands by his lie that was broadcast by news reader Jane McCarthy that identified Eric F. James as a descendant of Jesse James. Fraud that he is, Noah Cooper simply cannot prove his story, let alone address all the other misinformation in this story broadcast by his station.
KREM-2 in Spokane, Washington, broadcast the hoax . In their story , Sandy Mills and her boyfriend made clear their intention to authenticate Mills’ photo, despite all disbelievers.
Outlier from Indonesia, Erik Pounamra Poutra implanted the hoax with Treeangle.co.id for dissemination worldwide.
Treeangle.co.id claims to be a “reliable news portal.” In this instant, the website is simply a hoaxer with worldwide reach.
Novelist Freda Cruse Harbison attached herself to the hoax. Harbison piggybacked on the second feature published by the Houston Chronicle to promote her fictional book about Frank James.
Shelley Hazen, a news aggregator for Insquisitr. Her focus is to produce items”that are targeted to popular Bing and Google web searches utilizing standard SEO practices.” Factual content is irrelevant to her.
Inquisitr is an online news aggregator. It is dedicated to “find the news you want” regardless of truth, fact, or relationship to reality.
Sandy Mills enlisted RR Auction to further authenticate her fake image of Bob Ford & Jesse James.
Executive Vice-President of RR Auction is Bobby Livingston. In news reports, Livingston judiciously sidestepped the question of Sandy Mills’ photo to say if the image was authentic the photo might fetch a handsome sum. Bobby Livingston is under indictment in a lawsuit for fraud, misrepresentation, and presenting fake historical images as authentic.
The principal motivating forces behind the Bob Ford-Jesse James photo hoax is without doubt Sandy Mills, Lois Gibson, Dylan Baddour, and the Houston Chronicle. Whether the others who followed were witting or unwitting accomplices, each as writer and publishers had a fiduciary duty to investigate and report the truth of the opposite side of Sandy Mills’ story. They did not. But others did.
Among the responsible writers and publishers, the Canadian Broadcasting Company dropped the story from publication altogether. CNN’s Michael Pearson questioned the image’s authenticity and claim. Christopher Klein who writes for A&E’s History rewrote his initial story to present the James family’s objection and argument. Elleda Wilson who picked up the story for the Daily Astorian wrote a followup story when alerted about the hoax.
Without doubt, calling out the hoaxers of the Bob Ford-Jesse James fake photo fraud, will not put an end to the constant flow of images claimed to be Jesse James. Within the period of the present hoax, two more claimed images arrived at Stray Leaves, claiming to be authentic images of Jesse James.
UPDATE: Jan 12, 2017
Robb Burley, owner of Burley Auction Gallery
The next stage in the Bob Ford-Jesse James photo hoax has been announced by Burley Auction Gallery. The auction house and its owner Robb Burley have been added to the cabal of hoaxers engaged in this act of identity theft.
In addition, we also are adding to the hoax cabal, the website PRWeband article author Nikki Thibodeaux. The specific identity of Thibodeaux formerly was unknown until Robb Burley provided an actual photo of her. Thibodeaux is an associate of Robb Burley.
Sisters, Hadie Alice Herrin-White & Mirna Florence Herrin-Criswell, in 1956 standing before 106 James St. in Somerset, Pulaski Co KY. They are 2nd great-granddaughters of Rev. Joseph Martin James & Rhoda May by Susan Harriet James & Joseph Allen Herrin. Photo courtesy of Hadie's son, Terry Joseph White. ... See MoreSee Less
WHY STRAY LEAVES CONTINUES TO BE OF VALUE TO OUR FAMILY - Discovery & reunion are what Stray Leaves does best. Two weeks ago two of our James family descendants from the Chickasaw Nation were discovered. Contact was made. Reunion has begun. When they are settled in and comfortable, you will hear much more about our newfound cousins. Meanwhile, below is testimony and video of a woman who discovered her birth father. She is not related to us. However, her story is very similar to some others that we have experienced within our family of stray leaves. Every one of us is enriched when discoveries and reunions like these occur. We know more stories like this will be revealed in the future. This is why the work of our Stray Leaves website must continue and not be defeated. ... See MoreSee Less