Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly in 1890
Born	May 5, 1864 Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania
Died	January 27, 1922 (Aged 57) New York City, New York
Occupation	Journalist, author
Spouse	Robert Seaman

Nellie Bly (May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922) was an American journalist, author, industrialist, and charity worker. She is most famous for an undercover exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from within. She is also well-known for her record-breaking trip around the world. Download high resolution version (600x718, 255 KB)Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochran), Library of Congress Photograph, cleaned and toned. ... is the 125th day of the year (126th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Robert Seaman was a North American millionaire industrialist who was married to investigative journalist Elizabeth Cochran (better known as Nellie Bly) from 1895 until his death in 1904. ... is the 125th day of the year (126th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Journalist (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Author (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Business magnate. ... In modern usage, the practice of charity means the giving of help to those in need. ... An exposé is an article or book intended to reveal shocking or surprising information. ... ‹ The template below (Expand) is being considered for deletion. ... A psychiatric hospital (also called a mental hospital or asylum) is a hospital specializing in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ...

Early life

She was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran, later spelled Cochrane, and was nicknamed "Pink" for wearing that color as a child. She was born on May 5, 1864^[1] in Cochran's Mills, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, forty miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Her father, a wealthy former associate justice, died when she was six. Her mother remarried three years later, but sued for divorce when Pink was fourteen years old; Pink testified in court against her drunken, violent stepfather. As a teenager she changed her surname to Cochrane, apparently adding the "e" for a sophistication.^[2] She attended boarding school for one term, but dropped out due to a lack of funds. Crooked Creek near Ford City in Armstrong County Armstrong County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. ... Pittsburgh redirects here. ... Associate Justice or Puisne (pronounced puny) Justice is the title for a member of a judicial panel who is not the Chief Justice. ...

In 1880, Pink and her family moved to Pittsburgh. A sexist column in the Pittsburgh Dispatch prompted her to write a fiery rebuttal to the editor; impressed with her earnestness and spirit, he asked her to join the paper. Female newspaper writers at that time customarily used pen names, and for Pink the editor chose "Nellie Bly", the title character in a popular song by Stephen Foster. Year 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Pittsburgh Dispatch was a newspaper for which Nellie Bly worked. ... For other persons named Stephen Foster, see Stephen Foster (disambiguation). ...

Bly focused her early work for the Dispatch on the plight of working women, writing a series of investigative articles on female factory workers. But editorial pressure pushed her to the women's pages to cover fashion, society, and gardening, the usual role for female journalists of the day. Impatient with these duties, she took the initiative and traveled to Mexico to serve as a foreign correspondent. Foreign Correspondent is a 1940 film which tells the story of an American reporter who becomes involved in espionage in England during the onset of World War II. It stars Joel McCrea, George Sanders, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, Albert Bassermann and Robert Benchley. ...

Then twenty-one, she spent nearly half a year reporting the lives and customs of the Mexican people; her dispatches were later published in book form as Six Months in Mexico. In one report, she protested the incarceration of a local journalist imprisoned for criticizing the Mexican government, then a dictatorship under Porfirio Díaz. When Mexican authorities learned of Bly's report, they threatened her with arrest, prompting her to leave the country. Safely home, she denounced Díaz as a tyrannical czar suppressing the Mexican people and controlling the press. José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mory (15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), Mexican war volunteer and French intervention hero; later President. ...

Asylum exposé

Burdened again with theater and arts reporting, Bly left the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1887 for New York City. Penniless after four months, she talked her way into the offices of Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, the New York World, and took an undercover assignment for which she agreed to feign insanity to investigate reports of brutality and neglect at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer (April 18, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American publisher best known for posthumously establishing the Pulitzer Prizes and (along with William Randolph Hearst) for originating yellow journalism. ... The New York World was a newspaper published in New York from 1860 until 1931. ... Undercover journalism is a form of journalism in which a reporter tries to infiltrate in a community by posing as somebody friendly to that community. ... Roosevelt Island, pop. ...

After a night of practicing deranged expressions in front of a mirror, she checked into a working-class boardinghouse. She refused to go to bed, telling the boarders that she was afraid of them and that they looked crazy. They soon decided that she was crazy, and the next morning summoned the police. Taken to a courtroom, she pretended to have amnesia. The judge concluded she had been drugged.

She was then examined by several doctors, who all declared her to be insane. "Positively demented," said one, "I consider it a hopeless case. She needs to be put where someone will take care of her."^[3] The head of the insane pavilion at Bellevue Hospital pronounced her "undoubtedly insane". The case of the "pretty crazy girl" attracted media attention: "Who Is This Insane Girl?" asked the New York Sun. The New York Times wrote of the "mysterious waif" with the "wild, hunted look in her eyes", and her desperate cry: "I can't remember. I can't remember."^[4] Bellevue Hospital is a famous hospital located in New York City, New York, United States. ... The original New York Sun began publication September 3, 1833, as a morning newspaper, and an evening edition began in 1887. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ...

Committed to the Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum, Bly experienced its conditions firsthand. The food—gruel broth, spoiled meat, bread that was little more than dried dough—she found inedible. The inmates were made to sit for much of each day on hard benches with scant protection from the cold. The bathwater was frigid, and buckets of it were poured over their heads. The nurses were rude and abusive, telling the patients to shut up and beating them if they did not. Speaking with her fellow residents, Bly was convinced that some were as sane as she was. On the effect of her experiences, she wrote:

What, excepting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment? Here is a class of women sent to be cured. I would like the expert physicians who are condemning me for my action, which has proven their ability, to take a perfectly sane and healthy woman, shut her up and make her sit from 6 A. M. until 8 P. M. on straight-back benches, do not allow her to talk or move during these hours, give her no reading and let her know nothing of the world or its doings, give her bad food and harsh treatment, and see how long it will take to make her insane. Two months would make her a mental and physical wreck.^[3]

After ten days, Bly was released from the asylum at The World's behest. Her report, later published in book form as Ten Days in a Mad-House, caused a sensation and brought her lasting fame. While embarrassed physicians and staff fumbled to explain how so many professionals had been fooled, a grand jury launched its own investigation into conditions at the asylum, inviting Bly to assist. The jury's report recommended the changes she had proposed, and its call for increased funds for care of the insane prompted an $850,000 increase in the budget of the Department of Public Charities and Corrections. Ten Days in a Mad-House is a book written by newspaper reporter Nellie Bly and published by Norman L. Munro in New York, NY in 1887. ... In the American common law legal system, a grand jury is a type of jury which determines if there is enough evidence for a trial. ...

Around the world

Nellie Bly in her traveling clothes, 1890

In 1888, Nellie suggested to her editor at the New York World that she take trip around the world, mimicking Jules Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days. Finally, a year later, on November 14, 1889 she left New York on her 24,899-mile journey. Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Jane Cochran), late 1880s . ... Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Jane Cochran), late 1880s . ... Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The New York World was a newspaper published in New York from 1860 until 1931. ... This article is about the French author. ... is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

"Seventy-two days, six hours, eleven minutes and fourteen seconds after her Hoboken departure" (January 25, 1890) Nellie arrived in New York. At the time this was a world record for circling the earth, though it was bested a few months later by George Francis Train, who completed the journey in 67 days. Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... George Francis Train (1829 - 1904) was a businessman and an eccentric figure in American history. ...

On her travels around the world, she went through England, France, the home of Jules Verne, Brindisi, the Suez Canal, Colombo Ceylon, Hong Kong, and Japan. Traveling unaccompanied by a man, she became a role model of independence for women everywhere. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article is about the French author. ... Brindisi is an ancient city in the Italian region of Puglia, the capital of the province of Brindisi. ... For other uses, see Suez (disambiguation). ... Map of Colombo with its administrative districts Coordinates: , District Colombo District Government  - Mayor Uvaiz Mohammad Imitiyaz (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) Area  - City 37. ... Don Imus, The term role model was introduced by Robert K. Merton[1]. Merton says that individuals compare themselves with reference groups of people who occupy the social role to which the individual aspires. ... Image of a woman on the Pioneer plaque sent to outer space. ...

Later years

Nellie Bly married millionaire manufacturer Robert Seaman in 1894, who at 72 was forty-four years her senior. She retired from journalism, and became the president of the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co., which made steel containers such as milk cans and boilers. In 1904 she invented and patented the steel barrel that was the model for the 55-gallon drum still in widespread use in the United states. Her husband also died in 1904. For a time she was one of the leading women industrialists in the United States, but mismanagement forced her into bankruptcy. Forced back into reporting, she covered such events as women's suffrage convention in 1913, and stories on Europe's Eastern Front during World War I.^[5] Millionairess redirects here. ... Robert Seaman was a North American millionaire industrialist who was married to investigative journalist Elizabeth Cochran (better known as Nellie Bly) from 1895 until his death in 1904. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The term womens suffrage refers to an economic and political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage — the right to vote — to women. ... Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... ‹ The template below (Expand) is being considered for deletion. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ...

In 1916 Nellie was given a baby boy whose mother requested Nellie look after him and saw that he become adopted. The child was illegitimate and difficult to place since he was half Japanese. He spent the next six years in an orphanage run by the Church of All Nations in Manhattan. // An orphanage is an institution or asylum for the care of a child bereaved of both father and mother; sometimes, also, a child who has but one parent living. ...

As Nellie became ill towards the end of her life she requested her niece, Beatrice Brown, look after the boy and several other babies that she had become interested in. Her interest in orphanages may have been part of her ongoing efforts to improve the social organizations of the day.

She died of pneumonia at St. Mark's Hospital in New York City in 1922, at age 57. This article is about human pneumonia. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

Legacy

Nellie Bly U.S postage stamp

• Bly was the subject of a 1946 Broadway musical by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen.^[6]
• The Nellie Bly Amusement Park in Brooklyn, New York City, is named after her, taking as its theme Around the World in Eighty Days. The park is currently closed and will be reopened under new management.
• Nellie Bly is a character in the computer video game Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams.
• Nellie Bly was one of four journalists honored with a U.S postage stamp in a "Women in Journalism" set in 2002.^[7]
• She was the subject of a musical play performed at the Albany Civic Theater.
• From early in the Twentieth Century until 1961, the Pennsylvania Railroad operated a parlor-car only express train between New York and Atlantic City that bore the name, "Nellie Bly."
• Nellie Bly's investigation of the Blackwell's Island insane asylum is dramatized in the 4D experience shown in the Annenberg Theater at the new Newseum in Washington, DC (opening in 2008).

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... Johnny Burke was a lyricist who died in 1964 Johnny Burke at the St. ... Jimmy Van Heusen (January 26, 1913 - February 7, 1990), was an American composer. ... This article is about the borough of New York City. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Ultima is a series of fantasy computer role-playing games from Origin Systems, Inc. ... Roosevelt Island, pop. ... Screenshot of Newseums Todays Front Pages The world’s first interactive museum of news — the Newseum — opened in Arlington, Virginia, on April 18, 1997. ...

References

• Bly, Nellie (1887). Ten Days in a Mad-House.
• Kroeger, Brooke (1994). Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist.
• Affidavit of Beatrice K. Brown; Surrogates Court, Kings County (1922)

Notes

See also

• Miss Nellie Bly Special
• Ten Days in a Mad-House
• Around the World in Seventy-Two Days
• Women in journalism and media professions
• Undercover journalism
• Winifred Bonfils

Ten Days in a Mad-House is a book written by newspaper reporter Nellie Bly and published by Norman L. Munro in New York, NY in 1887. ... Around the World in Seventy-Two Days is a book written by Nellie Bly. ... Undercover journalism is a form of journalism in which a reporter tries to infiltrate in a community by posing as somebody friendly to that community. ... Winifred Black Sweet Bonfils (b. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Nellie Bly

• Ten Days in a Mad-House, and other early investigative reports by Nellie Bly
• LISTEN: Free LibrivoxAudiobook of TEN DAYS IN A MADHOUSE at LibriVox
• New York Times: Nellie Bly, Journalist, Dies of Pneumonia
• An account of Bly's trip around the world
• Nellie Bly's Book: Around the World in Seventy-Two Days
• Spartacus Educational biography
• American Experience | Around The World In 72 Days, a documentary about Bly's trip around the world.
• Nellie Bly Pioneer Woman JournalistMore on the Cochran family plus Games and Trading Cards.