Nellie Bly: America’s first investigative journalist

“I always have a comfortable feeling that nothing is impossible if one applies a certain amount of energy in the right direction” – Nellie Bly.

Nellie Bly has redefined the roles of women, especially but not limited to, those in journalism. She Traveled around the world, spent time undercover in an insane asylum, and became the president of an Industrial company. She is famous for putting herself in danger in the pursuit of a great story. Her writing affected change in government and inspired people’s lives. In this post, I tell you the amazing life story of Nellie Bly, America’s first investigative journalist.

Early Life

Nellie Bly was born on May 5th 1864, just outside Pittsburg, USA. She was christened Elizabeth Jane Cochran, but everyone called her Pink because she quite often wore that colour. She was a vibrant, energetic child, who never shied away from attention, which she would have been in constant competition with her 13 brothers and sisters for. Her mother encouraged her vivaciousness and allowed her to dress in bright colours. This made her stand out from the rest of the women in the town, who wore drab colours, this was the norm at the time. She grew up in the town of Cochran, named after her father Judge Micheal Cochran. Sadly, when she was just 6 years old, her father passed away. Her father left no will, this meant the family were left with very little.

Her mother remarried but the marriage turned out to be a disaster, due to the fact that he was an abusive drunk. When her mother filed for divorce Bly was asked to testify. Being just 14 at the time this would have been quite a difficult situation, however, it was said that Bly was honest and witty. This experience showed her that marriage, which was the ultimate goal for women at the time, didn’t always mean a secure future or happiness. Therefore she decided that she was going to make her mark on the world all by herself.

Journalism Career

In 1879 Bly enrolled at Indiana Normal School, she planned on studying for a career as a teacher, one of the few careers available to women at the time. However, she had to drop out after just one semester because she couldn’t pay the tuition fees and her mother needed help at home.

Pittsburg Dispatch

In 1880 Bly’s mother moved their family to Pittsburg, where they ran a boarding house. Her Brothers were able to find good white-collar jobs, these were jobs that she could not get, due to the fact that she was a woman, despite being better educated. A newspaper column entitled ‘What Girls Are Good For’ in the Pittsburg dispatch that reported that girls were principally for birthing children and keeping house prompted Bly to write a response under the pseudonym ‘Lonely Orphan Girl’.

The editor, George Madden, was impressed and ran an advert asking the author to reveal her identity. He offered her the opportunity to write a piece for the newspaper. Her first article, entitled ‘The Girl Puzzle’, was about how divorce affected women. She was hired in 1885 for $5 a week. Her editor chose the pen name Nellie Bly for her.

At the beginning of her career, she focused on the lives of working women, writing a series of investigative articles on women factory workers. However, the newspaper received complaints from factory owners about her writing. She was reassigned to women’s pages to cover fashion, society, and gardening; This was the usual tale fro women journalist. She became dissatisfied, So she travelled to Mexico to serve as a foreign correspondent. In one report she protested the imprisonment of a local journalist for criticising the Mexican government. The Mexican government threatened her with arrest, prompting her the flee the country.

Asylum expose

Bly left the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1887. At the age of 23, she moved to New York. After 4 months she managed to talk her way into an undercover assignment for the New York World. She agreed to feign insanity to investigate reports of brutality and neglect at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island.

First, she checked herself into a boarding house for working women called ‘Temporary Homes for Females’. she stayed up all night to give her that wide-eyed look of a disturbed woman. Eventually, she scared so many of the other boarders that the police were called. Once examined, she was taken to Blackwell’s Island.

Once she was committed she decided to act normally again. She also met other patients that didn’t seem to have much reason to be locked up. When talking about the experience she said: “The more sanely I talked and acted, the crazier I was thought to be.” She said they had to sit in a room all day on straight backbenches. They were served dirty water, rotten meat, and gruel at mealtimes. They ate in areas surrounded by waste and rats. Some patients were even tied together. Afterwards, she said “What, exempting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment.

She stayed there for 10 days. In her expose she explained every aspect of her experience in great detail. Her two-part series in October 1887 was a sensation. Her feature was the first of its kind effectively launching the decade of “stunt” or “detective” reporting.

Around the World in 72 days

In 1888 Bly brought the idea of travelling around the world, trying to beat the factorial character Phileas Foggs’ (From around the world in eighty days) record, to her editors. She was told, “No one but a man can do this”, she responded with “Very well. Start the man and I’ll start the same day for some other newspaper and beat him.” It took her a year to persuade her editors.

At 9:40 am on November 14, 1889, she boarded the Augusta Victoria, by herself and with only two small cases. Unfortunately, she suffered from terrible seasickness and couldn’t hold down any food, the only thing that comforted her was sleep; she once slept for so long the crew thought she was dead. She kept readers up to date with her journey via telegram, including meeting Jules Verne (The author of around the world in Eighty days) in France and purchasing a monkey in Singapore.

A rival newspaper, The New York Cosmopolitan sponsored their own reporter, Elizabeth Bisland. Bisland travelled in the opposite directed, starting on the same day as Bly, aiming to complete the journey in less time. Bisland took 4 days longer than Bly to complete the journey.

To sustain interest in the story, the World ran a contest, contestants were asked to guess Bly’s arrived time to the second, with a grand prize of a free trip to Europe.

As a result of a rough passage, she arrived back in America 2 days behind schedule. However, after World owner Pulitzer chartered a private train to bring her home, she arrived back on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 pm. Bly’s journey set a new world record. Later that year she wrote a book about her journey called ‘Around the world in seventy-two days’.

She said, “If you want to do it, you can do it. The question is do you want to do it?”

Marriage and Industrialism

In 1895, at the age of 31, she met and married 73-year-old Roger Seaman, head of the Iron Clad manufacturing industry. after her marriage she became involved in the company, helping with designs, several of which were patented. In 1896 she quit her job at the World, in order to focus more of her time on the company.

When her husband died in 19104, she took over as president. Unfortunately, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1911. She then returned to journalism, writing about the suffragette movement, and later the First World War, making her the first female war correspondent in the United States. She got her own column in the New York Journal, in 1919.

She died in 1922, aged only 57, from pneumonia. The next day's edition of the Journal referred to her as, 2The Best Reporter in America.”

Legacy

In 1998, she was inducted into the National Women’s hall of Fame.

From the early 20th century until 1961 the Pennsylvania Railroad operated and express train between New York and Atlantic city called Nellie Bly.

The New York Press Club confers an annual “Nellie Bly Cub Reporter” Journalism award.

Bly is one of the 100 women featured in the first version of the book ‘ Good Night For Rebel Girls’ by Elena Favilli & Cavallo.

Bly was one of four journalists honoured with a US postage stamp in a ‘Women in Journalism’ set in 2002.

On May 5th 2015, the Google search engine produced an interactive ‘Google doodle’ for Bly.

The character of Lana Winter in American Horror story: Asylum is inspired by Bly’s experience in the asylum.

Nellie published 3 non-fiction books and a novel, including one on her experiences in the insane asylum and one on her journey around the world.

“I said I could and I would. And I did.” – Nellie Bly.

Sources:

1. Biographics

2. Wikipedia

3. The Atlantic