NELLIE BLY (Elizabeth J. Cochrane), one of the most famous reporters in history, set forth on this date in 1889 in her well-publicized attempt to make it around the world in less than the 80 days used by Jules Verne’s fictional Phileas Fogg. She was 25 years old.
The newspaper employing Nellie at the time was the New York World, with part of the value of Bly’s stunt being publicity for that paper, which heavily emphasized the word “world” in the story’s headlines.
Nellie succeeded in her goal, making it around the world in 72 days, 6 hours and was greeted by raucous fans at a New Jersey train station on January 25th, 1890. Bly did a promotional visit with the politely accommodating Jules Verne during her adventure.
By the time Nellie suggested the escapade to the editors at the World, she was already famous for an 1887 bit of investigative journalism in which she went undercover as an inmate at New York’s Women’s Lunatic Asylum. The resulting expose – Ten Days in a Madhouse – revealed the cruel, inhumane treatment of inmates in the facility.
In 1893 Nellie was permitted to interview female serial killer Lizzie Halliday, the first woman sentenced to death in the electric chair. Bly also wrote eleven novels which were long considered lost until copies surfaced in 2021! Yes, just three years ago!
Nellie continued blazing trails, succeeding her ailing husband in running his Iron Clad Manufacturing Company. Bly added inventing to her accomplishments when she secured two patents for industrial design.
The extraordinary Nellie covered the Women’s Suffrage Parade in 1913 and was a war correspondent during World War One. On January 27th, 1922 Bly died of pneumonia.
Balladeer's Blog 
Pingback: NELLIE BLY STARTED HER TRIP AROUND THE WORLD: NOVEMBER 14th, 1889 – El Noticiero de Alvarez Galloso
Logged, thank you sir!
This is a super cool post. I wonder if her lost novels will be published at some point? She sounds like a really brave and inspirational lady. I learn so much here; your blog is like an awesome treasure-trove of curiosities, it’s great! 😀
Thank you for such a nice comment! It helps keep me motivated! The novels were found in serial form from old publications and were compilied. I am still researching them and as soon as I can will make a blog post about them and where they can be bought or read for free online at archived issues of those old publications!
Great posts as always. I have never heard about Nellie Bily before but as always found your post to be highly engaging. Bily is an inspiring feminist icon of her time that forever changed the world for women. She seems to be an engaging person that left behind a lasting legacy. While I don’t know about other similar historical figures, she did bring to mind characters from movies. There have been many great movies made that feature strong female heroines that bear similarities to Nellie Bly. For instance, she reminded me a lot of Enola Holmes. Henry Cavill’s movie did a great job of reimagining Sherlock Holmes from a feminist perspective. One of my favourite films of 2020.
Here’s why I recommend it:
Thanks! I never saw Enola Holmes.
Extraordinary woman! Nellie Bly !👍
You know it! Thank you!
💐
😀