Ten days spent inside the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island defined the journalistic career of Elizabeth Jane Cochran, known professionally as Nellie Bly. By feigning insanity to infiltrate the facility, she exposed institutional brutality and neglect, ultimately driving significant reforms while pioneering a new, immersive style of investigative reporting that challenged traditional boundaries for women in the press.
Early Career in Pittsburgh
Born on May 5, 1864, in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Jane Cochran began her professional life by challenging gender stereotypes. After writing a letter to the Pittsburgh Dispatch criticizing a column titled "What Girls Are Good For," she was hired by editor George Madden. Writing under the pen name Nellie Bly—a mistake by the editor who intended to use the name from a Stephen Foster song—she produced investigative pieces on working conditions for women in factories. Seeking deeper autonomy, she later traveled to Mexico as a foreign correspondent, where she reported on local customs and criticized the regime of Porfirio Díaz before fleeing to avoid arrest.
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Upon arriving in New York City in 1887, Bly eventually secured an assignment with Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, the New York World. To gain entry into the Women's Lunatic Asylum, she successfully deceived police, a judge, and a doctor by feigning mental illness. Once inside, she abandoned her act and observed the hostile, cold conditions and the mistreatment of immigrant patients. Her release was secured by an attorney from The World after ten days. Her subsequent reporting, published on October 9, 1887, and later as the book Ten Days in a Mad-House, created a national sensation and led to tangible institutional improvements.
Circumnavigation and Later Work
Beyond investigative journalism, Bly is noted for a record-breaking trip around the world completed in 72 days, an endeavor intended to emulate the fictional journey of Phileas Fogg. In addition to her roles as a writer and traveler, she worked as an entrepreneur and inventor. Her later career included an exclusive 1893 interview with the suspected serial killer Lizzie Halliday. Throughout her life, her work remained firmly rooted in the English language and the United States, culminating in her induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998.
Fast facts
- Born: 1864, Burrell Township, Pennsylvania
- Died: 1922, New York City
- Notable Work: Ten Days in a Mad-House
- Notable Feat: Circumnavigation in 72 days
- Pseudonym: Nellie Bly
- Burial Site: Woodlawn Cemetery
Questions readers ask
How did Nellie Bly enter the asylum?
She checked into a boarding house and feigned symptoms of mental instability until authorities committed her to Bellevue Hospital and subsequently Blackwell's Island.
What was the significance of her early journalism?
She utilized undercover tactics to expose poor working conditions for women in factories and advocated for the reform of divorce laws.
Achievements
- Notable work: Ten Days in a Mad-House
