Nellie Bly's Biggest Stories

One of her important stories was called Ten Days in the Madhouse. This story was about Nellie bly going undercover into an insane asylum. She went in as a mentally ill girl. When she was in there she observed actions of the workers and the people in there by getting some interviews. A very important quote by her is a quote she used in this article she wrote. "The water was ice-cold and I again began to protest. . . . My teeth chattered and my limbs were goose-fleshed and blue with cold. Suddenly I got, one after the other, three buckets of water over my head — ice-cold water, too, into my eyes, my ears, my nose, and my mouth. I think I experienced some of the sensations of a drowning person as they dragged me, gasping, shivering, and quaking, from the tub. For once I did look insane. . . ." Nellie Bly figured out that the workers physically abused the patients, fed them bug infested food, and family members put them in there when they weren't even mentally ill.

Another important story that Nellie Bly wrote was called Around the World. In 1889 Nellie Bly decided she needed some adventure. She proposed that she was going to try and beat the record for traveling around the world in 80 days. the newspaper said that they should just send a man because they don't need an escort and they have less luggage. Well she was angry so she said this, "Very well. Start the man and i'll start the same day for some other newspaper and i will beat him." This quote was famous because she got the assignment. This is showing that her words are powerful and she stands for girls rights. So she went on this journey accross the world, with no escort and a single luggage case and a coat. In some instinses she almost missed steamships, buts she pulled through and made it around the world in 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes. She beat the old record by more than a week.

Nellie Bly's Accomplishments

Nellie Bly earned her reputation by going from newspaper to newspaper doing investigative journalism. She would go undercover and and do research and actually experience her stories which is why she was known as the "best reporter in America." Nellie Bly was one of the first women journalists to make history. They even made a amusement park named after her. Nellie Bly sailed around the world in 72 days. She wrote a book about her journey to show everyone what she went through. She went undercover in many dangerous situations to help out the people in her community. She always put her self in potentially harmful situations just to get that perfect story. She basically created her own news.

My Sources

• http://home.att.net/~gapehenry/NellieBly.html--Click here to read more about Nellie Bly.
• http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAWbly.htm--Click here to read more of Nellie Bly's background.
• http://www.google.com/search?q=nellie+bly's+accomplishments&hl=en&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=i4uCS7u8Jcf-nAeStf2SBw&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11&ved=0CDoQ5wIwCg--Click here to read more about Nellie Bly's accomplishments.
• http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4961--Click here to veiw more about Nellie Bly's most famous articles.
• http://www.east-buc.k12.ia.us/00_01/WH/acs/acs.htm--Click here to read about Nellie Bly's accomplishements.

Background Of Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly was born on May 5, 1864 in Apollo Pennsylvania. Her original name is Jane Cochrane but she just goes by Nellie Bly which came from the Stephan Foster song "Nelly Bly." Nellie wasn't a very good student in school but some how she developed a passion for writing. The Bly family was pretty poor so when Nellie turned sixteen she traveled to Pittsburgh looking for a job realizing that it is hard for women to get jobs and if there was they were very low paying. In 1885 there was an article written in a newspaper by a man who thought women were only good for housework and Nellie was really mad so she wrote a letter to the editor explaining her frustrations. Well the editor gave her a job to write an article on the normal lives of women. She wrote her piece and it was really good and they were very impressed so he hired her a job for full time as a news reporter. She wrote stories about child labour in factories and ect. She went undercover for a lot of her stories. She also added in her stories ways these things could be solved. Companies got mad at her for attacking them so the editor had to put her on a different section of stories. She wasn't happy so she moved to Mexico where there she wrote stories about poverty. When the government found out about her they ordered her out of the country. in 1887 she got hired to work at another newspaper called the New York World. Nellie retired from writing and married Robert Seaman in 1895. He was a millionaire and died in 1905 so Nellie decided to take over the companies. But when the first World War broke out she moved to go report on it. But Nellie died of pneumonia in New York on January 27, 1922.