* 5-05-1867 - † 27-01-1922

Nelly Bly was the pen name of Elizabeth Cochran, born May 5, 1867 and died January 27, 1922, an American journalist whose exposes and daring exploits made her a prototype of the star woman  reporter. Cochran took her pen name from a Stephen  Foster song after she began work for the Pittsburgh Dispatch in the early 1880s, writing about such subjects as divorce and slum life. In 1887 she became famous overnight when, as a reporter for the New York World, Bly faked insanity to get inside an asylum to write an expose of its dismal conditions. Her reports were  published in Ten Days in a Mad House (1887). Her most publicized feat was  beating the time of Phileas Fogg, Jules Verne's imaginary heo, for an around-the-world trip. She recorded her adventures in Nellie Bly's Book: Around the World in 72 Days (1890; repr. 1992).

Starting on November 14, 1889, she returned to New York on January 26, 1890, setting a record of 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes. Readers of the New York World newspaper were invited to guess the time it would take her to complete the trip.  Over 1.000.000 entered the contest.

In 1895 she married Robert Seaman, a wealthy businessman, Donald H.Johnston.                                             

Bibliography:

Rittenhouse, Mignon,

The Amazing Nelly Bly (1956; repr.1977)