November 14, 2009

Nellie Bly

In the first place, names like Nellie Bly don’t seem to exist today. It’s a pity too; they’re so picturesque. Nellie was born Elizabeth Jane Cochrane on May 5th of 1864. Little did her good mother know that her baby girl would set the world on its ear by doing All the things a proper young lady of the 19th century was not supposed to do!

She apparently wanted to write, and sent a letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch which impressed him immensely. She was hired and used the nom de plume Nellie Bly. The story is that she took the name from the Stephen Foster song (Nelly Bly! Nelly Bly! bring de broom along, We'll sweep de kitchen clean, my dear, and hab a little song.). Soon after, she accepted a job with the New York World, where she proved herself a muckraker of the first order. Among other things, our Nellie checked herself into an insane asylum and when she came out, she wrote about the horrid conditions therein.

Of all the things she did, Nellie is most remembered for her stunt to go around the world in 72 days, thereby breaking the record set by one Phileas Fogg – Jules Verne’s charming creation in his novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Of course, Nellie didn’t have to stop and rescue any princesses so she made 8 extra days right there!

She set off on this journey on November 14, 1889; 120 years ago today. She was 25 years old. Kinda makes you realize how little you've accomplished, n'est pa?.

—Jessie Lilley