Nellie Bly of The New York World

Negative commentary on Nellie Bly's stint in the Asylum for Women on Blackwell's Island.

Description

A gathering of the undercover and experiential reporting of Elizabeth Cochrane, later Seaman, who wrote under the pen name of Nellie Bly.

Authors

Subjects

Effects and Outcomes

It was Bly's handful of undercover pieces for the New York World from 1887 to 1889, starting with her madhouse exposé, that made her a journalistic legend. She also did interviews (Emma Goldman), features, extensive reportage on the Pullman Strike, and even spent a couple of years as a columnist under the leadership of her old friend Arthur Brisbane, for the New York Evening Journal.

Media History

The reporting was intended for these media types: Newspaper, Book

Follow-Up: "New York" - RCS - Philadelphia Medical Times

Incrustation of Tube in Intubation; Insane Asylum Management; Society Notes

1887-11-15

". . .The fact that she pretended insanity would have been sufficient reason for keeping her for a time under observation. But there is a popular impression that once declared insane, always insane; and once played in an asylum, always to remain in an asylum. . ."