It was on this day in 1890 that the remarkable and almost too amazing to be believed, but carefully documented, so very much believed Nellie Bly arrives home after a seventy-two day race around the world, besting the fictional Phileas Fogg by eight days.
Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, who wrote under the name Nellie Bly had already cut her adventure journalist teeth by faking her way into the notorious Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island and writing a devastating expose of the cruel conditions there.
She would go on to marry a millionaire, may or may not have invented the 55-gallon oil drum still in use today (she did hold the patent, but there are challenges to whether she actually did it), did invent a milk can and a stacking garbage can, made her own fortune, lost it all, and returned to journalism before dying in 1922.
I get tired just reading of her exploits.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In