Nellie Bly is a pioneering female journalist best known for her 72-day trip around the world and exposé on the conditions of asylum patients on New York City’s Blackwell’s Island. Nellie Bly is also a writer, inventor, and businesswoman.

How much is the net worth of Nellie Bly?

Timothy Hines directed the film ’10 Days in a Madhouse,’ which depicts Bly’s harrowing experience in the asylum, in 2015. In 2019, another thriller film based on her undercover experience at the asylum, titled ‘Escaping the Mad House,’ was released. The total net worth of Nellie Bly is almost around $1.5 Million.

Childhood and Early Life of Nellie Bly

Nellie Cochran was born on May 5, 1864, as Elizabeth Mary Jane Cochran. Her birthplace, “Cochran’s Mills,” is now a neighborhood in Pittsburgh. In the 1790s, the Conchrans moved from County Londonderry, Ireland. Michael Cochran, Elizabeth’s father, used to work as a laborer and mill worker.

However, he went on to work as a merchant, postmaster, and associate justice at Cochran’s Mills. Michael’s second wife was Elizabeth’s mother, Mary Jane. He married her after his first wife, Catherine Murphy, died. Elizabeth had four brothers and sisters, as well as ten half-siblings.

Pinky, as Nellie was known as a child for frequently wearing that color, changed her surname to “Cochrane” when she reached the age of adolescence. She even went to a boarding school but had to drop out after her father died. She later enrolled at Indiana Normal School.

She then enrolled in a small college in Indiana. However, due to the financial crisis, she was unable to continue her education. As a result, in 1880, she and her family relocated to Pittsburgh, where she and her mother opened a boarding house.

Nellie Bly’s Workplace life

Bly gained attention for her writing after submitting a raunchy response to an editorial piece published in the Pittsburgh Dispatch. Erasmus Wilson’s editorial “What Girls Are Good For” declared girls to be limited in domestic duties. George Madden, the paper’s managing editor, was impressed by Bly’s response to the article. In exchange, he offered her a full-time position.

Bly began writing for the Pittsburgh Dispatch under the pen name “Nellie Bly” in 1885. It comes from Stephan Foster’s well-known song “Nelly Bly.” She emphasized the importance of women’s rights and the consequences of gender inequality as a reporter for the ‘Pittsburgh Dispatch.’ She presented articles about divorced women, female factory workers, and their plight. After receiving complaints from factory owners, she was transferred to the women’s page to cover fashion, society, and gardening. That’s when she decided she wanted to pursue a more meaningful career. As a result, she decided to travel to Mexico and work as a foreign correspondent. She spent six months in Mexico learning about and reporting on the locals. She even chastised the Mexican government for incarcerating a local journalist. When the authorities learned about her article, they threatened her with arrest. As a result, she fled to the United States.

Exposé on Asylum

After leaving the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1887, she relocated to New York and began working for the New York World. One of her previous assignments was to conduct an undercover investigation into the experiences of patients at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island in New York City. For this, she pretended to be a mental patient and spent ten days in the Asylum. She witnessed and experienced neglect and physical abuse firsthand. She returned and published the exposé in ‘the world.’ She later went on to write and publish the best-selling book ‘Ten Days in a Madhouse.’ It not only made her famous, but it also prompted the asylum to implement reforms.

Following the Blackwell exposé, Bly continued his investigative work in a similar vein. Her major reports have included allegations of corruption in the state legislature as well as improper treatment of individuals in New York jails and factories.

All over the world

Bly decided to break the fictitious record set by Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days. So she requested that her editor at the New York World take her on a trip around the world. On November 14, 1889, she set sail from New Jersey aboard the Augusta Victoria, a steamer of the Hamburg America Line. She visited the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. Throughout her journey, she sent progress updates. On January 25, 1890, she returned to New Jersey after 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes, setting a real-world record.

Bly was given an internal award for completing her months-long project. In 1890, she published a book called ‘Around the World in Seventy-Two Days.’

Industrialist

Following her marriage to industrialist Robert Seaman, a world-famous journalist retired and took over her husband’s Iron-Clad Manufacturing Co. She rose to prominence as a leading female industrialist after inventing a novel milk can and a stacking garbage can. Under her married name, Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, she held a US patent for both inventions.

During his tenure as CEO, Bly implemented significant social reforms in the industry, allowing employees to enjoy a variety of benefits. However, the company eventually went bankrupt, and Bly returned to the newspaper industry. She used to work for the New York Evening Journal, where she covered events like World War I and the women’s suffrage movement.

Nominations and Awards of Nellie Bly

Bly had done an outstanding job during her lifetime. Even after her decline, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998. Furthermore, she was one of four journalists honored with a U.S. postage stamp in a 2002 “Women in Journalism” set.

Aside from that, films have been made based on her life experiences. Timothy Hines directed the film ’10 Days in a Madhouse,’ which depicts Bly’s harrowing experience in the asylum, in 2015. In 2019, another thriller film based on her undercover experience at the asylum, titled ‘Escaping the Mad House,’ was released.

Relationship of Nellie Bly

In 1895, Bly married millionaire manufacturer Robert Seaman, who was 73 at the time. She was only 31 years old at the time. Due to her husband’s health issues, Bly was forced to take care of him and his business. Unfortunately, Robert died after only 9 years of marriage.

Death of Nellie Bly

On January 27, 1922, America lost one of its greatest investigative journalists. Bly died of pneumonia at St. Mark’s Hospital in New York City at the age of 57. She was laid to rest in New York City’s Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.

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