| Born May 5, 1864, to Judge Michael Cochran and Mary Jane Kennedy Cochran, part of the large Cochran family of Apollo, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Jane Cochrane revolutionized journalism for women. She is better known by her pen name, "Nellie Bly," which she took from a Stephen Foster song. Daring and innovative, she gained world fame when she beat Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg's record for traveling around the world in 80 days by more than a week, departing on November 14, 1889 and returning to New York on January 25, 1890. Nellie's trip was featured in a board game, "Around the World with Nellie Bly," and on numerous Victorian trade cards. Songwriter Joe Hart wrote "Globe Trotting Nellie Bly" in honor of her trip.
Nellie Bly started her career as a journalist in Pittsburgh, when she wrote a letter to the editor of The Pittsburg Dispatch in response to a column called "Women's Sphere", and signed the letter "Lonely Orphan Girl". Impressed by her forthright style, Editor George Madden published an announcement on January 17, 1885, asking "Lonely Orphan Girl" to send her name and address to the office. |
