Pennsylvania USA Today Network Editorial Board
Armstrong County native Nellie Bly helped give rise to investigative journalism when, in 1887, she feigned mental illness to gain entry to the Women s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell s Island in New York City s East River. The 23-year-old Bly spent 10 days in the asylum and emerged with a harrowing expose on brutality and neglect for the New York World newspaper. Reforms followed.
Two years later, in another project for The World, Bly set what was then a record by circling the globe in 72 days. She traveled alone mostly via railroads and steamships.
Her husband s death in 1903 left her in charge of a manufacturing company where she went on to patent a number of related innovations.
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