Nellie Bly wrote for the THE WORLD from October 9, 1887 to February 23, 1896. Special thanks to the newspaper and microfilm archives at University of California Berkeley’s Doe Library. Please return as additional articles will be posted.
1889 – 1890
In 1889, Nellie Bly had a devoted following and her name featured in the title of many of her World articles. However, by the beginning of 1890, she was a world-wide sensation! Included here are interviews with Helen Keller and heavyweight boxing champion John L. Sullivan; investigations into the treatment of prisoners and the trafficking of newborn babies; and a recounting of her historic trip around the world.
As a BONUS, also presented is Nellie’s first run at fiction – The Mystery of Central Park. Also published as a novel in 1889, its first appearance was as a serialized story in the evening edition of The World.
Listed below are the dates and titles for all of Nellie’s World articles from 1889 to 1890, along with the descriptive summary provided for each. Click on the “VIEW ARTICLE” button for images of these articles in their original newspaper setting. Special thanks to the staff at Doe Library at the University of California – Berkeley for their assistance in currating this material. Please return as more images of articles will be posted over time.
A complete collection of the 47 articles Nellie Bly wrote for The World during this time period can be found in THE NELLIE BLY COLLECTION: Volume IV – The World (1889-1890) coming soon from Xlibris Publishing.
January 13, 1889
WITH THE PRISON MATRONS
THEY TELL NELLIE BLY THAT WOMEN NEVER REFORM. – An Interesting Visit to the Big City Prisons and Talks with the Female Keepers—Matron Webb and Her Foundlings—Prisoners Who Return Again and Again—A Field Beyond the Reach of Charity.
January 20, 1889
THE VEILED PROPHETESS
NELLIE BLY HAS HER FORTUNE TOLD BY A MYSTERIOUS WITCH. – A Very Secretive Woman Who Imposes Upon the Superstitious, But Never Allows Her Face to be Seen—Strange Stories of Her Supposed Double Life—Who Is the Mysterious Clairvoyant?
February 3, 1889
WORKING GIRLS BEWARE
NELLIE BLY EXPOSES A SNARE FOR SWINDLING POOR WOMEN. – A CONTEMPTIBLE SCHEME TO ROB NEEDY GIRLS WHO SEEK EMPLOYMENT. – Heartless Women Who Promise to Find Work for Scarf-Makers and Lure Them Into Their Clutches—Demanding Pay for Instruction They Never Give, and, After Taking the Last Penny, Turning Them out with No Effort to Secure Employment—Sad Stories of the Wretched Swindle, from the Lips of Helpless Girls and Bereaved Mothers.
February 10, 1889
JOLLY AT THE FRENCH BALL
Nellie Bly Tells of the Frolics and Breeziness After Midnight – How the Policemen Winked at Wine Drinking and Took Nippers Themselves Behind the Door—Scenes in the Cloak Room—Young Women with Nimble Feet and Fantastic Gowns—A Scramble for Wraps.
February 17, 1889
DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND!
And Yet Laura Bridgman Has Accomplished Almost Miracles – Nellie Bly Visits the Most Remarkable Woman In The World – How Her Mind, Although Hidden as in a Sealed Tomb, Was Finally Reached—Every Sense but Touch Destroyed When She was Two Years Old—She Now Reads, Writes and Converses with Her Fingers—The Strange Story of Her Childhood—Dickens Marveled at Her Accomplishments—A Glance at the Institution for the Blind.
February 24, 1889
A REMARKABLE BLIND GIRL
Nellie Bly Visits A Child Who Rivals Laura Bridgman [Helen Keller]. – Although Only Nine Years Old and Deaf, Dumb and Blind, She Has Grown to Be a Bright, Intelligent Child—Her First Impressions from the Outside World—Her Astonishing Accomplishments.
February 24, 1889
NELLIE BLY A PRISONER
SHE HAS HERSELF ARRESTED TO GAIN ENTRANCE TO A STATION-HOUSE – JUST WHAT HAPPENS TO A GIRL AFTER THE POLICE SEIZE HER. – THE NEED OF MANY IMPROVEMENTS IN POLICE PRISONS CLEARLY SHOWN. – Taken from a Hotel on the Charge of Larceny and Locked Up in Capt. Riley’s Station-House—Detective Hayes in the Double Role of Policeman and Feminine Charmer—Compelled to Disrobe in a Room While the Officers Peeked Through a Crack in the Wall—Scenes in the Cell-Room During the Night—A Kind-Hearted Turnkey and Jolly Prisoners—Arraigned Before Judge Duffy at Jefferson Market and Discharged.
March 10, 1889
THE CABINET LADIES
Sketches and Portraits of the Wives of the New Secretaries – The Social Leaders at the Capitol as Seen by Nellie Bly – Personal Characteristics of the Wives of the Cabinet Officers – The Next Four Seasons Not Likely to Be Marked by Social Brilliancy – While Mrs. Blaine, as the Wife of the Premier, Will Rank Next to Mrs. Harrison, Her Popularity Will Not Be Great—Mrs. Windom Will Be a Social Light—The Empire State Will Be Represented by Mrs. Gen. Tracy and Her Daughter—The Wife of the Millionaire Postmaster-General and Her Liberal Charities—The Merry Family of Attorney-General Miller—Mrs. Rusk’s Long Experience in Public Life—The Literary Tastes of Mrs. Gen. Noble—Mrs. Proctor’s Strong Religious Views—Their Friends and Families.
March 31, 1889
ANOTHER WICKED SWINDLE
Nellie Bly Exposes A Fraud In Worthless Washing Machines. – A Miserable Trick to Induce Poor People to Send Their Money with the Promise of Big Rewards—Brazen Effrontery of the Swindlers—Letters from Poor Women Who Have Been Made Victims.
April 14, 1889
IRON-NERVED YOUNG WOMEN
NELLIE BLY WATCHES THEIR ANATOMICAL WORK IN A MEDICAL COLLEGE. – An Infirmary Built Up by the Efforts of Two Brave Women—An Institution Where Girls May Study Medicine with Hospital Practice—Ambitious Young Women Dissecting Subjects with Perfect Indifference.
April 21, 1889
AMONG THE VASSAR GIRLS
Nellie Bly Asks Why Men Are Not Admitted As Students – The Idea of Co-Education Is Not Popular with the Young Women—The President of the College Declares that “Vassar Girl Jokes” Have Done Great Harm—Facts About the Institution.
April 28, 1889
SHADOWED BY A DETECTIVE
NELLIE BLY MAKES A TEST OF THE PRIVATE SPY NUISANCE. – After Dogging Her Steps for Three Days the Hound Triumphantly Submits a Report to Her Supposed Husband—Keeping His Victim Always in Sight—How Evidence is Secured for Divorce Suits.
May 12, 1889
FEMALE USURER’S TRICK
NELLIE BLY EXPOSES ONE OF THE SECRETS OF A DIAMOND SHOP. – Loaning Money Without A License To Actresses And Rich Women. – Very Glad To Advance $175 on Miss Bly’s $600 Bracelet, if Assured that She Was a Safe Customer—After a Satisfactory Identification the Loan is Made—Something of Mrs. Theresa. Lynch’s Past History—Sixty Per Cent. Per Annum on Loans—A Branch of Her Broadway Business Which Has Made Mrs. Lynch Rich.
May 19, 1889
MRS. ALLEN’S FREE DINNERS
Hungry Stomachs Filled at the Back Door of the Hotel Hamilton – Nellie Bly Writes of a Practical Charity Which Gives a Square Meal to All Who Ask, Without the Usual Red Tape—What the Free Feed Costs—A Good Result of Mr. Allen’s Liberality.
May 26, 1889
NELLIE BLY AND SULLIVAN
She Pinches His Muscles and Inspects His Training Quarters. – HE EXTENDS HIS HANDS FOR EXAMINATION AND MEEKLY ANSWERS ALL QUESTIONS. – A Visit to the Champion at Trainor Muldoon’s Farm at Belfast, N.Y., Where He Is Getting Himself in Trim for Kilrain—Mr. Sullivan Tells What He Is Doing and Remarks that Training Is Worse than Fighting—Amusing Dialogue on How It Feels to Hit and to Be Hit in the Proze Ring—Positively His Last Fight—Breakfast and Dinner with the Big Fellow—A Glimpse of His Quarters and Well-Equipped Fistic Workshop.
June 2, 1889
IN THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY
NELLIE BLY VISITS THE SURVIVORS OF JOHN HUMPHREY NOYE’S FLOCK. – No Longer Seeking After Happiness or Discarding Marriage. – The Strange History of the Devoted Little Band Who Believed that Death and Marriage Were the Great Enemies to Perfect Happiness on Earth—Driven Out of Puritanical Vermont, They Settled in Oneida, Where the Seeds of Discord Were Sewn by Meddlesome Clergymen—Abandoning Their Early Beliefs for a Co-Operative Society to Make Money—How the Community Is Now Operated.
June 9, 1889
NELLIE BLY AT WEST POINT
She Inspects the Tightly-Laced Young Cadets at Their Military Maneuvers.
June 23, 1889
NELLIE BLY ON A BICYCLE
NOT SO VERY HARD FOR A WOMAN TO RIDE THE WHEEL. – Taking Lessons in a Bicycle School with a Long-Suffering Trainer—Women, in Spite of Their Skirts, Learn More Readily than Men—Some Interesting Information About Bicycles and Their Riders.
June 28, 1889
WOMEN AND CRIME
INSPECTOR BYRNES TELLS NELLIE BLY SOME REMARKABLE THINGS. – He Says There’s a Female in Every Crime. – And that She’s “the Finest Tag that Can Be Put on a Criminal’s Shoulders.”
July 28, 1889
NELLIE BLY AND SULLIVAN
THE CAMPION TELLS THE STORY OF THE GREAT FIGHT. – Chatting Freely About the Battle and How He Won It. – Trainer Muldoon, happy as a Schoolmaster with His Favorite Pupil, Joins in the Conversation and Extols the Powers of the Champion—Kilrain Evidently Not Held in High Estimation—Sullivan Feeling No Ill-Effects from the Fight—Scenes at the Ringside as Sullivan Describes Them—The Big Rush for Trophies.
August 19, 1889
NELLIE BLY LEARNS TO SWIM
SHE KICKS AND SPLASHES IN A NATATORIUM TANK. – The Instructress of the Swimming School Straps Her to the End of a Rope and Gives the First Lesson—Great Fun Watching the Ambitious Pupils Who Are Afraid of the Water.
September 1, 1889
NELLIE BLY AT NEWPORT
A DAY AT THE FAMED RESORT AND AT NARRAGANSETT. – No Place For Anybody Without A Barrel of Money. – She Has a Stupid Time of It and Finds the Hotels Full of Lazy People, Who Read Novels All Day Long—A Drive in a Victoria at the Fashionable Hour—A Rush for the Dining-Rooms When the Dinner Bell Rings—The Bathing the Only Interesting Thing at the Pier.
September 8, 1889
NELLIE BLY AT SARATOGA
A DREARY VISIT TO THE SPRINGS AND A DAY AT BAR HARBOR. – Very Practical Views of the Two Famed Summer Resorts – A Tour of the Various Springs and a Taste of the Nauseous Waters of Each—The Spouting Spring that Never Spouts—Superstitious Drinkers Who Have Faith in the Water—The Summer Home of Aristocracy—Sleepy Bar Harbor, With No Place to Bathe—The Blaine Family at Home—A Drive is a Far Famed Mount Desert Buckboard.
September 22, 1889
IS ASTROLOGY A SCIENCE?
NELLIE BLY’S HOROSCOPE CAST BY FOUR SOLEMN STAR-GAZERS. – Ignorant Seers Who Predict Widely Different Futures. – A Very Simple Test of the Absurd Pretensions of Men and Women Who Prey Upon the Credulity of the Public—Happy Marriages, Prosperous Business, Good Luck and Inherited Wealth Foretold as a Matter of Course—Flattery the Essence of all Horoscopes—Miss Bly Born to Be a Milliner, Her Liver Out of Order and Various Other Revelations.
October 6, 1889
NELLIE BLY BUYS A BABY
AN INNOCENT CHILD SOLD INTO SLAVERY FOR TEN DOLLARS. – The Appalling Traffic In Human Flesh In New York. – Heartless Mothers and Grasping Midwives Who Barter Helpless Children for Money – Shocking Indifference of the Slave-Dealers as to What Becomes of the Little Ones – No Questions Asked – A Visit To The Midwife Who Sold The Bogus Hamilton Baby – Startling Facts Which Will Appeal to Every Loving Mother in the Land.
October 9, 1889
EVA HAMILTON’S STORY
SHE TALKS FULLY TO “NELLIE BLY” IN TRENTON STATE PRISON. – Remarkable Statements, If True, of Her Life Before And After Marriage. – SHE SAYS SHE DIDN’T WANT TO MARY HAMILTON, AND TELLS WHY. – The First Time She Has Been Able to Speak Freely With a Reporter and to Give Her Side of This Extraordinary Scandal and Romance—How She Met Robert Ray Hamilton, Married Him and Was Blackmailed by “Josh” Maun and His Mother—They Knew Her Past Life and Threatened to Tell Her Husband—He Did Not Believe Her Altogether Bad—She Was an Actress for a Year, and for a Time Was with the Florences—Untruths About Her Birth and Childhood—Her Married Life and Her Explanations About Her Baby and the Other Babies—Why She Didn’t Tell This Story on Her Trial—Her Diamonds.
October 11, 1889
MRS. HAMILTON’S “OWN” BABY
HER QUEER STORY OF HOW AND WHERE IT WAS BORN—HER LIFE IN PRISON.
October 20, 1889
NELLIE BLY’S MANY DOUBLES
An Extraordinary Story of Masqueraders Under Her Name – Peculiar Conduct of the Imposters – They Flirt, Make Love to Strangers, Pose as Notorieties and Run Up Dressmaking Bills for the Real Nellie Bly to Pay—As a Matter of Fact Nellie Bly Never Uses That Name Except to Sign Her Articles in “The World”—Curious Story of Imposture that Reads Like a Chapter of a Novel.
October 27, 1889
NELLIE BLY’S DOCTORS
Seven Well-Known Physicians Disagree About Her Case! – “Dyspepsia,” Says Dr. Francis Delafield, of No. 12 West 32d Street – “Malaria,” Says Dr. Meyer; “All Stomach Trouble,” Says Dr. McNutt – “Shattered Nerves,” “Defective Eyes,” “Neuralgia,” &c. – And the Doctors Were All Given the Same and Absolutely Truthful Symptoms – An Extraordinary Variety of Prescriptions Written by These Seven Reputable New York Physicians—The Adage that Doctors Disagree Illustrated in a Somewhat Startling Way—What Can Medical Science Say to This?—An Article of Peculiar Interest to Everybody.
November 10, 1889
NELLIE BLY’S 700 DOCTORS
A PERFECT ARMY OF WISEACRES COME TO HER RELIEF. – Queer Ways to Cure that Headache. – Her Experience with the Seven Distinguished New York Physicians Interested Everybody All Over the Country—Medicine Enough Received to Stock a Drug Store—The Question of Toast Diet vs. Five Meals a Day—Prescriptions Galore—An Onion the Best After All.
January 26, 1890
JERSEY BACK TO JERSEY
NELLIE BLY’S ACCOUNT OF HER METEORIC RUSH AROUND THE WORLD. – The long, detailed and interesting story of Nellie Bly’s trip around the world given herewith was dictated while the globe-girdler was speeding from Chicago to New York at the rate of nearly fifty miles an hour. The telling of the story was interrupted by scores and scores of incidents of the trip and was diversified by hand-shakings, congratulations and cheers.
February 2, 1890
NELLIE BLY’S STORY
Four Chapters of the Detailed Account of Her Tour. – FROM NEW YORK TO AMIENS. – The Sudden Assignment and the Hurried Departure on the Augusta Victoria. – LIFE ON THE OCEAN STEAMER. – The Rush to London and the Detour to Meet Verne. – Interesting Particulars of the First Stages of the Exciting Journey—Miss Bly a Temporary Victim of Mal de Mer—Delightful Features of the Transatlantic Passage—Meeting “The World” Representative at Southampton—The Glimpse of London—Crossing the Channel—Meeting the Wizard of Amiens.
February 2, 1890
VISIT TO VERNE
Nellie Bly Describes Her Pleasant Experience at Amiens. – THE NOVELIST’S HEARTY RECEPTION. – “Seventy-five Days,” He Said, “and I Will Applaud.” – PARTING, HE CRIED “GOOD BACK.” – The Cosy Study of the Necromancer of Amiens—Phileas Fogg’s Route Traced on a Large Map in His Hallway—Mme. Verne’s Sympathetic Interest—She Kisses Nellie “Good-by” in the French Fashion—A Picturesque Visit to a Picturesque Couple.
February 16, 1890
ON A FRENCH TRAIN
Nellie Bly Describes Her Continental Journey by Rail. – HOW THE FRENCH DINE EN ROUTE. – They Are Polite, but Smoke All Over the Train. – SOME SOCIABLE ENGLISH WOMEN. – Singular Customs of Railroad Management—Handsome Uniforms of the Guards—The Duties of Those Functionaries—Traveling by the Adriatic Sea, but Unable to See It on Account of the Dense Fog—Miss Bly’s Fellow Passengers Consumed with Curiosity in Regard to Her Journey for “The World.”
February 23, 1890
HER LAST CHAPTER
NELLIE BLY’S INTERESTING FLIGHT THROUGH ORIENTAL REGIONS. – FIVE DAYS UNDER CEYLON’S PALMS. – The Temples and Gardens of Penang and Singapore—Riding in Jinrikishas, Sedans and Gherrys—Wonderful Sighs in China and Japan—The Mikado’s Palace—A Wild Ride Across America—Home Again, and All Records Broken!
THE MYSTERY OF CENTRAL PARK
July 19, 1889 – CHAPTER II
WHEREIN THE MYSTERY DEEPENS AND PENELOPE SETS A HARD TAK FOR DICK.
July 20, 1889 – CHAPTER III
WHEREIN DICK TREADWELL MEETS WITH ANOTHER ADVENTURE.
July 22, 1889 – CHAPTER IV
STORY OF THE GIRL WHO ATTEMPTED SUICIDE AT THE RESEVOIR.
July 23, 1889 – CHAPTER V
WHICH TELLS OF THE FAILURE OF THE STRIKE AND THE AWKWARD SITUATION IN WHICH DICK TREADWELL IS PLACED.
July 24, 1889 – CHAPTER VI
THE MISSING SISTER LUCILLE—DICK FINDS THAT HE IS “SHADOWED.”
July 25, 1889 – CHAPTER VII
TOLMAN BIKE.
July 26, 1889 – CHAPTER VIII
A CLUE TO THE SUICIDE’S IDENTITY.
July 26, 1889 – CHAPTER VIII
A CLUE TO THE SUICIDE’S IDENTITY.
July 27, 1889 – CHAPTER IX
ONE AND THE SAME.
July 29, 1889 – CHAPTER X
“LET ME HAVE UNTIL TO-MORROW.”
July 30, 1889 – CHAPTER XI
CONFESSION.
July 31, 1889 – CHAPTER XII
SUNLIGHT THROUGH THE CLOUDS.
