1894 - 1896
In this chapter of her life, Nellie Bly would complete her tenure with Joseph Pulitzer at The World in exemplary fashion. She begins by writing on the conditions of the poor in a New York tenement along with along with the excesses of the rich summering in Saratoga. Nellie would then travel to Nebraska to write about the conditions of destitute families suffering through a terrible drought. She would then finish with articles focusing on the woman’s suffrage movement featuring interviews with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
Listed below are the dates and titles for all of Nellie’s World articles from mid-1894 to 1896, along with the descriptive summary provided for each. Click on the “VIEW ARTICLE” button for downloadable images of these articles in their original newspaper setting. Please return as more images of articles will be posted over time. Special thanks to the staff at Doe Library at the University of California – Berkeley for their assistance in curating this material.
A complete collection of the 31 articles Nellie Bly wrote for The World during this time period will be available in THE NELLIE BLY COLLECTION: Volume VI – The World (1894-1896). Coming soon from Xlibris Publishing.
August 1, 1894
BYRNES AND NELLIE BLY
He Tells Her All and She Enlightens Him Considerably. – THE FIRST AMONG DETECTIVES. – This He Cannot Deny, But His Only Joy in & Year Is Five Days in a Catboat. – HE ISN’T AFRAID TO FACE ANYBODY. – The Qualities Which Make a Perfect Detective About the Same as Those Which Make a Perfect Angel—No Dreaming or Reading for Him.
August 3, 1894
NELLIE BLY TO THE YOUNG
Don’t Smoke Cigarettes, for ‘Tis a Vicious Vice; Learn from the Noble Horse and the Knowing Pup. – MULDOON TELLS HER SOME STORIES. – The Fat Man Should Wince with Shame as He Reads Her Tale of the Twin Dinner.
August 5, 1894
IN THE BIGGEST NEW YORK TENEMENT
Nellie Bly Spends the Two Hottest Days of the Year in the largest “Double-Decker” in Town. – 3,532 PEOPLE IN THE BLOCK. – One Family Occupying Only Three Rooms Have Eight Boarders and Lodgers. – SLEEPING ON THE FIRE-ESCAPES. – No Scenes of Disturbance of Disorder Among the Throngs of Over-Crowded Tenants. – STRANGE PHASES OF LIFE IN A BOG CITY. – An Interesting Chat with the Janitress of the Big Double-Decker Tenement-House.
August 12, 1894
NELLIE BLY SPARS WITH CORBETT
Four Rattling Rounds For Blood with the Champion Pugilist According to Prize-Ring Rules. – MULDOON THE REFEREE. – Bly Draws Blood First and Keeps the Champion on the Run by Her Fierce Upper-Cuts. – CORBETT GROGGY BUT GAME. – They Clinch, with Great Infighting by Bly, and Then She Lands on His Optic and Sends Him to Earth. – JAMES J. UNABLE TO RESPOND. – Glad the Championship Stays in America and Bears the Winner No Ill-Will.
August 19, 1894
OUR WICKEDEST SUMMER RESORT
Nellie Bly Pictures the Wild Vortex of Gambling and Betting by Men, Women and Children at Saratoga. – MONEY-MAD BY DAY AND BY NIGHT. – The Shameful Story of Vice and Crime, Dissipation and Profligacy at This Once Most Respectable Watering-Place. – LITTLE CHILDREN WHO PLAY THE HORSES. – Reputable and Disreputable Women, Solid Merchants, Bankers, Sports, Touts, Criminals and Race-Track Riff-Raff Crazed by the Mania for Gold. – “CALE” MITCHELL, VILLAGE PRESIDENT AND BOSS GAMBLER. – His Astonishing Admissions of Saratoga’s Reckless Lawlessness—Church Member and Giver to Charity—Rise of the Racing Czar Walbaum, and Guttenburg Ideas of Night Scenes in the Gaming Sport-Rooms and Hotels.
September 15, 1894
GOV. ALTGELD A SICK MAN
He Informs Nellie Bly that He is Threatened with Nervous Collapse. – IN DANGER OF LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA. – Western Doctors Talked to Him of Death, So He Came On to This City to Consult Experts. – HIS LIVE VIEWS ON TIMELY TOPICS. – This Sad-Faced Man Cares Not Much for Life as He Finds It, but Shows that His Heart Sides with Humanity.
September 16, 1894
GOV. ALTGELD AT THE ZOO
Nellie Bly Shows Him How Birds and Animals Are Tortured There. – SIGHTS THAT SICKENED HIS HEART. – “Come Away,” He Said; “I Cannot Bear to Witness Any More of This Needless Suffering.” – MISMANAGEMENT ON EVERY HAND. – Words of Praise for The World’s Fight in the Interest of Humanity Uttered by Illinois’s Executive.
September 17, 1894
CRUELTIES AT THE ZOO
Supt. Haines, of the S. P. C. A. Investigating Cases of Mismanagement. – NELLIE BLY’S SHARP QUESTIONS. – Instances of Neglect of Animals Well Known, but the Law Limits the Society’s Remedial Powers. – TIME ASKED TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS. – Elephant House and the Bear Pits Regarded as the Most Inadequate—How Mr. Haines Would Have Then Changed.
November 11, 1894
NELLIE BLY AND A SPIRITUALIST
She Exposes a Notorious Fraud Who Robs the Credulous by Calling Up Bogus Spirits. – EASY DUPES IN EVERY BIG CITY EAST AND WEST. – The “Prince of Fakirs” Neatly Trapped by Miss Bly, Who Finds Him Working His Clumsy Tricks in an Uptown Flat.
November 25, 1894
HOW A BOWERY TRAMP GOT INTO SOCIETY
Nellie Bly Has a Talk with Mr. John Garvey, The Knight of the Road Who Slept in Mr. Astor’s Bed. – A Mystery as to What He was Doing There – John Jacob Astor Believes that There Was Some Scheme of Burglary on Hand and He Means to Find Out About It – Garvey’s Pedigree.
DECEMBER 3, 1894
MRS. GRANNIS IN TIGHTS
Nellie Bly Calls on Her and Sees the Silk garments Which She Wears. – SAYS LOW-NECK GOWNS ARE NOT NICE. – Honest in Her Opinions, She Tells How a Mission Man Changed Her Old Ideas. – SHE WILL NOT START A CRUSADE. – For Years the Youth Were Instructed by Her, and the Purity League Will Get Her House Some Day.
December 9, 1894
NELLIE BLY AND THOMAS C. PLATT
The Big Republican “Boss” Chats About Himself, of Politics and of Dr. Parkhurst, His Pastor. – HE DECLARES HE IS ONLY AN ORDINARY REPUBLICAN. – Believes In Woman Suffrage, Ambitious to See the Republicans Restored to Power and Wishes Office-Seekers Would Give Him A Rest.
December 17, 1894
IN TRINITY’S TENEMENTS
Nellie Bly Visits Many Miserable Homes Owned by That Corporation. – WRETCHEDNESS AND SQUALOR. – Outrageous Rents for Filthy Dens in Foul, Rickety, Leaky, Unsanitary Hovels. – DEATH, TOO, LURKS IN MANY OF THEM. – You Will Learn Here Something About the Real Life of Dismal New York.
December 31, 1894
NELLIE BLY – MRS. GOULD
The One Tells How the Other Rose from a Poor Girl to Be a Leader. – ONLY THREE ROUNDS IN HER LADDER. – First the Stage, Then Charitable Work, and Then That Famous Stroke Buying the Vigilant. – SHE WAS NOT A PRETTY GIRL, BUT GOOD. – And She early Learned to Dress in Taste and Always Made Herself Agreeable, Wherein Lies the Moral.
January 20, 1895
NELLIE BLY IN JAIL
Chats with Eugene Victor Debs, the Imprisoned Labor Leader. – HOW HE AND COMRADES PASS TIME. – They Lead Rather a Jolly Life Telling Stories, Reading and Enjoying Good Meals. – DEBS GLAD THAT HE IS NOT RICH. – He Would Rather Be an Orator than to Be a Millionaire, For He Thinks the Wealthy Are Objects of Pity.
January 28, 1895
NELLIE BLY WITH THE STARVING NEBRASKANS
Misery and Desolation on Every Side, Where the Failure of the Crops Made Paupers of Tillers of the Soil. – CATTLE AND TOOLS SOLD FOR FOOD. – Honest Folks There Need Help More Than Do the Savages, Whose Wants the Bountiful Are Constantly Relieving.
February 2, 1895
AS NELLIE BLY SAW IT
Her Day of Observation of Brooklyn’s Great Trolly Railroad Strike. – VISITED STRIKERS IN THEIR HOMES. – She Saw the New Men’s Barracks and the Questionable Food Served to Them. – COMMENDATION OF STRIKERS’ WIVES. – Men Tell Her of the Hardships of the Trolley Service, Why They Struck and Why They Hope to Win in the End.
February 3, 1895
NELLIE BLY ROUGHING IT
Little but Misery in the State of Nebraska, the Home of Droughts. – FARMERS CAN’T EARN A LIVING. – South Dakota Is Another State That Is Averse to Producing a Livelihood. – INVITED TO EAT A DOG DINNER. – Contributions for the Destitute Sold Instead of Being Given Away—The Brakemen Who Was Too Sociable.
February 4, 1895
LAND OF THE DESTITUTE
Nellie Bly’s Literal Picture of the Drought-Stricken West. – EIGHT FAMILIES IN TEN IN NEED. – Life Barely Kept from Extinction in Many Households, Nothing More. – BUT THE WORST IS YET TO BE FEARED. – One Small Snowstorm Would Kill the Already Starving Cattle and End All Hopes.
February 11, 1895
NELLIE BLY SEES MISERY
She Goes Among The Starving People in the State of Nebraska. – BEEF EXTRACT GREATLY NEEDED. – Hundreds of Families Who Have Little Else than Fresh Air on Which to Food. – SUGGESTIONS AS TO WHAT TO SEED. – Pathetic Experience of a Man Who Makes His Home in a Hole in the Ground and Who Is in Hard Luck.
February 13, 1895
THE WISH TO OWN A HOME
Nellie Bly Finds It the Cause of Most of the Western Suffering. – POOR PEOPLE TAKE SORE CHANGES – Many, Having Persevered Until They Lost All, Are Now Slowly Starving To Death. – ONE SAD EXAMPLE OF LAZY UNTHRIFT. – Four and Water as a Diet for Sick Folks and Well – Fruitless Quest for an Egg – Pitiful Fortitude.
February 18, 1895
MIND-READING A TRICK
Nellie Bly Secures a Plain Confession from Abdullah. – SUCCESSFUL EXPERIEMENTS. – Learned His Art from W. Irving Bishop While Crossing the Ocean. – WILL SELL IT TO ALL WHO WILL BUY. – It Supports His Family in Germany, and He Has Made It a Partial Power for Good. – DOMESTIC HAPPINESS HE HAS SECURED. – His Own Method of Operation Explained to Him, to His Great Surprise, by a World Reporter.
December 20, 1895
GENTLE JUSTICE GIVEN
Nellie Bly Listens to Trials by Magistrate Wentworth in Yorkville Court. – KINDLY HEARING GRANTED ALL. – Good Advice Instead of Punishment Bestowed Upon Discordant Families. – PLEAS OF PRISONERS FOR MERCY. – A Wife Who Turned Out Her Husband, and a Mother Who Disowned Her Son.
January 13, 1896
UNIQUE MAYOR GLEASON
Nellie Bly Quizzes Him and Learns Much as to His Loves, Hates and Ambitions. – HIS HEART ROMANCE OF LONG AGO. – How He Lost Years Since in Wall Street and Then Won New Wealth in California. – A JEALOUS DAUGHTER WHOM HE ADORES. – What He Thinks of Women, Money, Friends and Life—Says He Was Born in 1821.
January 20, 1896
A HAPPY GAMBLER KING
Nellie Bly Interviews John Daly in His Well-Known House. – KEEPS OPEN, BUT THERE’S NO GAME. – Now that New York is So Good, He Says, Out-of-Town People Take Their Trade to Chicago. – GAMING-HOUSE AS LEGITIMATE AS A STORE. – Has Known a Man to Win $80,000 at a Sitting—Is Happily Married and Leads a Joyous Life.
January 26, 1896
NELLIE BLY WITH THE FEMALE SUFFRAGISTS
Attends Their Washington Convention, Reports Their Sayings and Doings and Discovers that Dress Reform Ideas Are Popular with the Women Who Want the Ballot. – SUSAN B. ANTHONY PRESIDES AND CRACKS SEVERAL JOKES. – Laws Governing Husband and Wife the Subject of Animated Discourse by the Suffragists, Few of Whom Are Between the Ages of 18 and 25—One Man Spoke and Another Man’s Hat Used to Take Up the Collection.
January 27, 1896
WOMAN IN THE PULPIT
Nellie Bly reports a Sermon by One of the Woman Suffrage Preachers. – ORATOR, EDITOR, REFORMER, POET. – Naturally Enough, the Sermon Was an Exposition of the Suffragists’ Views. – SOME HUMOROUS TOUCHES IN IT. – Everybody Laughed When She Said that Men Were Spurred to Work by Jealousy.
February 2, 1896
CHAMPION OF HER SEX
Miss Susan B. Anthony Tells the Story of Her Remarkable Life to ‘Nellie Bly.’ – WOMAN SUFFERAGE MUST COME. – Interesting Views, Ideas and Opinions on All the Live Questions of the Hour. – ADVANCED THEORIES ABOUT MARRIAGE – Perfectly Proper for Women to Propose Now that They Are Independent Wage Earners.
February 9, 1896
HOMELESS, HOPELESS!
Nellie Bly in a Night Haunt of the City’s Wretchedest of Women. – BOARDS THEIR BEDS. – Happy to Sleep in a Station-House, but Roosevelt Says “Turn Them Out!” – THE LAST STEP BUT ONE.
February 16, 1896
NELLIE BLY AND TWO WOMAN CONTRASTS
Ms. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Advocate of Man’s Rights, Talks of Her New Bible. – MRS. FLEMING, ACCUSED OF MURDER, CHATS IN THE TOMBS ABOUT HER NEW BABY. – Emancipation of Her Sex the Dream of the Life of One—“Woman’s Duty Is to Be a Mother,” Says the Other.
February 23, 1896
NELLIE BLY AS AN ELEPHANT TRAINER
A Novel And Thrilling Experience With The Immense Animals in their Winter Home. – PERILOUS RIDE ON THE IVORY TUSKS OF FRITZ.
