Nellie Bly comes to life at Geneva Library
She was called the “Daredevil Reporter” and specialized in what was known as “stunt” journalism — and she did it in a time without widespread newspapers, magazines, Internet, Twitter, Facebook or an iPad to spread her tales.
Nellie Bly, an investigative reporter and feminist from the late 1880s to the early 1920s, reached worldwide fame for writing dramatic stories about pretending to be crazy in order to experience the cruelty of a woman’s insane asylum, and also traveling around the world in less than 75 days to prove a woman could do such a thing.
Her story was told Wednesday at the Geneva Library’s “Book and Bag It” lunch hour presentation through re-enactor Lynn Rymarz, a children’s book author and historian from Schaumburg.
With a table of books, videos and newspaper articles about Bly as a backdrop, Rymarz came out in a dress and hat from the 1890s to recreate one of the most courageous women in American history.
“Whatever became of Marshall Field’s?” Bly asks, reminding attendees that she was last in Chicago to cover the Pullman Railroad strike in 1894, and took a train to Woodstock to interview a jailed union leader.
“I was also back in Chicago to cover the 1912 Republican convention, and I met former President Theodore Roosevelt at that time, and I also met my future husband.”
Before embarking on a 37-year journalism career, Nellie Bly was born as Elizabeth Cochrane on May 5, 1864 in Pennsylvania during the Civil War. Her father died when she was 6, and her stepfather was an abusive alcoholic.
In January 1885, Cochrane was outraged by comments in a Pittsburgh newspaper column that indicated women should not be allowed to do the same work as men. She responded with a letter to the editor, which in turn led to her being offered to write for the newspaper under the pen name of Nellie Bly. Two years later, she went to work for the New York World.
“I went to Mexico to write about life in that country, but when I wrote about the corruption of the government there, I almost got thrown into jail,” Bly said.
After that, the editors gave her assignments tailored for “the ladies pages” and society news, but Bly longed for something more meaningful.
“An editor eventually asked me to pretend I was crazy so I could get into the Blackwell Island women’s insane asylum, and I said I could do it,” Bly recalled.
She spent 10 days in horrible, rat-infested conditions before getting out to write a story that led to reform at the institution.
No stories brought fame like the one about her trip around the world in 72 days to emulate the Jules Verne character Phileas Fogg.
Bly eventually married a millionaire steel baron, and ran the steel company upon his death, but was robbed of her money by company bookkeepers and returned to journalism.
She spent much of her final years in Europe, where she became the first female war correspondent during World War I, noting that a letter she wrote to President Woodrow Wilson likely encouraged him to send more troops overseas. Bly died of pneumonia in 1922.
Stepping out of character, Rymarz said she had done extensive research on Nellie Bly after becoming interested in her story after seeing a small photo of her in a newspaper history column.
For the past five years, Rymarz has been making historical presentations for the Chicago Public Library system.
“I did a lot of research on Mary Todd Lincoln when visiting Batavia,” Rymarz said, referring to information at the Depot Museum and the nearby Bellevue Place sanitarium where Mrs. Lincoln stayed.
Christine Dalphy, a reference assistant at the Geneva Public Library, said she had become aware of Rymarz’ re-enactments and thought it was a good fit for the library to celebrate Women’s History Month in March.
“We usually try to present something at the “Book and Bag It” event that ties in with things going on in the community or a historic anniversary,” Dalphy said. “I know Lynn also does the ‘Unsinkable’ Molly Brown, and we would like to get her to do that next year for the 100th anniversary of the Titanic.”