September 25, 1887
Elizabeth Cochran (1864-1922), under the pen name of Nellie Bly, managed to get herself sent to the New York Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island to do an undercover story of conditions there. She spent 10 days there; a lawyer from the New York World obtained her release. Her two-part story for the recounted her experiences and led to changes at the asylum.
