Cochrane is better known by her nom de plume, “Nellie Bly.
In 1887, Cochramd feigned insanity in order to have herself committed to the New York City Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island in order to investigate reports of brutality and neglect of the inmates. Cochrane’s account of her experiences as an inmate in a lunatic asylum was recorded in her 1887 book “Ten Days in a Mad-House.”
On November 14, 1889, Cochrane began a solo trip around the world in emulation of the fictional character Phileas Fogg from the 1873 Jules Verne novel “Around the World in Eighty Days” -- completing her trip on January 25, 1890 in the record-breaking time of 72 days, six hours, 11 minutes, & 14 seconds.
In 1895, Cochrane married millionaire manufacturer Robert Seaman, who was 40 years her senior. She then retired from journalism and became the president of Seaman’s Iron Clad Manufacturing Company, which made steel containers such as milk cans and boilers.
In 1904, Robert Seaman died and Cochrane took over the operation of the Iron Clad Company. It was during this time that she patented the 55-gallon steel oil drum. As President of the Iron Clad Company, she became one of the leading female industrialists in the United States until embezzlement by employees led her into bankruptcy, after which she went back to her career as a journalist.
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