Eighty Days
Page 51
21 “If I fail”: Bly (1890), 168.
22 sailors sought to make sense of a life filled with random misfortunes: See Fox, 213.
23 Sneezing to the left was unlucky: Hoyt, 132.
24 “Always a head wind”: Fox, 213.
25 her monkey’s life was saved: Bly (1890), 170.
26 “It is better to be comfortable for seven days”: Fox, 343.
27 “faced with a competition”: A. E. Seaton, “Speed in Ocean Steamers,” Scribner’s Magazine 10, no. 1 (July 1891), 3.
28 117,000 men working the oars: William H. Rideing, “The Building of an Ocean Greyhound,” in Chadwick et al., 109.
29 58 tons of coal per day: Oldham, 50.
30 “almost appalling”: “The Ocean ‘Record,’ ” New York Times, May 21, 1889.
31 “and if they could burn more”: William Rideing, “The Crew of a Transatlantic Liner,” The Cosmopolitan 12, no. 6 (April 1892), 682.
32 “the dirtiest and shabbiest”: “Nellie Bly,” Topeka Daily Capital, January 24, 1890.
33 “The Japanese are the direct opposite to the Chinese”: Bly (1890), 157.
34 iron ladders smeared with oil: Fox, 321.
35 167 degrees Fahrenheit: George Henry Rohé, A Text-book of Hygiene (Baltimore: Thomas & Evans, 1884), 206.
36 banging their shovels on the furnace doors: See the description in Fox, 321–22.
37 two tons of coal a day: Ibid., 214.
38 “Shove it back!”: “Flesh and Blood Cannot Stand It,” The Engineer 19, no. 1 (January 4, 1890), 101.
39 “These are horrible suggestions of ours”: Ibid.
40 “It was interesting to learn”: “A Look at the Majestic,” New York Times, April 12, 1890. See also Fox, 322.
41 in their dungarees: See the description in Fox, 322.
42 “They were tough-looking characters”: Ibid.
43 “Working, as these men do”: Hobart Amory Hare, New and Altered Forms of Disease, Due to the Advance of Civilization in the Last Half Century (Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co., 1886), 13.
44 “a cavern of torture”: “Roasting a Stoker,” The Lancet 1, no. 1 (January 1860), 78.
45 “dyspneic and short lived”: W. Gilman Thompson, The Occupational Diseases (New York: D. Appleton, 1914), 417.
46 driven temporarily insane: Hoyt, 119; Wall, 235.
47 the first out of Brundisium: Bisland (1891), 182.
48 “All baggage by this service”: Wall, 235.
49 A. D. Wilson: The article identified him as “A. D. Turner,” but his surname was in fact Wilson. The World had a business manager by the name of George Turner. “A Close Finish Likely,” St. Louis Republic, January 17, 1890.
50 “I hope I did not forget the dignity”: Bisland (1891), 184.
51 “the luggage and some few tattered remnants”: Ibid., 185.
52 “after each one’s kin”: Ibid., 186.
53 the fast steamship La Champagne: In her book Bisland erroneously referred to the ship as “the Transatlantique.” The steamship’s name was La Champagne; the name of the steamship line was the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique.
54 its chartered train could cover the distance in three hours: “Miss Bisland’s Disappointment,” New York Times, January 19, 1890.
55 “especially courteous”: Bisland (1891), 189.
56 was waiting with her veil and gloves on: “Miss Bisland’s Trip,” Daily Picayune, February 9, 1890, 12.
57 the evils of ale: See the discussion in Brendon (1991), 5.
58 twenty-one pounds per soldier: Ibid., 191.
59 (enclosed in a leather or cloth case): Withey, 160.
60 opened its first Paris office: This and other information about the Cook’s Paris office is from an email sent to the author by Paul Smith, Thomas Cook company archivist, September 6, 2011.
61 The steamship La Champagne, the agent told Bisland: See Bisland (1891), 189; “Miss Bisland’s Trip,” Daily Picayune, February 9, 1890, 12.
62 frantically cabling the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique: “Miss Bisland’s Disappointment,” New York Times, January 19, 1890.
63 for a price of $2,000: Ibid.
64 for more than three hours: See Bisland (1891), 190; “The Story of a Tour,” The World, January 26, 1890; “Miss Bisland Arrives,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 31, 1890, 2.
65 chartered from the Western Railroad: “Miss Bisland’s Disappointment,” New York Times, January 19, 1890.
66 “a czar in his own world”: Towne, 42.
67 “firm that his orders should be carried out”: Ibid., 28.
68 a cable from one of the Paris welcoming party: “Miss Bisland’s Disappointment,” New York Times, January 19, 1890.
69 “The cause of this false information”: Bisland (1891), 190.
70 Nothing on this trip had moved her quite as much: “Miss Bisland’s Trip,” Daily Picayune, February 9, 1890, 12.
71 started out from a continent: See Bisland (1891), 192.
72 “It fills my soul with a passion of pride”: Ibid. 193.
73 “the mother soil”: Ibid., 194.
74 everything compact, solid, durable: Ibid., 195.
75 The land seemed to swarm with phantoms: Ibid.
76 the clang of their armor: Ibid.
77 the Ems had been suddenly withdrawn: Ibid., 196; “Miss Bisland’s Disappointment,” New York Times, January 19, 1890; “Over Four Days Late,” Chicago Herald, January 31, 1890, 3.
78 “a bitter disappointment”: “Over Four Days Late,” Chicago Herald, January 31, 1890, 3.
79 six days and five hours: Chadwick, 77.
80 replaced it with the Bothnia: Bisland (1891), 197; “Miss Bisland’s Hard Luck,” Cincinnati Commercial, January 19, 1890, 1.
81 the slowest vessel in the entire Cunard fleet: “Miss Bisland’s Disappointment,” New York Times, January 19, 1890; “The Story of a Tour,” The World, January 26, 1890.
82 “The woman who knows how to accept a favor”: Bisland (1894), 383.
83 He arranged for her to have dinner: Bisland (1891), 197.
84 carpeting so thick: Eduardo A. Gibbon, Nocturnal London (London: S. E. Stanesby, 1890), 56.
85 “was very much annoyed to learn”: “All Around the World,” New York Times, January 19, 1890.
86 scheduled to depart at 8:20: Ibid.
87 “There is a vast amount of chivalry”: Bisland (1894), 382.
88 little chance of her arriving in New York on time: “Over Four Days Late,” Chicago Herald, January 31, 1890, 3.
89 “haunted by the dread of the terrible 4 hours”: John Murray, Handbook for Travellers in Ireland (London: John Murray, 1864), 53.
90 “I would sooner cross the Styx”: Grace Greenwood, “Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe in 1853,” Bentley’s Miscellany 35 (1854), 380. “Grace Greenwood,” it should be noted, was a pen name; the writer’s real name was Sara Jane Clarke.
91 mayors in New York: Bisland (1891), 199.
92 “frantic protest”: Ibid., 200.
93 “hopeless, helpless, overwhelmed”: Ibid.
94 tumbling into the ship’s scuppers: Ibid., 201; “Miss Bisland’s Trip,” Daily Picayune, February 9, 1890, 12.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE SPECIAL TRAIN
1 “I read of the impassable snow blockade”: Bly (1890), 172.
2 the largest snow blockade in the history of the United States: See, for instance, “The Great Snow Blockade,” New York Sun, January 22, 1890; “The Big Snow Blockade,” New York Sun, January 23, 1890; “Behind a Wall of Crystal Drifts,” New York Herald, January 21, 1890.
3 “No such storm has been known”: “Behind a Wall of Crystal Drifts,” New York Herald, January 21, 1890.
4 General Passenger Agent T. H. Goodman: “To Break Fogg’s Record,” Trenton Times, January 22, 1890.
5 “The New York journal sent instructions”: “Nellie Bly,” San Francisco Daily Bulletin, January 21, 1890.
6 “regardless order”: “
Nellie Bly’s Fast Ride,” Chicago Herald, January 24, 1890.
7 a dollar a mile: “ ’Round the World,” Chicago Tribune, January 27, 1890.
8 “This was permissible”: “On Time!” The World, January 22, 1890.
9 “As we understood it”: Wheeling (WV) Register, January 22, 1890, 2.
10 John J. Jennings: For a description of Jennings’s overnight trek across the Sierra, see “Raising the Blockade,” The World, January 22, 1890; “The Great Snow Blockade,” The World, February 2, 1890.
11 would be able to reach them for two days at least: In fact the passengers were not rescued until January 26, after more than ten days in the train shed.
12 The skis were made of white ash: “On Snowshoes,” Daily Alta California, January 22, 1890. Jennings himself indicated that his own skis were made of pine.
13 “Thus it was by eight hours’ snowshoeing”: “Raising the Blockade,” The World, January 22, 1890.
14 Low found Nellie Bly in the Oceanic’s saloon: See “Nellie Bly Hastens On,” San Francisco Examiner, January 22, 1890.
15 “God bless her little heart”: Ibid.
16 “They’ve all been so nice!”: Ibid.
17 Bly stuck out her tongue: Ibid.; Bly (1890), 172.
18 she had never felt a more exquisite happiness: “Two Days to Spare,” Chicago Tribune, January 25, 1890.
19 imperiously brushing the crowd aside: “Nellie Bly,” San Francisco Daily Bulletin, January 21, 1890.
20 “Not later than Saturday evening”: Ravitch, 38.
21 “I have seen snow and blizzards in New York”: “Nellie Bly’s Fast Run,” Chicago Herald, January 22, 1890.
22 straight as a sunbeam: Bly (1890), 174.
23 “almost frightened me to death”: Ibid.
24 looking at the train in which she rode: “Likes Globe-Trotting,” The World, January 27, 1890.
25 inviting her to ride in the cab: “Nellie Comes A-Rushing,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 24, 1890; “The Nell for Bisland,” Pittsburg Press, January 24, 1890.
26 “the most delightfully perfect amusement”: “Nellie Bly on a Bicycle,” The World, June 23, 1889.
27 “For a new engineer”: “Nellie Comes A-Rushing,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 24, 1890.
28 “almost desert places”: “Nellie Bly Talks,” The World, January 23, 1890.
29 “display their only interest in civilization”: Steele, 109.
30 “The escape is a miraculous one”: “Flying Home,” The World, January 23, 1890.
31 “I’ve had many narrow escapes”: “Around the World,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 7, 1890.
32 “my train had run safely across a bridge”: Bly (1890), 176.
33 “But hardly had the train passed the river”: Verne, 158.
34 People held up cards: “Two Days to Spare,” Chicago Tribune, January 25, 1890.
35 “but I did not mind the ache”: Bly (1890), 176.
36 “one maze of happy greetings”: Ibid., 173.
37 Bly’s success had been made possible: See Edwards, 54.
38 “They say no man or woman in America”: Bly (1890), 173.
39 “a triumphal march”: “A Day More,” The World, January 24, 1890.
40 In Topeka more than a thousand people were on hand: “Nellie Bly,” Topeka Daily Capital, January 24, 1890. In her book about the trip, Bly put the number at “over ten thousand.” Bly (1890), 176.
41 “Vim, enterprise, phenomenal activity”: “Nellie Bly,” Topeka Daily Capital, January 24, 1890.
42 “drank the last drop of coffee”: Bly (1890), 177.
43 “All preconceived notions”: “Two Days to Spare,” Chicago Tribune, January 25, 1890.
44 “delightfully informal reception”: Bly (1890), 177.
45 Kinsley’s had been built in the style of a Moorish castle: Emmett Dedmon, Fabulous Chicago (New York: Atheneum, 1981), 116.
46 “told of small, pointed incidents”: “Two Days to Spare,” Chicago Tribune, January 25, 1890.
47 “dropped him a brief note”: “ ’Round the World,” Chicago Tribune, January 27, 1890.
48 flying over the consulate in Canton: The story mistakenly states that it was the consulate in Ceylon. It also refers to the Englishmen she met “in India”; she did not, of course, travel in India. “Two Days to Spare,” Chicago Tribune, January 25, 1890.
49 “one of the boys”: “ ’Round the World,” Chicago Tribune, January 27, 1890.
50 a great European gambling house: See the description in “The Wheat Pit,” Flaming Sword 5, no. 1 (January 7, 1893), 61.
51 “From this gallery”: Lears, 55.
52 “There’s Nellie Bly!”: “Beating Her Time,” Milwaukee Sentinel, January 25, 1890; Bly (1890), 178.
53 “People can say what they please about Chicago”: Bly (1890), 178.
54 through a private hallway: “Luxurious Traveling,” Pittsburg Press, January 25, 1890.
55 “for the royal manner”: Bly (1890), 178.
56 “a perfect bower of beauty and comfort”: “Luxurious Traveling,” Pittsburg Press, January 25, 1890.
57 a gift from a prince in Yokohama: “Snowshoe Jennings,” Pittsburg Press, January 25, 1890.
58 “Mr. Verne wishes the following message”: “Beating Her Time,” Milwaukee Sentinel, January 25, 1890.
59 “I know nothing of her plans”: “Nellie Bly,” Topeka Daily Capital, January 24, 1890.
60 “Miss Bisland?”: “Two Days to Spare,” Chicago Tribune, January 25, 1890.
61 “perfect, from the captain down”: “ ‘From Jersey Back to Jersey,’ ” The World, January 25, 1890.
62 guessing would cease once Bly reached Chicago: The paper acknowledged that “Due allowance will be made for the distance between the post-office address of the sender and The World office.”
63 The paper now established the rules: “Guess Early and Often,” The World, January 23, 1890.
64 more than six hundred thousand ballots: Ibid.
65 a face but no features: See Cook, 97.
66 “Hurrah for Nellie Bly!”: “Home Again,” The World, January 25, 1890.
67 Dr. Frank Ingram: See the discussion in Kroeger, 169.
68 “When ex-President Cleveland passed through here”: “Luxurious Traveling,” Pittsburg Press, January 25, 1890.
69 “Miss Bly is about twenty years old”: “Nellie Bly in Chicago,” Cincinnati Commercial, January 25, 1890.
70 seemed to turn the dark river into molten lava: See the description in “On the Youghiogheny,” Methodist Magazine 32, no. 1, (July 1890), 18.
71 “There is the Ohio”: “Snowshoe Jennings,” Pittsburg Press, January 25, 1890.
72 “a clever play for personal notoriety”: “Luxurious Traveling,” Pittsburg Press, January 25, 1890.
73 that dress … was now historical: Ibid.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: “FROM JERSEY TO JERSEY IS AROUND THE WORLD”
1 “The weather along the trans-Atlantic steamship routes”: United States Signal Service, Monthly Weather Review 18 (January 1890), 7.
2 News reports of ocean crossings that month: See, for example, “Awful Atlantic Gales,” New York Sun, January 22, 1890; “A Frightful Voyage,” The World, January 22, 1890; “On the Stormy Atlantic,” New York Times, January 24, 1890; “Lashed by an Angry Sea,” The World, January 25, 1890; “Shipwreck and Death,” The World, January 27, 1890; “Buffeted by Wind and Waves,” The World, January 28, 1890; “Tossed in Ocean Gales,” New York Times, January 28, 1890.
3 “the ocean was like a boiling caldron”: “Ocean’s Fierce Fury,” The World, January 23, 1890.
4 “davits were twisted like wires”: “A Frightful Voyage,” The World, January 22, 1890.
5 (“the consternation of the passengers”): “Flooded the Gallia’s Cabin,” The World, January 23, 1890.
6 “her people were treated to a display of nature’s handiwork”: “ ‘La Champagne’ among Icebergs,” Harper’s Weekly (February
8, 1890), 107.
7 Philadelphia’s Broad Street Station: For descriptions of Bly’s trip from Philadelphia to Jersey City, see “Her Reception in This City,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 26, 1890; “On the Homestretch,” The World, January 26, 1890; “At the Finish,” The World, January 26, 1890.
8 “I’m so glad!”: “On the Homestretch,” The World, January 26, 1890.
9 “as if they had been friends for years”: “Her Reception in This City,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 26, 1890.
10 a facsimile of it appeared the next day: See “What Nellie Said,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 26, 1890.
11 “I feel a little like a presidential candidate”: “Nellie Bly Talks,” The World, January 23, 1890.
12 “Poor Nellie’s hand was worked harder”: “Her Reception in This City,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 26, 1890.
13 “Nobody since the sands of time began to run”: The excerpts of the speeches delivered on the train are from “On the Homestretch,” The World, January 26, 1890.
14 perhaps as many as fifteen: The estimate of fifteen thousand is from “Nellie Bly Beats Time,” Chicago Herald, January 26, 1890.
15 Captain Hubert Wycherly: “Announcing the Finish,” The World, January 26, 1890.
16 “No chieftain returning from a tour of conquest”: “Nellie Bly Beats Time,” Chicago Herald, January 26, 1890.
17 “From Jersey to Jersey is around the world”: “On the Homestretch,” The World, January 26, 1890.
18 Every inch of ground was contested: See “At the Finish,” The World, January 26, 1890.
19 At the Cortlandt Street pier: For Bly’s return to New York, see ibid.
20 “God bless you, Nellie”: “Likes Globe-Trotting,” The World, January 27, 1890.
21 a basket of rare roses: “Editor Walker’s Compliment,” The World, January 26, 1890.
22 tossing the ship back and forth like a football: Bisland (1891), 201.
23 the forty-seven-year-old Scotsman James B. Watt: Mitch Peeke et al., 33.
24 resolving itself into Coney Island: Bisland (1891), 204.
25 the Elephantine Colossus: Michael Immerso, Coney Island: The People’s Playground (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2002), 38, 57. Sadly, the Elephant burned down in 1896.
26 “as if to deprecate our late coming”: Bisland (1891), 204.