Nellie Bly ~ Reading Comprehension # 17

Term
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Where did this take place?
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Terms in this set (37)
Where did this take place?
New York City, New York
Who is Jerry Pulitzer?
The owner of the newspaper, The World
What year did Pulitzer ask Nellie Bly to write an article for this paper?
1888
What did Pulitzer want an article about?
And insane asylum on Blackwells Island
To write a story about this insane asylum, what did Pulitzer want Bly to do?
To investigate the rumors of cruelty and neglect on Blackwells Island.
What was this hospital designed to do?
It was designed to care for insane people who had no money for private treatment
Why did Pulitzer want Bly to investigate this asylum? What stood in the way of reporters and the evidence?
There had recently been stories of patient abuse at the hospital. The doctors at this asylum wound not let reporters talk to the patients, so no one knew if the stories were accurate.
What was the only way Nellie could learn the truth about this asylum?
Nellie had to become a patient herself. She had to pretend to be crazy.
Why was Nellie willing to do this?
She knew it might help the mentally ill.
What was the one thing that Nellie was afraid of doing this? When she told Pulitzer, what did he say?
How would she get out. Pulitzer said he'd take care of it, but admitted he didn't know what he would do.
What happened when Nellie agreed to write this paper?Nellie went to a boarding house and rented a room.What crazy things did Bly do at the boarding house?She began to roll her eyes and act strangely. She claimed she could not remember her name, and she accused everyone in the boarding house of being crazy.What happened within a few hours?The landlady and all the other boarders were frightened. The landlady called the police, who took Bly to a nearby hospital for an examination.What happened at the examination.The doctors asked her a few very basic questions and finally concluded her as hopelessly insane.What then happened?It appeared that Nellie didn't have any money, so the doctors put her on a boat and shipper her off to the insane asylum on Blackwells Island. When the boat landed and she stepped ashore, a guard grabbed her.What did Nellie ask and what was the response?Nellie asked where she was. The guard answered, "This is a place for insane people and you'll never leave it."What happened once Nellie was admitted to the hospital?Nellie immediately dropped her disguise and started acting perfectly normal. She wanted to see how the staff would react when they realized one of their patients was not sick.What happened?No one noticedWhat happened when Nellie approached doctors to talk to them?They ignored her and the same with nurses.What did everyone assume?Everyone assumed that Nellie's actions were one a crazy person.What treatment did Nellie receive?Non of the staff payed much attention to the patients, they routinely ignored the requests and complaints of the patients, nurses beat those who were uncooperative, and staff members banged patients heads against wall for no reason at all.What were the living conditions?Once a week, nurses forced her and other female patients to take baths in ice-cold water, in evenings guards locked them up in tiny, unheated rooms, the staff made them sleep in thin little slips and would not give them any blankets, in the daytime nurses tied patients hands together with ropes and led them outside for "outdoor exercise," meals consisted of nothing more than bread and a few shriveled prunes, when eating the bread Nellie found it stale and old and once even a spider on it!What happened after a couple of days?Nellie was ready to leaveWhat happened when Nellie tried to explain to a doctor that she was not sick?He laughed and walked awayHow long did it take for Pulitzer to come through / how long did Nellie stay there?10 daysHow did Pulitzer get Nellie out of the asylum?He sent a lawyer to Blackwells Island to arrange for Nellie's release. The lawyer said that Nellie's friends had agreed to pay for private treatment.What page was Nellie's story on?The front page of The WorldWhat happened then?It instantly created a public scandal and it stirred the public's concern for the mentally. Health inspectors made a complete tour of the asylum an ordered the staff to improve the conditions. Doctors at other hospitals began to conduct more careful examinations before declaring a person insane and New York City increased its budget for the mentally ill by $1 million.How did Pulitzer help Nellie after the story was released?He offered her a permanent job as a reporter for The World. That made her the first female reporter on Pulitzer's staff.What were some other stories she wrote about?She exposed poor treatment of factory workers and the struggles of new labor unions.What year did she die?1922What did New York newspapers call her?The Best Reporter in AmericaMinimalAdj - barely satisfactoryPrevailedV - Were commonInhumaneAdj - cruelScandalN - public disgraceCompellingAdj - demanding attention