I said I believed I could.

ON the 22d of September I was asked by the World if I could have myself committed to one of the asylums for the insane in New York, with a view to writing a plain and unvarnished narrative of the treatment of the patients therein and the methods of management, etc. Did I think I had the courage to go through such an ordeal as the mission would demand? Could I assume the characteristics of insanity to such a degree that I could pass the doctors, live for a week among the insane without the authorities there finding out that I was only a "chiel amang 'em takin' notes?" I said I believed I could. I had some faith in my own ability as an actress and thought I could assume insanity long enough to accomplish any mission intrusted to me. Could I pass a week in the insane ward at Blackwell's Island? I said I could and I would. And I did.

Read Nellie Bly's full story of her Ten Days in a Mad-House here (and save the original price of twenty-five cents for the publication which also includes "Trying to be a Servant: My strange experience at two employment agencies" and "Nellie Bly as a White Slave: Her experience in the role of a New York shop-girl making paper boxes").