19th century in investigative journalism

Events from 19th century in investigative journalism.

• In July 1871, The New York Times published a series of articles using secret financial records that showed how William M. Tweed and his associates in Tammany Hall had stolen about $45 million (about $1.2 billion in 2026) through overpriced contracts, especially for the New York County Courthouse. Political cartoonist Thomas Nast reinforced the discoveries with more than 140 drawings portraying Tweed as a bloated person of greed. These drawings reached illiterate voters when displayed in public spaces. The combined pressure contributed to Tweed's arrest and conviction on corruption charges in 1873.^[1][2]

• Editor W. T. Stead published a four-part series in London's Pall Mall Gazette that used undercover reporting and direct interviews to document the organized procurement of girls as young as 13 for prostitution in Victorian London. It had headlines such as "The Violation of Virgins". Parliament responded by passing the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, which raised the age of consent from 13 to 16. Stead later served three months in prison for methods used in the investigation.^[3][4]

• Reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) faked insanity to get admission to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island. She was admitted on 23 September 1887, she spent ten days documenting the cold baths, inadequate clothing, expired food, and abusive treatment by staff. Her two-part series called "New York World — Behind Asylum Bars" (10 October 1887) and "Inside the Madhouse" (16 October 1887) was republished as the book Ten Days in a Mad-House. Public reaction prompted the New York City Department of Public Charities and Corrections to increase its budget from $1.5 million to $2.34 million, allocating $50,000 specifically for asylum improvements. The facility closed in 1894.^[5][6]

• The reporter and photographer Jacob Riis published "How the Other Half Lives" in 1890. Using magnesium flash photography, he documented overcrowded apartments, windowless rooms, child labor in sweatshops, and unsanitary lodging houses in New York City. The book combined investigative reporting, statistical data, and photographs, including the well-known image “Bandits’ Roost.” The publication attracted the attention of middle-class readers and social reformers. In 1896, Riis worked with Theodore Roosevelt who was then serving as the police commissioner, to shut down several notorious police lodging houses. The book also contributed to housing reform efforts, including the passage of the Tenement House Act of 1901, the creation of small public parks such as Mulberry Bend Park, and the demolition of some of the city’s most deteriorated blocks.^[7]

• Nellie Bly
• Ida B. Wells
• Henry Morton Stanley
• W. T. Stead