Elizabeth Bisland
Elizabeth Bisland Wetmore was an American journalist and author, perhaps best known for her 18891890 race around the world against Nellie Bly, which drew worldwide attention.
Bisland was born on Fairfax Plantation, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, on February 11, 1861. During the Civil War, the family fled the homestead prior to the Battle of Fort Bisland. Life was difficult when they returned, and when she was twelve the family moved to Natchez, Louisiana, site of her fathers family home which he had inherited. She began her writing career as a teenager, sending poetry to the New Orleans Times Democrat using the pen name B.L.R. Dane. Once her writing activity was revealed to her family and the papers editor, she was paid for the work, and she soon went to New Orleans to work for the paper. Around 1887, Bisland moved to New York City and got her first work from The Sun newspaper. By 1889 she was doing work for a number of publications, including the New York World. Among other outlets, she later become an editor at Cosmopolitan magazine and also contributed to the Atlantic Monthly and the North American Review.
Source: Wikipedia