Maud Marston Burrows (1864-1938), a noted Kearney newspaperwoman, lawyer, and civic leader, began her career as society editor of the Kearney Enterprise in 1889. Nebraska newspaperman Will M. Maupin, a fellow Enterprise staffer, recalled in the Omaha World-Herald of August 6, 1897, her best-known “scoop”:
“In 1890 the New York World sent Nellie Bly [Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman] around the world in an attempt to beat the record made by Phineas Fogg, the hero of Jules Verne’s famous novel, ‘Around the World in Eighty Days.’ Let it be said right here that Nellie broke the record. [Her time was seventy-two days, six hours, ten minutes, and fifty-eight seconds.]. . . . The Enterprise determined to secure a scoop on western newspapers and after a lengthy correspondence with Mr. [Joseph] Pulitzer [New York World editor] secured permission to interview the fair traveler.
“Miss Maud Marston of Kearney, who was a member of the Enteprise staff, was selected to interview Miss Bly. Miss Marston went to Kansas City and met the flying traveler and journeyed with her [by train] to Galesburg, Ill. At Galesburg Miss Marston wrote the story of her journey with Miss Bly . . . . This story was wired to the Enterprise and appeared the next morning. The Enterprise was the only newspaper other than the New York World that had an authentic account of that famous trip and Miss Marston received great credit for the way in which she handled it.
“Miss Marston is now [1897] practicing law in Kearney, being associated with her father, Hon. Ira D. Marston. The newspaper world lost a hustling, forceful writer when she left it to enter the legal field.” Maud Marston married S. Henry Burrows in 1912 and thereafter devoted herself to civic and political efforts in Kearney.
