Typhoid Mary
For the summer of 1906, New York banker Charles Henry Warren and his wife began what
should have been a delightful summer vacation with their family. From George Thompson they
had rented a large summer home on scenic Oyster Bay, Long Island. The Warrens hired maids,
gardeners and a woman named Mary Mallon to be the family cook. On August 27, one of the
Warren daughters became desperately ill with typhoid fever. In rapid succession, Mrs. Warren
and two maids became sick, followed by their gardener and another Warren daughter. Out of 11
people in the household that summer, six came down with typhoid. All suffered excruciating
headache, fever, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting.
Mary Mallon, better known as "Typhoid Mary," lies in a hospital bed in New York's North
Brother Island, where she was quarantined for the last 23 years of her life.
Fortunately no one died, but Thompson, owner of the property, faced a dilemma. Today, typhoid
is effectively treated with antibiotics, but such treatment was not available at the turn of the 20th
century. Houses believed to be contaminated were often burned to the ground in order to
destroy any remnant of the disease. The prospect of financial disaster was very real for
Thompson since he could not rent out the summer house again until the source of the typhoid
outbreak was uncovered.
Local health authorities were mystified. They suspected the outbreak had something to do with
food consumed between August 27 and September 3. Initially they suspected clams had caused
the illness. However, not everyone who became ill had consumed clams. When local health
officials reached an impasse, Thompson hired a medical sleuth, Dr. George Soper, a highly
regarded New York City area epidemiologist with a doctorate from Columbia University, to
further investigate. Soper quickly concluded that everyone who fell ill with typhoid had
consumed a dessert of homemade ice cream and fresh peaches. That dessert was prepared and
served by the family cook, Mary Mallon, but she was the only individual that Soper was unable
to interview since she had departed abruptly as soon as the outbreak began spreading. Mallon
seemed to have vanished, leaving no forwarding address.
Working with the agency that had placed Mallon, Soper pieced together her biography. Born in
Cookstown, Ireland, she immigrated to the United States when she was 15 and found work as a
domestic servant. She was tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed and described as heavy set, strong and
healthy, single and very much a loner. Tracking her employment history from 1900 to 1906, Dr.
Soper found that typhoid outbreaks accompanied Mallon from job to job during those years.
1897-1900: Mallon was a cook for a New York family. There was no problem until 1900 when a
visitor spent time with the family--within 10 days he developed typhoid fever. Less than a week
later, Mallon suddenly quit.
1901-02: Mallon was again employed as a cook for another New York family. A laundress
caught typhoid shortly after Mallon joined the household.
1902: Mallon was employed by New York City attorney J. Coleman Drayton to work at his
summer home in Maine. Two weeks into the summer vacation, typhoid struck seven of the nine
people living in the residence. Only Drayton and Mallon remained typhoid free. A nurse hired to
tend the sick quickly came down with typhoid. Drayton persuaded Mallon to remain with him
and the two of them tended the ill. The sick became sicker during the time Mallon acted as nurse.
A grateful Drayton gave Mallon a $50 bonus--the equivalent of five weeks' wages--for staying
on.
1904: Mallon cooked for a Long Island family. Upon her arrival, four servants caught typhoid
fever.
1906: After the Oyster Bay typhoid outbreak at the Thompson place, Mallon found work with a
New York family living in Tuxedo Park in Orange County. Shortly after Mallon joined them,
two servants were hospitalized with typhoid, and the family's daughter died from the ailment.
In addition, Soper identified Mallon as the most likely cause of a 1903 typhoid epidemic in
Ithaca, N.Y., which resulted in 1,400 cases. Although evidence strongly indicated that she was a
carrier of Salmonella typhosa, the bacterium starter of typhoid fever, he needed clear scientific
proof. He knew that the disease was spread either by food and water contaminated by feces from
an infected person or by direct contact with such a carrier. Soper decided to visit Mallon, explain
the situation and request samples of blood, urine and stool.
In March 1907, Soper located Mallon working as a cook for the New York City family of Walter
Bowen. "I had my first talk with Mary in the kitchen of this house," Soper explained. "I was as
diplomatic as possible, but I had to say I suspected her of making people sick and that I wanted
specimens of her urine, feces and blood." Mallon, who was in good health herself, was not
receptive to having this stranger accuse her of spreading a potentially fatal disease. Mary Mallon
immediately became enraged. "She seized a carving fork and advanced in my direction," Soper
recalled. "I passed rapidly down the long narrow hall, through the tall iron gate… and so to the
sidewalk. I felt rather lucky to escape."
Though frightened, Soper was not deterred. With the aid of the New York City health
commissioner, Soper returned with five police officers and an ambulance. Mallon, upon learning
Soper was back, came out holding a "long kitchen fork in her hand like a rapier." Lunging at
Soper and the police officers, she created enough fright and confusion to escape. After a fivehour search of the neighborhood, the group found Mallon hiding in a closet. One of those
assisting Soper was New York City Health Department official Dr. S. Josephine Baker who
described what happened when Mallon emerged from her hiding place:
She came out fighting and swearing, both of which she could do with appalling efficiency and
vigor. I made another effort to talk sensibly and asked her again to let me have the specimens but
it was of no use. By that time she was convinced that the law was wantonly persecuting her,
when she had done nothing wrong. She knew she had never had typhoid fever; she was maniacal
in her integrity. There was nothing I could do but take her with us. The policemen lifted her into
the ambulance and I literally sat on her all the way to the hospital; it was like being [in] a cage
with an angry lion.
Mallon was taken to Willard Parker Hospital in New York, where samples were taken. Typhoid
bacilli were found in her stool, and her gall bladder was teeming with typhoid salmonella. After
further interviews with Mallon, Soper concluded that Mallon spread typhoid primarily because
of her own poor hygiene. Mallon admitted she didn't wash her hands after using the bathroom
and saw no need to do so. The bacteria she unknowingly carried was transferred from the
bathroom to the kitchens where she worked as a cook.
By this time, Soper's investigation into Mary Mallon was widely reported in newspapers. In
many sensational accounts, she was called "Typhoid Mary" and referred to as "the most
dangerous woman in America." Additionally, she was cited as the culprit in various typhoid
epidemics, even though it was improbable that she was always responsible. Because of the public
outcry concerning Typhoid Mary and her unwillingness to cooperate with health authorities, she
was taken by force and, without trial, essentially placed under house arrest. Mallon was
quarantined in a small cottage on the grounds of Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island.
Three years later, she was released, instructed never to work as a cook and required to report to
the Department of Health every three months. Mallon failed to comply, and the health
department simply lost track of her.
Changing her name to Mary Brown, she found employment as a cook. During the next five
years, she moved through several family kitchens, leaving behind cases of typhoid. Incredibly, in
1915 a typhoid epidemic spread through the staff of New York's Sloan Hospital for Women,
resulting in 25 cases and two deaths. During an investigation, authorities discovered that one
hospital employee had simply vanished. Following her usual pattern, Mary Mallon had slipped
away. They tracked her to where she was working as a cook for a family on Long Island. When
authorities confronted her, she offered no resistance. She was sent back to North Brother Island
to live under close supervision and in isolation for the rest of her life.
After suffering a paralyzing stroke, Mary Mallon died on November 11,1938. She was given a
funeral Mass at St. Luke's Roman Catholic Church in the Bronx. Present were three men, three
women and three children, all of whom refused to identify themselves to curious reporters. She
was buried on November 12 by the Department of Health at St. Raymond's Cemetery, also in the
Bronx.
Typhoid Mary - Questions
1. According to the text, why was Mary Mallon so dangerous? Back up your answer with
2 examples (DIRECT QUOTES) from the text.
2. Mary Mallon was eventually quarantined, locked up and isolated, for the last 23 years of
her life in order to keep the public safe. Do you think the Health Department was right to
put public safety before the personal freedom of one person? Back up your answer with 2
examples (DIRECT QUOTES) from the text.
3. Write what you think each of the following words mean, and write down EXACT
QUOTES from the text that show how the meaning is hinted at.
a. Succession
b. Excruciating
c. Contaminated
d. Immigrated
e. Ailment
f. Deterred
g. Wantonly
h. Culprit
4. Give two supporting details (EXACT QUOTES from the text) that go with this main
idea: “Fortunately no one died, but Thompson, owner of the property, faced a dilemma”
5. Look at the image of Mary in the hospital above. How does the description of her in the
text match or not match what you see in the image?
6. Cite the main idea that goes with these two supporting details (EXACT QUOTE from
the text):
a. Only Drayton and Mallon remained typhoid free.
b. A nurse hired to tend the sick quickly came down with typhoid.