Typhoid fever was a dreaded disease. It could spread easily through food and water , make the victim very ill, and could even kill them in large numbers before a treatment was discovered for it. This story of Typhoid Mary dates back to the early 1900 s 1906 - 7 to be precise.
How would you feel if you are shadowed, followed. chased and arrested when you feel you have done nothing wrong? That is exactly what happened to Mary Mallon, who later became famous as Typhoid Mary.
In the summer of 1906, Charles Henry Warren, a banker, took his family on a vacation to Oyster Bay where he rented a cottage from one George Thompson. All was well till August 27. Then one by one starting with one of Warren's daughters followed by 2 maids, then the gardener, and then the other daughter - all became very ill due to typhoid fever. Thompson was worried that no one might rent their cottage and so wanted to investigate this in detail. He knew typhoid spread through food and water but could not guess how so many could get the disease at the same time. He therefore hired George Soper, a civil engineer, to find out the truth. Soper believed that the cook was responsible in some way as the disease spread mainly through food and water. It so happened that Mary Mallon was the took and he took note of that fact. Now the problem was to prove it and the main stumbling block was that she was completely healthy and the concept of a "healthy carrier" was not yet known.
So, Soper did the next best thing - he traced the employment history in detail back to 1900. He found that typhoid outbreaks had followed wherever she had worked. He found that, in all, 22 had devoloped typhoid fever and 1 young girl had died from 1900 to 1907. A good detective work indeed - this is called an epidemiological survey - a sort of fact finding. He felt it was more than coincidence. He wanted to meet her where she was presently working as a cook - the house of Walter Brown. She did not like the idea one bit - she chased him away with a kitchen knife. Not an easy one to get rid off, he came back with a helper (Dr. Bert Raymond Hoobler). Both were successfully chased away by an enraged Mary. He then involved the health department and Dr. S. Josephine Baker was sent to investigate. This time she saw a team approaching from the health department and staged a "vanishing act" - she was nowhere to be seen and later was traced to the hidden compartment at the basement of the neighbor's property which she accessed after running away jumping over a fence and entering through the secret trapdoor. She was forcibly taken to Wilard Parker Hospital in New York. She was investigated and was found to harbor typhoid bacilli in her stool. She was later forcibly transferred to an isolated cottage at the North Brother island near New York.
She seriously believed that she was wronged. She questioned the wisdom and purpose of arresting and isolating her - a healthy lady who according to her had done nothing wrong in her life. She failed to understand why she was being hounded, chased and arrested and kept in isolation.
The government promptly quoted 2 sections to justify their act - sections 1169 and section 1170. which said the the board of health shall use all reasonable means for ascertaining the cause of disease or peril to health, and for averting the same throughout the city. It was also considered that the fact that she was healthy made her more dangerous as a source of such a serious disease which no one would suspect her to be the source of. Hence her imprisonment and isolation were justified. She fought a lone battle saying there was no proof that it was she who had spread the disease. In 1909, the case against the state was taken up by a judge who did not agree with her. It was argued that even people infested with the typhoid bacillus could pass the disease from their infected stool onto food via unwashed hands. Cooks and food handlers were the people most likely to spread the disease in this fashion. Mary Mallon , by now famous as the "Typhoid Mary" was sent back to confinement.
In 1910, she was allowed to go free as long as she agreed never to work as a cook again. She hurriedly accepted these terms to regain her freedom, gave an assurance by affidavit that she would never work as a cook again and would take stringent measures to prevent any further spread of typhoid by regular washing of hands. "Typhoid Mary" walked free.
What do you think? Was she indeed a villain as made out by her sad story?
How would you feel if you are shadowed, followed. chased and arrested when you feel you have done nothing wrong? That is exactly what happened to Mary Mallon, who later became famous as Typhoid Mary.
In the summer of 1906, Charles Henry Warren, a banker, took his family on a vacation to Oyster Bay where he rented a cottage from one George Thompson. All was well till August 27. Then one by one starting with one of Warren's daughters followed by 2 maids, then the gardener, and then the other daughter - all became very ill due to typhoid fever. Thompson was worried that no one might rent their cottage and so wanted to investigate this in detail. He knew typhoid spread through food and water but could not guess how so many could get the disease at the same time. He therefore hired George Soper, a civil engineer, to find out the truth. Soper believed that the cook was responsible in some way as the disease spread mainly through food and water. It so happened that Mary Mallon was the took and he took note of that fact. Now the problem was to prove it and the main stumbling block was that she was completely healthy and the concept of a "healthy carrier" was not yet known.
So, Soper did the next best thing - he traced the employment history in detail back to 1900. He found that typhoid outbreaks had followed wherever she had worked. He found that, in all, 22 had devoloped typhoid fever and 1 young girl had died from 1900 to 1907. A good detective work indeed - this is called an epidemiological survey - a sort of fact finding. He felt it was more than coincidence. He wanted to meet her where she was presently working as a cook - the house of Walter Brown. She did not like the idea one bit - she chased him away with a kitchen knife. Not an easy one to get rid off, he came back with a helper (Dr. Bert Raymond Hoobler). Both were successfully chased away by an enraged Mary. He then involved the health department and Dr. S. Josephine Baker was sent to investigate. This time she saw a team approaching from the health department and staged a "vanishing act" - she was nowhere to be seen and later was traced to the hidden compartment at the basement of the neighbor's property which she accessed after running away jumping over a fence and entering through the secret trapdoor. She was forcibly taken to Wilard Parker Hospital in New York. She was investigated and was found to harbor typhoid bacilli in her stool. She was later forcibly transferred to an isolated cottage at the North Brother island near New York.
She seriously believed that she was wronged. She questioned the wisdom and purpose of arresting and isolating her - a healthy lady who according to her had done nothing wrong in her life. She failed to understand why she was being hounded, chased and arrested and kept in isolation.
The government promptly quoted 2 sections to justify their act - sections 1169 and section 1170. which said the the board of health shall use all reasonable means for ascertaining the cause of disease or peril to health, and for averting the same throughout the city. It was also considered that the fact that she was healthy made her more dangerous as a source of such a serious disease which no one would suspect her to be the source of. Hence her imprisonment and isolation were justified. She fought a lone battle saying there was no proof that it was she who had spread the disease. In 1909, the case against the state was taken up by a judge who did not agree with her. It was argued that even people infested with the typhoid bacillus could pass the disease from their infected stool onto food via unwashed hands. Cooks and food handlers were the people most likely to spread the disease in this fashion. Mary Mallon , by now famous as the "Typhoid Mary" was sent back to confinement.
In 1910, she was allowed to go free as long as she agreed never to work as a cook again. She hurriedly accepted these terms to regain her freedom, gave an assurance by affidavit that she would never work as a cook again and would take stringent measures to prevent any further spread of typhoid by regular washing of hands. "Typhoid Mary" walked free.
What do you think? Was she indeed a villain as made out by her sad story?
No comments:
Post a Comment