Mary Mallon (aka, “Typhoid Mary”: 1869 – 1938) migrated to New York from Britain in 1884 where she worked as a cook. In this position, she infected as many as 53 people, three of whom succumbed to the virus. In 1906 the New York Health Department noticed that many Park Avenue families were falling ill from the fever and soon picked up her trail. In 1907 she was seized and forced into quarantine on North Brother Island until she died. The concept of a healthy carrier was unheard of at the time and it has been said that she was born with Typhoid as a result of her mother being infected with the virus during her pregnancy.
“So the the health authorities had to isolate her, but not without much bitterness on her part, and several instances of determined physical opposition. But now, as ‘Typhoid Mary’ says, she ‘is used to it’ and evinces a willingness to put up with fate. She lives in a small cottage and prepares her own meals.”
The image above shows Marry Mallon’s isolated cottage on North Brother Island.
– from Amazon:
