How Ironic is it that a woman from a town called Cookstown Northern Ireland could stir up such a storm in America during the first decade of the 20th century.? The woman in the first bed in Photo 1 is Mary Mallon, she like thousands more Irish who emigrated to America in the 1800s.Mary would find work as a domestic servant eventually ending up as a cook in some of the wealthy homes in the land of plenty. In 1906 a wealthy banker would take his family on vacation, he had hired a large mansion in Oyster Bay long Island,the home was rented to him along with several household staff, among the staff was our own Mary Mallon. A few weeks into the holiday several people in the house including servants and the bankers family fell victim to Typhoid, this outbreak would not have been seen as unusual in the working class slums of the large citys,but to have an outbreak in a wealthy, clean,healthy community, raised eyebrows. The Owners of the Mansion were mortified, they wanted to track the source of the outbreak which usually spread due to poor hygiene from water or food contamination or someone infected by the Typhoid contaminating the food. A Civil engineer called Soper who specialised in Typhoid outbreaks was employed to track the source by the family, he eventually came to the conclusion that the source was linked to the Cook who had left the holiday home a few weeks before the outbreak,he would trace Mary employment records back 6 years to 1900,his suspicions were well founded as 7 houses were Mary had worked had been affected by Typhoid the number of people struck down numbered 22. In 1907 Soper found Mary working away as a cook in a affluent area, he approached her with his evidence and asked her to take some tests, Mary was enraged and made a lunge at the shocked visitor,Soper contacted the health authorities and eventually after a stand-off Mary was detained by several Police officers, while in detention it was discovered from tests that she was a Typhoid carrier and an order was issued for her detention. Mary was a strong willed woman who did not understand how on the outside she gave the appearance of a perfectly healthy woman, yet inside be a carrier of a lethal disease and a major health risk. She would spend 2 years in detention and tried to sue the health dept for unlawful detention,she would lose her case and be returned to isolation. There was a certain amount of sympthaty in some quarters for this womans quandary,so much so that in 1910 a new health chief looked at her case and was prepared to do a deal with her for her freedom. If she promised not to take up work as a cook, he was prepared to lift the isolation order and let her return to public life, Mary agreed, it was to be a fatal error on behalf of the Public Official. 5 years after her release in 1915 a hospital in Manhattan reported an outbreak of Typhoid, 25 people were admitted and 2 succumbed to the disease. When an investigation was launched the finger of blame pointed at a lady called Mrs Browne who had been recently hired as a cook, when health officials tracked the Hired Cook down they recognised her as Mary Mallon. There was public outrage and Mary lost what little support there had been for her years earlier, she would be eventually sent back to the North Brother Island isolation wards where she would spend apprx 23 years, Typhoid Mary the Cook from Cookstown Northern Ireland became a household name ,she died in 1938 on the island having suffered a stroke which had Paralysed her years earlier. 2nd Photo was taken in early 1932-33 Mary wearing Glasses.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 20:41:15 +0000
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