The Misery of Mary Mallon.

You probably never hear of Mary Mallon unless you have done a nursing or doctors degree. Mary seemed set for an uneventful life. The only thing that ever happened to her in her native Ireland was that she had typhoid fever in her youth, from which she recovered.

The next eventful thing she did was migrate to New York at the end of the 19^th century. Picture her. An apple cheeked Irish girl sanding on the deck of a migrant ship as it sailed up the Hudson River, wondering what excitement, adventure and fortune lay before her. What prospects were there for domestic work in this huge noisy city.

She was soon ensconced in the kitchen of a well-to-do family as a cook. However, and unfortunately, wherever Mary went typhoid fever was sure to follow. Mary, who was innocent of the knowledge and menace that she constituted, was a carrier. Immune now to the disease she had contracted in Ireland, her body was the happy haven for germs of the dreadful disease, and she was working as a cook.

Between 1900 – 1915, Mary distributed her vicious bacteria via the food she prepared and served. In the 1^st New York home she worked in a family member became dangerously ill with disease. Mary moved on but again Typhoid struck the family.

She next moved to a rural village in Maine, to cook for a family of 11. One by one these unfortunates, except the head of the house became stricken, until the whole family was ill. So tenderly and conscientiously did Mary minister to that family that the master of the house paid her a bonus for her trouble.

In 1903 typhoid was back in New York – and so was Mary. This time the outbreak was not confined to one household. It reached epidemic proportions, originating from the home where Mary was employed as a cook. This fact was noted in official records.

Next year it was in Long Island again. Mary cared for a family of 11, 4 of whom soon were suffering from the disease. Her where-abouts can be known by trail of typhoid. In 1906 a Dr George Soper (a NY expert in Typhoid), began to take an interest in Mary’s progress through the homes of wealthy New Yorkers, always with a trail of sickness. Dr Soper decided merely plotting Mary’s meanderings now was quite useless. He called on Mary as tactfully as he could and told her the deadly incubus was housed in her body. Mary was outraged and promptly put the good man to flight with the aid of a carving fork.

Dr Soper was a man of some resource and the next morning he arrived with 2 women, 3 policemen, and an ambulance. Mary again brandished her carving fork but to no avail. The Dr Noted in his journal “She fought and struggled and cursed. The ride to the hospital was quite a wild one.”

Science soon proved the truth. Mary’s body was the lodging house for the fatal bacteria. Her demands for freedom, appeals to the law, her violent outbursts and tears availed nothing. She was provided with a cottage on the grounds of the riverside hospital. Everything possible was done to make her comfortable. She only had one restriction; she was not free to wander at large.

After 3 years she promised to not seek employment connected with food handling and she was allowed her liberty if she reported to the hospital at regular intervals. But having gained her freedom she changed her name and disappeared.

She first worked in a laundry, but her old vocation called, and she accepted a position as a cook. Again, sporadic outbreaks of typhoid fever, were noted in New Jersey, New York. Dr Soper went investigating and asked the name of the cook. It was not Mary Mallon, but she had left anyway. The mistress however, admitted to the Dr and accurately described a plump, 40-year-old blond, heavy jawed cook. The Dr was again on the scent.

Finally in 1915 the physician-sleuth heard of a New York women’s hospital with 21 typhoid patients. All had been admitted with other complaints and had come down with the disease in hospital. Dr Soper bypassed the patients and made a beeline for the kitchen. He sought out the cook. The name was different, but it was Mary Mallon all right. This time there were no outbursts, no flailing arms, no waving carving forks, she went back to the cottage quietly. She lived there for another 23 years. She once went to visit some friends but was coldly received that she never again sought them out.

The story of Mary Mallon is best summed up by her biographer who wrote, “for 30 years the persistent germs of typhoid that merely brought illness or merciful death to others had brought to her years of bitterness and agony of spirit.”

Tragically pathetic though it is, the case of Mary Mallon has strong spiritual overtones. We all are so many Mary Mallon’s carrying within us the deadly disease of sin. It brings only bitterness to us and others. It terminates in eventual death unless we take the cure offered by God. But we also need to acknowledge we have a responsibility to others “I am my brother’s keeper.“ A thing not acknowledged by Mary Mallon and this brought her so much misery. We must be careful how we spread the sin sickness to others. Or better still take the cure offered by God