1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:18,159 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye Holly. A while back, you 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:23,120 Speaker 1: and I talked about the possibility of revisiting very old 5 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: episodes of the show, from back when episodes were only 6 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: like thirteen or fifteen or ten minutes long. Yeah, which 7 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: we have done before. Yeah, that's how we wound up 8 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: with a three parter on Charles Sumner last winter. Yeah. 9 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 1: And we did Zenobia of Palaira as well. Oh, we 10 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 1: did do that, this one that got covered. Yeah. So 11 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: things that number one totally different approach to the show 12 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: when they were made much shorter episodes than we do now. 13 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: And then also, most of them are not even in 14 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: listeners players anymore. So if you wanted to go listen 15 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: to the ten minute episode on whatever, there are very 16 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: limited options to do so, so we're doing that today. 17 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: We are revisiting Mary Mallin, who became known as Typhoid 18 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: Mary in the early twentieth century. She was originally the 19 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: subject of a thirteen minute episode of our show back 20 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine. Mary Mallin was born in 21 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:27,319 Speaker 1: Cookston County, Tyrone, Ireland on September twenty third, eighteen sixty nine. 22 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: She immigrated to the United States in eighteen eighty three 23 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: or eighteen eighty four, where she probably started out living 24 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: with an aunt and uncle. She would have been in 25 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: her mid teens at that point, and as far as 26 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: we know, she came to the United States alone. She 27 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: did various types of domestic work and eventually became a cook, 28 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: working mostly for well off families in jobs that she 29 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: got through an employment agency or that she found through advertisements. 30 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: In nineteen oh six, Charles Henry Warren her for the 31 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: summer at a house he was renting on Oyster Bay 32 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: in Long Island. She started working in early August, and 33 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: about three weeks later, people who were either staying or 34 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: working at the house started to get sick. By early September, 35 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: six of the eleven people connected to the household had 36 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: developed typhoid that included three family members and three staff. 37 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: Two people had to be hospitalized. Typhoid is caused by 38 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: the bacteria Salmonilla typhe, which is spread through human fecal matter, 39 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: and it causes symptoms like high fever, constipation, nausea, headaches, 40 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: joint pain, and sometimes a rash across the abdomen. It 41 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: can also progress to include intestinal perforations, myocarditis, meningitis, pneumonia, convulsions, 42 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: and shock. In places that don't have reliable sewers or 43 00:02:55,520 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: wastewater treatment, water used for drinking or irrigation can come contaminated, 44 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 1: and that leads to major outbreaks. Typhoid can also spread 45 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 1: when sick people or healthy carriers prepare food for other people, 46 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: especially if they have not washed their hands thoroughly. Today, 47 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:18,919 Speaker 1: typhoid continues to be a major issue in some parts 48 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: of the world. According to the World Health Organization, there 49 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 1: are between eleven and twenty million typhoid infections every year, 50 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: and between one hundred and twenty eight thousand and one 51 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty one thousand of those cases are fatal. 52 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: In the US, today, the vast majority of typhoid cases 53 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: are in people who have just traveled internationally, so they 54 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: contracted it somewhere else. But in the early twentieth century, 55 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: outbreaks were pretty common in the US, and they tended 56 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: to happen in the summer when they were connected to 57 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 1: events like weddings and family gatherings. They really made headlines 58 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: in nineteen oh six. Doctors knew what caused typhoid. The 59 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: vacillius was isolated in eighteen eighty. They knew the bacteria 60 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: were shed in bodily waste, and that latrines and cesspits 61 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: could contaminate water sources. Typhoid was also associated with contaminated milk, 62 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: sewer gas, and general unsanitary conditions, but since antibiotics had 63 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:25,159 Speaker 1: not been invented, there wasn't an effective treatment for it yet. 64 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: Of the three thousand, four hundred sixty seven cases reported 65 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:31,680 Speaker 1: in New York in nineteen oh six, there were six 66 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: hundred thirty nine deaths. That's a fatality rate of more 67 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: than eighteen percent. Those are just the reported cases, so 68 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,800 Speaker 1: that is also likely an undercount. Investigators looked into the 69 00:04:43,839 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: outbreak at the house at Oyster Bay, but they did 70 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: not find a cause for it. George Thompson, who owned 71 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: the house, was worried that he would not be able 72 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: to find good tenants if people were afraid there was 73 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: a source of typhoid lurking around, so he hired sanit 74 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,839 Speaker 1: engineer George Soper of the New York City Department of 75 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: Health to look into it further. Soper's training was as 76 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: a civil engineer, which had evolved into sanitary engineering. After 77 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,919 Speaker 1: the Galveston Hurricane of nineteen hundred, he was in charge 78 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: of sanitary reconstruction work in Galveston. By the time Thompson 79 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: hired him to investigate the Oyster Bay outbreak, Soper had 80 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: worked on a few other typhoid outbreaks. One of those 81 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: was in Ithaca, New York in nineteen oh three, and 82 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 1: had involved an estimated one thousand illnesses and more than 83 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: eighty deaths, including twenty nine students from Cornell University. A 84 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: big part of this outbreak was a lack of sanitary 85 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 1: procedures at the Ithaca waterworks, and Malin didn't have anything 86 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: to do with it, but sometimes people attribute that outbreak 87 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: to her, possibly because of Soaper's work on both of 88 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: the outbreaks. When Soper arrived at Oyster Bay to investigate, 89 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 1: he expected to find that previous investigators had missed something obvious. 90 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: They'd made some kind of oversight, but it seemed like 91 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: they had been thorough given how people understood typhoid to 92 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: spread at the time. He checked the family's sources for 93 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,359 Speaker 1: milk and cream, the condition of the properties well, and 94 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: how far it was from the privy that the servants used, 95 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: the condition of the indoor water closet that the family used, 96 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 1: and the condition of the manure vault at the stable. 97 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: This family liked to eat clams, and at first he 98 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: thought that might be the culprit. Sometimes clams were harvested 99 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: from places that could be contaminated with raw sewage, but 100 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:42,720 Speaker 1: if that was the case, that would have affected other 101 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: households as well. Soper concluded that someone must have come 102 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: to the house and brought typhoid with them. After eliminating 103 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,600 Speaker 1: all of the other candidates, the only possibility was Malin, 104 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: who was no longer working there by the time he 105 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,839 Speaker 1: came to this conclusion. Well. At first, Soper thought this 106 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: was actually unlikely. Typhoid bacteria can't survive the high temperatures 107 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: involved in cooking, and in most households, the cook might 108 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,559 Speaker 1: serve food to the staff, but they didn't typically plate 109 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: or serve the food to the family. It turned out 110 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: that one of the dishes on the Sunday menu was 111 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: ice cream with fresh peaches cut into it, something that 112 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: had no cooking step to kill the bacteria, and that 113 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: seemed like the most likely cause of infection. Mary Mallin 114 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: had left this household a few weeks after the outbreak, 115 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:37,680 Speaker 1: and Soper started trying to track her down. He also 116 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 1: contacted the employment agency that Thompson had used to hire 117 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: her to find out where else she had worked. He 118 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: wound up with a partial work history going back to 119 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: nineteen hundred, and he started interviewing those families. Seven of 120 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: the eight families that he spoke with said that people 121 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: in their household had gotten typhoid, and that those infections 122 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: had started after Malin had started working there. Soper wrote 123 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: a paper about all of this, and he presented that 124 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 1: to the Biological Society of Washington, d C. In April 125 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: of nineteen oh seven. He also published it in the 126 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 1: Journal of the American Medical Association that June. By that point, 127 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: Malin had been found and she was taken into custody, 128 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: and we're going to get into all of that in 129 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: just a moment. And it had been confirmed that even 130 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: though she did not seem sick, she did have typhoid 131 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: bacteria in her stool. Soaper described her as a quote 132 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:40,079 Speaker 1: chronic typhoid germ distributor. Today, it is estimated that between 133 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: one percent and six percent of people who developed typhoid 134 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: become chronic carriers of the bacteria. But this nineteen oh 135 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: seven paper was the first ever English language description of 136 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: a chronic carrier. The idea had previously appeared in German 137 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: language medical writing, but that was also very recent. The 138 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:04,320 Speaker 1: oldest use I could find of the German word that 139 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: was coined for this was also from nineteen oh seven. 140 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: In other words, healthy typhoid carriers were a brand new 141 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:16,959 Speaker 1: idea in the European medical tradition. We're going to get 142 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,839 Speaker 1: into what happened after Soper tracked Mary Mallin down. After 143 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 1: we paused for a sponsor break. When George Soper tracks 144 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: down Mary Mallin, she was working for a family that 145 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: lived on Park Avenue in New York. Their laundress was 146 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: in the hospital with typhoid, and their daughter was dying 147 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:48,160 Speaker 1: of it. Soper seems to have genuinely thought that if 148 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 1: he went to Malin and explained to her that her 149 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:55,439 Speaker 1: cooking was making people sick, she would welcome this information 150 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: and immediately do whatever it was that he asked of 151 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: her to try to resold the situation. Maybe she even 152 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 1: suspected this of herself already. It does not seem to 153 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: have dawned on him that what he would be doing 154 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,560 Speaker 1: was showing up at her workplace unannounced, where she was 155 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:15,760 Speaker 1: doing a job that she'd been doing for more than 156 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,319 Speaker 1: a decade, and telling her something that was not part 157 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: of the public understanding of disease at all, and on 158 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: top of that would probably come off as insulting and accusatory. 159 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: She chased him out of the house with a carving fork. 160 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: Soper learned that Melan was staying at a boarding house 161 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:38,320 Speaker 1: with a man named A Bryhoff. Soper went there, where 162 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: he found Melin understandably still angry. She was probably also 163 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:48,360 Speaker 1: feeling betrayed since Bryhoff, who is variously described as her friend, 164 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: her best friend sometimes her boyfriend, was actually the person 165 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 1: that let Soper in. Malan argued that she was healthy, 166 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: that she had never had typhoid, that no one she 167 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: had ever worked for or had ever accused her of 168 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: making them sick, and that there was no more typhoid 169 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: in the places she had worked than there was anywhere else. 170 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,319 Speaker 1: As we said, outbreaks in New York were common, although 171 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: they were more associated with poorer, more crowded neighborhoods than 172 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 1: the well off families. She typically worked for. Soaper told 173 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 1: doctor Herman M. Biggs, medical officer of the New York 174 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: City Department of Health, that he thought Malan was spreading typhoid. 175 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 1: Biggs enlisted the help of doctor Sarah Josephine Baker. The 176 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: first time Baker tried to talk to Malan, Malan slammed 177 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:39,559 Speaker 1: the door in her face. The next day, Baker returned 178 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: with police, and Malan fled the house and hid. She 179 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,320 Speaker 1: was ultimately found in an exterior closet of a neighboring home. 180 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 1: In Baker's words quote, she fought and struggled and cursed. 181 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:55,200 Speaker 1: I tried to explain to her that I only wanted 182 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:58,080 Speaker 1: the specimens and that then she could go back home. 183 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:01,599 Speaker 1: She again refused us, and I told the policeman to 184 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: pick her up and put her in the ambulance. This 185 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 1: we did, and the ride down to the hospital was 186 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:12,880 Speaker 1: quite a wild one. During that ride, Baker reportedly sat 187 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: on top of Malin to hold her down. They took 188 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: mallin to Willard Parker Hospital, which was a communicable disease hospital, 189 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: and placed her in an isolation Ward and Soaper's words quote, 190 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: it was not an attractive or particularly comfortable room and 191 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,560 Speaker 1: there was no reason why a strong, active woman of 192 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 1: forty who felt herself to be in perfect health should 193 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: be contented with it, and Mary Mallin was not. The 194 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:43,680 Speaker 1: staff at the hospital collected stool and urine samples from Malin, 195 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:48,239 Speaker 1: and her stool samples, as we mentioned earlier, contained salmonilla 196 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:53,040 Speaker 1: type bacteria. She was transferred to North brother Island, home 197 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:56,800 Speaker 1: to Riverside Hospital, which was primarily being used to house 198 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: and treat tuberculosis patients. Main was housed in a bungalow 199 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: that had originally been built for the superintendent of nurses 200 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: to live in. At this point, health authorities in New 201 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:12,120 Speaker 1: York were empowered to confine people against their will if 202 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:15,440 Speaker 1: they were deemed to be public health breads, but this 203 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:20,040 Speaker 1: was mostly done in active cases of smallpox or tuberculosis, 204 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: not people who were by all outward appearances healthy and 205 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: not for an indefinite period of time. So Malan was 206 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 1: at this point unique in two ways. She was the 207 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 1: only known chronic typhoid carrier in the United States and 208 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 1: the only apparently healthy person being held indefinitely due to 209 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:46,200 Speaker 1: public health concerns. So we should take a moment here 210 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: to address some widely repeated characterizations of Mary Mallin that 211 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: just do not seem to be true. She was definitely 212 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: angry and combative, but descriptions of her personal hygiene are contradictory, 213 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 1: and it's also hard to take them at face value, 214 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: since the people writing them were often trying to characterize 215 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: her as a public health threat. Sometimes there is an 216 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: assumption that she knew she was giving people typhoid, and 217 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: that she callously kept working, always leaving for new jobs 218 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 1: right after an outbreak started. Again. The idea that a 219 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: healthy person could give someone typhoid was an incredibly new 220 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 1: medical development, so it's really not something that a layperson 221 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 1: was likely to have even thought of. Aside from that, 222 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: the timeline between when Mallan arrived and when an outbreak 223 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 1: started was all over the place, anywhere between a few 224 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: days and more than a month, or in one household 225 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:46,640 Speaker 1: that we know of. Never she did leave a few 226 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: days after one of the outbreaks started, but in other 227 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: outbreaks she kept working for weeks or months after it 228 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 1: was over, and at least one case she helped take 229 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: care of the sick. New York doctor Coleman Drayton gave 230 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: her a fifty dollars bonus on top of her regular 231 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 1: pay for her help caring for members of his household. 232 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: At the same time, it would have been reasonable for 233 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: her or for anybody else on the staff to find 234 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 1: a different job in the face of a contagious and 235 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 1: sometimes deadly illness that was spreading in their workplace. And 236 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:23,360 Speaker 1: then there is the idea that Malin didn't understand that 237 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: she was a typhoid carrier because she wasn't very smart. 238 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:32,200 Speaker 1: Sober described her as unusually intelligent. She also seems to 239 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 1: have been savvy in her efforts to be released from 240 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: North brother Island. Medical staff, as we said, collected stool 241 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: and urine samples from her at first three times a 242 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 1: week and then weekly. They collected one hundred sixty two 243 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: samples between nineteen oh seven and nineteen oh nine, one 244 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 1: hundred nineteen of which were positive for typhoid. In nineteen 245 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: oh eight, Mallin started sending a stool sample to Bryhoff 246 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: whenever the hospital a collected one, and Bryhoff sent them 247 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: to Ferguson Laboratories for independent testing. Ferguson Laboratories tested ten 248 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 1: of her samples and reported that all ten of those 249 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: were negative for typhoid. Eight of those samples were from 250 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: weeks when the sample tested at North Brother Island was 251 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:24,200 Speaker 1: also negative. These independent lab tests became evidence when Malin 252 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: took the matter to court in nineteen oh nine. She 253 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 1: was represented by attorney George Francis O'Neill, who filed a 254 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: writ of habeas corpus on her behalf. At the hearing, 255 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 1: O'Neill made the very straightforward and in my opinion, correct 256 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: argument that Mallan was being imprisoned without due process and 257 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: had not been offered legal counsel. But even though none 258 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 1: of the tests run at Ferguson Laboratories showed evidence of 259 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 1: typhoid bacteria and malins stool, the New York Health authorities 260 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: had all of those other positive tests that had been 261 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 1: run at Brother Island. So Judge Mitchell Erlinger ultimately dismissed 262 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 1: the case and Malan had to stay in isolation. During 263 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:14,240 Speaker 1: these court proceedings, newspapers started reporting on Mallin using her 264 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: real name. Earlier reports had either not used a name 265 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:21,600 Speaker 1: or they had used the pseudonym Mary Liverson, and they 266 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 1: started calling her by the nickname she's been known for years, 267 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:28,959 Speaker 1: Typhoid Mary. The New York World quoted her as saying, quote, 268 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 1: before God and in the eyes of decent men, my 269 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: name is Mary Mallin. I was christened and baptized Mary Mallin. 270 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:39,119 Speaker 1: I lived a decent, upright life under the name of 271 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 1: Mary Mallin until I was seized. She went on to 272 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: say that she had been locked up in a pest 273 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,800 Speaker 1: house and re christened typhoid Mary quote the name by 274 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:52,400 Speaker 1: which the world has ever since known me. A lot 275 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 1: of this reporting was sympathetic to Malan, and so was 276 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: the public response. The New York American interviewed her and 277 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: quoted her as saying, quote, I am an innocent human being. 278 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:05,560 Speaker 1: I have committed no crime, and I am treated like 279 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:12,119 Speaker 1: an outcast, a criminal. It is unjust, outrageous, uncivilized. She 280 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: also asked, quote, why should I be banished like a 281 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 1: leper and compelled to live in solitary confinement with only 282 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: a dog for a companion. The New York American was 283 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:26,399 Speaker 1: owned by William Randolph Hearst, and there is speculation that 284 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: Hurst or his sympathetic readers paid for O'Neill to represent 285 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: Mallan in court. Malan also had some support from members 286 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:39,160 Speaker 1: of the medical and public health community when Soper first 287 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 1: reported on her case in April of nineteen oh seven. 288 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 1: Milton L. Rosno of the US Public Health Service responded, quote, 289 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 1: it is not necessary to imprison the Basila's carrier. It 290 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 1: is sufficient to restrict the activities of such an individual. 291 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:59,360 Speaker 1: In nineteen ten, public health pioneer Charles V. Chapin published 292 00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: a book called Sources and Modes of Infection, in which 293 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:07,880 Speaker 1: he discussed healthy disease carriers. He was critical of how 294 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,680 Speaker 1: Melan was being treated, writing quote, what result is secured 295 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: by keeping her in confinement other than the placing of 296 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 1: discredit on public health work? It is difficult to see 297 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 1: by this point. Doctors also understood that Mallin was not unique. 298 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: In nineteen oh nine, W. P. Mason of the Renstler 299 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:32,199 Speaker 1: Polytechnic Institute published an article in the journal Science that 300 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: concluded that about four percent of people continued to shed 301 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: bacteria after recovering from typhoid. He wrote, quote, there are 302 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: at the present moment, probably five hundred and sixty such 303 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,479 Speaker 1: persons in the state of New York, representing four percent 304 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: of the fourteen thousand cases of typhoid fever occurring during 305 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: the past year. We cannot keep in detention all these people, 306 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: then why single out and imprison one. We also have 307 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: Mallan's thoughts from a letter that she wrote to William H. Park, 308 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 1: head of the New York Department of Health Bacteriology Lab, 309 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,680 Speaker 1: in June of nineteen oh nine. She wrote, quote, there 310 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,880 Speaker 1: was never any effort by the board authority to do 311 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,880 Speaker 1: anything for me except to cast me on the island 312 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,040 Speaker 1: and keep me a prisoner without being sick nor needing 313 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 1: medical treatment. After describing being forced to give stool samples 314 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 1: and blood cultures, she wrote that when she first arrived, 315 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:33,119 Speaker 1: she was so nervous and grief stricken that her eye 316 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:37,439 Speaker 1: started to twitch and her eyelid became paralyzed. An I 317 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,199 Speaker 1: specialist who visited the island multiple times a week was 318 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: never asked to examine her. She wrote quote, I did 319 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 1: not even get a cover for my eye. I had 320 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: to hold my hand on it whilst going about and 321 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,960 Speaker 1: at night tie a bandage on it. She also described 322 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:58,320 Speaker 1: being treated with eurotropine, which has been used since the 323 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: late nineteenth century to treat the things like urinary tract infections. 324 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,160 Speaker 1: She was treated with it for months, and she wrote quote, 325 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:08,879 Speaker 1: if I should have continued, it would certainly have killed me, 326 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 1: for it was very severe. Everyone knows who is acquainted 327 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 1: in any kind of medicine that it's used for kidney trouble. 328 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: Kidney trouble is underlined, and she said multiple people at 329 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 1: the hospital had tried to, in her words Inveigel her 330 00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:30,560 Speaker 1: into having her gallbladder removed. It was thought that typhoid 331 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:34,879 Speaker 1: bacteria lived in the gallbladder, so gallbladder removal would cure 332 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:39,600 Speaker 1: chronic carriers, but this surgery had obvious risks, especially in 333 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:44,719 Speaker 1: the pre antibiotic era. In her autobiography, s. Josephine Baker 334 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: wrote that Malan thought this surgery was a pretext for 335 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: hospital staff to kill her, and Malin stated that she 336 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,200 Speaker 1: had refused it because there was nothing wrong with her gallbladder. 337 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,080 Speaker 1: It also quickly became clear that this procedure, of course, 338 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 1: did not work. By nineteen twenty one, five known typhoid 339 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:06,160 Speaker 1: carriers had their gallbladders removed, and none of them were 340 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:10,600 Speaker 1: cured afterward. To return to Mallin's letter, she concluded, quote, 341 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,160 Speaker 1: I have been, in fact a peep show for everybody. 342 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,880 Speaker 1: Even the interns had to come see me and ask 343 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: about the facts already known to the whole wide world. 344 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:25,480 Speaker 1: The tuberculosis men would say, there she is the kidnapped woman. 345 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:30,159 Speaker 1: Doctor Park has had me illustrated in Chicago. I wonder 346 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 1: how the said doctor William H. Park would like to 347 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:36,400 Speaker 1: be insulted and put in the journal and call him 348 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: or his wife Typhoid William Park. We will talk about 349 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 1: how Mallin was finally released from North Brother Island after 350 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. Mary Mallan is usually characterized as being 351 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:01,879 Speaker 1: held in absolute isolation on North Brother Island, but she 352 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,719 Speaker 1: was eventually given some freedom to move around. By her 353 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: own account, she helped care for children who had been 354 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: hospitalized and didn't have family there to look after them 355 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:15,120 Speaker 1: or to keep them company. Malin liked children. Accounts from 356 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,320 Speaker 1: her earlier employment said that she liked looking after and 357 00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 1: playing with the children and the households where she worked. 358 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,280 Speaker 1: She was also allowed to have visitors, and she made 359 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 1: friends with some of the staff. This should not distract 360 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 1: from the fact that she was being held against her will. 361 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: Though in nineteen ten, the new head of the New 362 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: York City Health Department, Ernst Jay Letterley, planned to release 363 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:42,520 Speaker 1: Malin from the island. She signed a sworn statement that 364 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: she would change occupations and would take measures to protect 365 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:50,119 Speaker 1: anyone that she came in contact with from infection. She 366 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 1: also had to periodically check in with the health department. 367 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 1: We don't really know how thoroughly anything about her situation 368 00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: was explained to her, but the assumption was that Malan 369 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,200 Speaker 1: and would find other work that did not involve cooking. 370 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: But most of those other domestic service jobs were a 371 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,760 Speaker 1: lot more physically demanding, and they paid less money than 372 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 1: cooking did, especially since Mallin was a good enough cook 373 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,120 Speaker 1: to be able to get high wages and good positions. 374 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:20,919 Speaker 1: There was no social safety net at all, and it 375 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,200 Speaker 1: doesn't seem like anybody other than Mallan really thought about 376 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:26,640 Speaker 1: what it would take for her to support herself if 377 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: she could not cook anymore. When she said that she 378 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:34,160 Speaker 1: was having trouble finding work, Letterly apparently arranged for her 379 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,959 Speaker 1: to work as a laundress, which would not have been 380 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:41,200 Speaker 1: an appealing job. In nineteen ten. The electric washing machine 381 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: was brand new, first patented in the United States in 382 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:48,399 Speaker 1: nineteen oh four, and not in widespread use yet. In 383 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:51,720 Speaker 1: those first electric machines, the only thing that was powered 384 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:55,119 Speaker 1: was turning the drum. Fully automatic machines like we have 385 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: today were still decades away, so doing laundry was an 386 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: hensley manual job that involved a lot of hard work, 387 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:08,280 Speaker 1: hot water, and harsh chemicals. In nineteen eleven, still having 388 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:12,159 Speaker 1: trouble earning a living, Malan unsuccessfully tried to sue the 389 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 1: city for damages. At some point after this, A. Bryhoff died. 390 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,399 Speaker 1: It's possible that this was a factor in Malin going 391 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:25,359 Speaker 1: back to cooking around nineteen fourteen. She might have been 392 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 1: able to get by when she had somebody to live with, 393 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: but she couldn't when she was on her own. There 394 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 1: were only a couple of employment agencies in New York 395 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:37,160 Speaker 1: City that worked with domestic workers, and they, of course 396 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:41,119 Speaker 1: knew who she was. She couldn't use the name Mary 397 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,359 Speaker 1: Mallin since it had been all over the newspapers along 398 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,879 Speaker 1: with the moniker typhoid Mary, so when she applied to 399 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:51,359 Speaker 1: work as a cook at Sloan Maternity Hospital in Manhattan 400 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:56,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifteen, she used the name Mary Brown. Three 401 00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,359 Speaker 1: months later, a typhoid outbreak started at the hospital. At 402 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,480 Speaker 1: least twenty five people got sick and two people died. 403 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,399 Speaker 1: Doctor Edward B. Craigan, the head obstetrician, and gynecologist called 404 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: George Soper to investigate. Reportedly, and for reasons that are unclear, 405 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,439 Speaker 1: staff at the hospital had started calling Mallin typhoid Mary. 406 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:21,680 Speaker 1: She was not at the hospital the day soaper came 407 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: to investigate, but he heard about this nickname, and then 408 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:27,600 Speaker 1: was offered something that she had written to see if 409 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: he recognized her handwriting, and he did. A health official 410 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:35,480 Speaker 1: who went to take her in recognized her by her walk, 411 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:40,399 Speaker 1: which was described as very distinctive and masculine, according to 412 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,440 Speaker 1: an article in The New York Times. This time, when 413 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: authorities went to try to capture Mallin, they were denied 414 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,479 Speaker 1: entry into the house where she was staying, and they 415 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: had to gain access to her room through a window 416 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: using a ladder. Public support for her really vanished as 417 00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:00,640 Speaker 1: newspapers reported on her return to cooking and the typhoid 418 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: outbreak at the hospital. She was returned to North Brother Island, 419 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: and this time people described her as seeming resigned about 420 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 1: it and not fighting back. She described herself as having 421 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:16,760 Speaker 1: faced continual intrusive questions in the years since being released, 422 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: so it's possible she just thought that people would leave 423 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: her alone there outside of the island, though she was 424 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:28,840 Speaker 1: criticized and ridiculed. Newspapers had been calling her typhoid Mary 425 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,359 Speaker 1: for years, and by nineteen twenty they were also using 426 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,080 Speaker 1: the term typhoid Mary in stories about disease outbreaks that 427 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:39,120 Speaker 1: had nothing to do with her, and in some cases 428 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: weren't even outbreaks of typhoid and other typhoid carriers took 429 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 1: pains to describe themselves as not like her. This included 430 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:54,399 Speaker 1: New York bakery owner Alphonse Kotil, who had immigrated from Belgium. 431 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,879 Speaker 1: After he was taken to court after returning to food 432 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 1: preparation and defiance of health authorities in nineteen twenty four, 433 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: he described himself as not a typhoid Mary, and in 434 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: court about this he received a suspended sentence after a 435 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:14,240 Speaker 1: judge said that he could not be imprisoned for his health. 436 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: At least two other typhoid carriers temporarily spent some time 437 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 1: at North Brother Island during Mallin's second incarceration there. One 438 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 1: of those was dairy worker Tony Labella, who was connected 439 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: to more than eighty cases and two deaths in New York. 440 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 1: After agreeing to change jobs, he moved to New Jersey 441 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: and went back to dairywork, and in nineteen twenty two 442 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: he was connected to thirty five cases of typhoid and 443 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,680 Speaker 1: three deaths there. And then there was confectioner Frederick Mersh 444 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: who sold ice cream. More than one hundred and ten 445 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: infections and several deaths were traced back to him. In 446 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:56,440 Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen, he agreed to get a job as a plumber, 447 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,440 Speaker 1: but then went back to food service work and caused 448 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,080 Speaker 1: another outbreak in nineteen twenty eight, with that second outbreak 449 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: involving more than eighty cases and two deaths. Accounts of 450 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 1: Mercia's time on the island are a little odd. It 451 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: seems like he might have gone there so he could 452 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: work at the hospital and earn enough money to support 453 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: his family while not cooking. Other staff did not seem 454 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 1: to realize that he, like Mallin, was a chronic typhoid 455 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,560 Speaker 1: carrier who had caused multiple outbreaks and that he was 456 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:33,880 Speaker 1: actually being detained. He did eventually return home. While at 457 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: North Brother Island for the second time, Malan kept herself 458 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: busy by reading and writing letters. She regularly corresponded with friends, 459 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,160 Speaker 1: and she got letters from around the world from people 460 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,719 Speaker 1: who were curious about her or who were themselves chronic 461 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 1: typhoid carriers. She also made crafts, including beadwork, that she 462 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 1: sold to earn some money for herself. There are also 463 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:00,360 Speaker 1: accounts saying that she baked for people, which she seems 464 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: kind of wild considering her status as a typhoid carrier, 465 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,080 Speaker 1: which was the entire reason she was on the island. 466 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 1: Perhaps her customers felt safe because they were hospital workers 467 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: who had been vaccinated, and because the food was cooked. 468 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:18,240 Speaker 1: This part is really not clear. Yeah, there are some 469 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 1: I'm like, was she really cooking or is there a 470 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:25,000 Speaker 1: misunderstanding somewhere? I don't know. Did they think cooking and 471 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 1: baking were different somehow? Yeah. Starting in June of nineteen eighteen, 472 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:35,400 Speaker 1: Mallan was allowed to leave the island without supervision. She'd 473 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 1: go to visit friends, sometimes for extended periods, and she 474 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:41,840 Speaker 1: wasn't really questioned about where she'd gone or what she'd 475 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:45,680 Speaker 1: done while she was away. Also, in nineteen eighteen, she 476 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:48,719 Speaker 1: started working at the hospital on the island, and that 477 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:52,480 Speaker 1: is work for which she was paid. She did cleaning, 478 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 1: domestic type work and then was eventually designated as a 479 00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:00,920 Speaker 1: hospital helper and then eventually as a nurse. In nineteen 480 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 1: twenty five, Doctor Alexandra Plavska trained Malin to work at 481 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:09,480 Speaker 1: the hospital laboratory, where she cleaned up, washed lab vessels, 482 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:15,480 Speaker 1: and ran tests. Plavska's successor apparently did not trust Mallin 483 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,440 Speaker 1: to run the tests and would rerun them all herself 484 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:22,440 Speaker 1: or himself. I don't remember that person's gender, but let 485 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: Malan continue to do this work because it seemed important 486 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,720 Speaker 1: to her. Malin did not arrive for work one morning 487 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:33,400 Speaker 1: in December of nineteen thirty two, and someone went to 488 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,000 Speaker 1: check on her, and they found her on the floor. 489 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 1: She'd had a massive stroke. After this, she was unable 490 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:42,840 Speaker 1: to walk, and she spent the next six years being 491 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:47,480 Speaker 1: cared for at Riverside Hospital. She died there on November eleventh, 492 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:50,959 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight, at the age of sixty nine. She 493 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 1: was buried at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx. Authorities 494 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:59,680 Speaker 1: ran advertisements looking for Malin's relatives for two months, even 495 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 1: though she had told people that she didn't have any family. 496 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 1: Nine people attended her funeral, including Klavska and her daughter 497 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:10,560 Speaker 1: and Malan's friend Mary Limpy and some of her family. 498 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:15,000 Speaker 1: Malan left Plavska two hundred dollars in her will and 499 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: left all of her possessions to Limpy. She also left 500 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,440 Speaker 1: some charitable donations and other bequests, and she paid for 501 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: her own grave marker, which reads Mary Mallan died November eleventh, 502 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:31,800 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight, Jesus Mercy. According to some accounts, an 503 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,200 Speaker 1: autopsy was performed on Malan's body, and it revealed that 504 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:39,440 Speaker 1: she had gallstones that were full of typhoid bacteria, suggesting 505 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 1: that she might have been cured as she'd agreed to 506 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 1: have that surgery. Boy, do I have thoughts about this 507 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,680 Speaker 1: to talk about on Friday? But there is no record 508 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: of an autopsy, and Soaper's later writing about her specifically 509 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:55,200 Speaker 1: says that no autopsy was conducted. Yeah, it sort of 510 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:58,400 Speaker 1: comes across as something that was spread to justify her 511 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:00,680 Speaker 1: being held for her whole life, even though it was 512 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 1: already established that she was a chronic carrier. We didn't 513 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 1: also need a possibly fake autopsy story. By the time 514 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 1: Malin died, the City of New York was monitoring at 515 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:17,440 Speaker 1: least four hundred chronic typhoid carriers, none of whom were 516 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:22,080 Speaker 1: being isolated or quarantined, but typhoid was becoming less and 517 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:26,760 Speaker 1: less common in the city. Water chlorination introduced in nineteen 518 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 1: oh nine made a big difference in typhoid rates, as 519 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:33,160 Speaker 1: did the vaccines that were first used in nineteen eleven. 520 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:38,120 Speaker 1: Antibiotics that were effective against typhoid were developed in nineteen 521 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 1: forty eight, and today chronic typhoid can usually be cured 522 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:47,040 Speaker 1: with a longer course of antibiotics. There are many possible 523 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,600 Speaker 1: reasons for why Malin was treated differently from other typhoid 524 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 1: carriers of her era, including other carriers who also went 525 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,760 Speaker 1: back to working with food and caused additional outbreaks, some 526 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 1: of them larger and dea than anything that was ever 527 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 1: traced to Malin. Immigrants from Ireland at this time were 528 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 1: perceived as unclean and untrustworthy. Some health officials described Malan 529 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:16,399 Speaker 1: as dirty or untidy, although doctor Sarah Josephine Baker said 530 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:21,399 Speaker 1: the opposite, describing Malin as a quote clean, neat obviously 531 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:27,080 Speaker 1: self respecting irishwoman. Malan was also angry, even violently so, 532 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:31,280 Speaker 1: in her earliest encounters with health officials and police. Baker 533 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,839 Speaker 1: once wrote of her quote, it was her own bad 534 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:38,400 Speaker 1: behavior that inevitably led to her doom. The hospital authorities 535 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,720 Speaker 1: treated her as kindly as possible, but she never learned 536 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:46,320 Speaker 1: to listen to reason. It also seems like health officials 537 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 1: put more effort into training typhoid carriers to do other 538 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:53,279 Speaker 1: types of work if they were men, specially men with 539 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:58,440 Speaker 1: families who were expected to be the breadwinners. The typhoid 540 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:02,200 Speaker 1: Mary moniker can used to be used today, of course, 541 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: especially in situations where someone is perceived as carelessly or 542 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:11,799 Speaker 1: callously spreading disease, and Malan's story has continued to be 543 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,839 Speaker 1: relevant as health authorities have tried to figure out how 544 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 1: to balance personal freedoms and constitutional protections with public health, 545 00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:24,200 Speaker 1: including things like isolation and quarantine protocols in the early 546 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: years of the global HIV pandemic, the early COVID nineteen pandemic, 547 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 1: and outbreaks of diseases like ebola today. Do you have 548 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:38,279 Speaker 1: listener mail to top off this episode? I do have 549 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: listener mail. This listener mail is from Greg and Greg 550 00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:47,600 Speaker 1: wrote Holly and Tracy. At the conclusion of your recent 551 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:52,200 Speaker 1: Unearthed podcast, you discussed how the current administration is trying 552 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:56,120 Speaker 1: to push a whitewashed version of history at our national parks, monuments, 553 00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: historical sites, and museums. It got me thinking about the 554 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:03,000 Speaker 1: complicated history of Shenandoah National Park, which you covered on 555 00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:07,400 Speaker 1: a podcast about a year ago. I lived in Virginia 556 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,759 Speaker 1: before retiring from the federal government in twenty twenty five, 557 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:13,239 Speaker 1: as many of us did that year, and moving to 558 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,360 Speaker 1: South Carolina, and for decades in Virginia, I was a 559 00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,440 Speaker 1: Scout leader. Frequently. I would take my scouts hiking in 560 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,520 Speaker 1: Shenandoah National Park, and one of our favorite hikes was 561 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,799 Speaker 1: the loop known as Little Devil Stairs. Part of that 562 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:30,000 Speaker 1: trail follows the Kaiser Run fire Road, and there it 563 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: passes a cemetery used by the families who once lived 564 00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:37,480 Speaker 1: in that part of what became the Shenandoah National Park. 565 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: I would always have my scouts stop there at the 566 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:42,839 Speaker 1: cemetery and we'd have a talk about how and why 567 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,319 Speaker 1: the park was created. Why do you think there's a 568 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:48,959 Speaker 1: cemetery located here, what happened to the people who lived here. 569 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:52,440 Speaker 1: I've attached a photo of a plaque found in that cemetery. 570 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 1: On it is a poem Why the Mountains Are Blue? 571 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,000 Speaker 1: By Wayne Baldwin. I would have my scouts read it 572 00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:01,960 Speaker 1: and then discuss their thoughts. My scouts would express surprise 573 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:04,040 Speaker 1: at the history of the park, of course they had 574 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:06,640 Speaker 1: never heard of the history of it in school, and 575 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 1: express empathy for the uprooted families. They would draw parallels 576 00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:14,120 Speaker 1: to Native Americans. They'd raise questions about other stories in 577 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:17,640 Speaker 1: American history and wonder how much of them were mythological. 578 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:22,160 Speaker 1: Quote get curious, ask hard questions, see how the interpretations 579 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:25,239 Speaker 1: have changed over time, and they talk about how much 580 00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:28,040 Speaker 1: they loved Shindoah National Park and how grateful they were 581 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:31,520 Speaker 1: for the opportunity to enjoy its beauty. I think Baldwin's 582 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,960 Speaker 1: poem captures exactly why we should never whitewash history. No 583 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,879 Speaker 1: matter how noble the outcome, real people paid a very 584 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:42,040 Speaker 1: real price for what we have come to enjoy today. 585 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,719 Speaker 1: We should not forget about them nor what happened to them. 586 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:49,719 Speaker 1: It's fashionable patriotism to thank soldiers for their service, yet 587 00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:52,680 Speaker 1: we don't recognize the sacrifices of so many others, like 588 00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:55,160 Speaker 1: those whose homes were taken for the creation of this 589 00:37:55,239 --> 00:37:59,160 Speaker 1: beautiful park. American history should not be framed like a 590 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:02,239 Speaker 1: Disney theme park, where everything is pristine while all the 591 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,840 Speaker 1: garbage is kept hidden behind the scenes. It is in 592 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:08,480 Speaker 1: the understanding of these complicated stories that we are able 593 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:11,040 Speaker 1: to move closer toward the ideals set forth in our 594 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:14,560 Speaker 1: nation's founding documents. I also wanted to add that I 595 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:17,600 Speaker 1: was delighted to see your show on the Color Blue 596 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:20,320 Speaker 1: at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC several 597 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:21,920 Speaker 1: years ago. It was a lot of fun to be 598 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 1: part of the audience. Thank you for bringing your show 599 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:27,640 Speaker 1: on the road. Hopefully you'll come to Charleston sometime soon. Greg. 600 00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:32,480 Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Greg for this email, which is lovely, 601 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,080 Speaker 1: and also for this picture. I did not know about 602 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:39,360 Speaker 1: this plaque and the poem why the Mountains Are Blue. 603 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:43,719 Speaker 1: It is basically I cannot read the poem. I do 604 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:47,839 Speaker 1: not know it's copyright status, whether we would be infringing 605 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,920 Speaker 1: on things to read it. But if you google why 606 00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:53,640 Speaker 1: the Mountains Are Blue by Wayne Baldwin, or use any 607 00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:55,800 Speaker 1: other search engine of your choice, you'll be able to 608 00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:58,520 Speaker 1: find it and read it. And it is basically about 609 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:02,719 Speaker 1: remembering the sacrifice that was made to be able to 610 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:06,600 Speaker 1: create Shenandoah National Parks. So thank you so much for 611 00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:11,440 Speaker 1: this email and this picture. Greg. If you would like 612 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 1: to write to us, we are at History Podcasts at 613 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:17,239 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com and if you would like to look 614 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:20,960 Speaker 1: at the show notes for this episode, which are honestly 615 00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,120 Speaker 1: longer than normal, that is at our website, which is 616 00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,719 Speaker 1: at History Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can 617 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:31,240 Speaker 1: subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app and anywhere 618 00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 1: else you'd like to get your podcasts. Stuff you missed 619 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:42,279 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 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