The Terrible Tale of of Mary Mallon, Better Known as ‘Typhoid Mary’, the First Identified Typhoid Carrier in the United States

Mary Mallon, who became known as ‘Typhoid Mary,’ was identified circa 1907 as the controversial “patient zero” in a typhoid fever outbreak in the United States in the early 1900s. Although she never had symptoms, she was forced into quarantine on two occasions, for a total of 26 years.

Mary Mallon (foreground) didn’t show symptoms of typhoid, but spread the disease while working as a cook in the New York City area. She is pictured after having been institutionalized in a hospital on North Brother Island, where she stayed for more than a quarter century. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

Mary Mallon was born on September 23rd, 1869 in Cookstown, Ireland. Little is known about her early life, but she is known to have emigrated to the United States in either 1883 or 1884. Like the majority of Irish immigrants at that time she initially found work as a domestic servant. With time it became apparent that she had a talent for cooking, and around 1900 Mallon started to work as a cook for affluent families in the New York area.

From 1900 to 1907, Mallon worked as a cook in the New York City area for seven families. In 1900, she worked in Mamaroneck, New York, where, within two weeks of her employment, residents developed typhoid fever. In 1901, she moved to Manhattan, where members of the family for whom she worked developed fevers and diarrhea, and the laundress died. Mallon then went to work for a lawyer and left after seven of the eight people in that household became ill.

In August 1906, Mallon took a position in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and within two weeks 10 of the 11 family members were hospitalized with typhoid. She changed jobs again, and similar occurrences happened in three more households. She worked as a cook for the family of a wealthy New York banker, Charles Henry Warren. When the Warrens rented a house in Oyster Bay for the summer of 1906, Mallon went along, too. From August 27 to September 3, six of the 11 people in the family came down with typhoid fever. The disease at that time was “unusual” in Oyster Bay, according to three medical doctors who practiced there. Mallon was subsequently hired by other families, and outbreaks followed her.


Investigation

In late 1906, one family hired a typhoid researcher named George Soper to investigate. Soper published the results on June 15, 1907, in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He believed Mallon might have been the source of the outbreak. He wrote:

“It was found that the family changed cooks on August 4. This was about three weeks before the typhoid epidemic broke out. The new cook, Mallon, remained in the family only a short time and left about three weeks after the outbreak occurred. Mallon was described as an Irish woman about 40 years of age, tall, heavy, single. She seemed to be in perfect health.”

Soper discovered that a female Irish cook, who fit the physical description he was given, was involved in all of the outbreaks. He was unable to locate her because she generally left after an outbreak began, without giving a forwarding address. Soper learned of an active outbreak in a penthouse on Park Avenue and discovered Mallon was the cook. Two of the household’s servants were hospitalized, and the daughter of the family died of typhoid.

When Soper approached Mallon about her possible role in spreading typhoid, she adamantly rejected his request for urine and stool samples. Since Mallon refused to give samples, he decided to compile a five-year history of Mallon’s employment. Soper found that of the eight families that hired Mallon as a cook, members of seven claimed to have contracted typhoid fever. On his next visit, he took another doctor with him but again was turned away. During a later encounter when Mallon was herself hospitalized, he told her he would write a book and give her all the royalties. She angrily rejected his proposal and locked herself in the bathroom until he left.


First quarantine (1907–1910)

The New York City Health Inspector determined she was a carrier. Under sections 1169 and 1170 of the Greater New York Charter, Mallon was held in isolation for three years at a clinic located on North Brother Island.

In prison, she was forced to give stool and urine samples. Authorities suggested removing her gallbladder because they believed typhoid bacteria resided there. However, she refused as she did not believe she carried the disease. She was also unwilling to cease working as a cook.

Mallon attracted so much media attention that she was called “Typhoid Mary” in a 1908 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Later, in a textbook that defined typhoid fever, she was again called “Typhoid Mary.”

In a New York American article on 20 June 1910 she was branded ‘Typhoid Mary’ with a capital T and depicted in a sketch, skulls forming in her breath. Mallon did work in other posts, as a laundress, for example, but it was well known that the pay for a cook was far higher, so her return to cooking is understandable.

Eventually, Eugene H. Porter, the New York State Commissioner of Health, decided that disease carriers should no longer be kept in isolation and that Mallon could be freed if she agreed to stop working as a cook and take reasonable steps to prevent transmitting typhoid to others. On February 19, 1910, Mallon agreed that she was “prepared to change her occupation (that of a cook), and would give assurance by affidavit that she would upon her release take such hygienic precautions as would protect those with whom she came in contact, from infection.” She was released from quarantine and returned to the mainland.


Release and second quarantine (1915–1938)

Upon her release, Mallon was given a job as a laundress, which paid less than cooking. After several unsuccessful years of working as a laundress, she changed her name to Mary Brown and returned to her former occupation despite having been explicitly instructed not to. For the next five years, she worked in a number of kitchens; wherever she worked, there were outbreaks of typhoid. However, she changed jobs frequently, and Soper was unable to find her.

Mallon (fourth from right) was quarantined with other inmates for more than a third of her life. It’s likely that Mallon never fully understood how typhoid spread. In two separate outbreaks, she is estimated to have infected 51 people, three of whom died. (Sience History Images/Alamy)

In 1915, Mallon started another major outbreak, this time at Sloane Hospital for Women in New York City. Twenty-five people were infected, and two died. She again left, but the police were able to find and arrest her when she took food to a friend on Long Island. After arresting her, public health authorities returned her to quarantine on North Brother Island on March 27, 1915. She was still unwilling to have her gallbladder removed.

Mallon remained confined for the remainder of her life. She became a minor celebrity and was occasionally interviewed by the media. They were told not to accept even water from her. Later, she was allowed to work as a technician in the island’s laboratory, washing bottles.

Mary Mallon (wearing glasses) photographed with bacteriologist Emma Sherman on North Brother Island in 1931 or 1932, over 15 years after she had been quarantined there permanently.

Mallon spent the rest of her life in quarantine at the Riverside Hospital. Six years before her death, she was paralyzed by a stroke. On November 11, 1938, she died of pneumonia at age 69.

A post-mortem found evidence of live typhoid bacteria in her gallbladder. George Soper wrote however, “There was no autopsy,” a claim cited by other researcher to assert a conspiracy to calm public opinion after her death. Mallon’s body was cremated, and her ashes were buried at Saint Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx.

Beautiful Photos of Catherine Deneuve in the 1960s

Catherine Deneuve (born Catherine Fabienne Dorléac) rose to stardom with her performance in Jacques Demy’s musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). She appeared in 26 movies during the 1960s, most of which were European films. For her cool but erotic persona, Deneuve would later receive the nickname the “ice maiden,” given to her in Roman Polanski’s horror classic Repulsion (1965), strengthened in Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour (1967), and peaked in Tristana (1970).

Take a look at the greatest French actress in the 1960s:

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Glamorous Photos of Francine Drescher From Between the 1970s and ’90s

Born 1957 in Flushing, Queens, New York, American actress, comedian, writer, and activist Francine Drescher made her screen debut with a small role in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, and later appeared in American Hot Wax (1978) and Wes Craven's horror tale Stranger in Our House (1978).

In the 1980s, Drescher gained recognition as a comedic actress in the films Gorp (1980), The Hollywood Knights (1980), Doctor Detroit (1983), This Is Spinal Tap (1984), and UHF (1989) while establishing a television career with guest appearances on several series.

In 1993, Drescher achieved wider fame as Fran Fine in her own sitcom vehicle The Nanny, for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy Television Series during the show's run.

A uterine cancer survivor, Drescher is an outspoken healthcare advocate and LGBT rights activist, and is noted for her work as a Public Diplomacy Envoy for Women's Health Issues for the U.S. State Department. she now lives in Malibu, California.

Take a look at these glamorous pics to see the beauty of Francine Drescher from between the 1970s and 1990s.

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Beautiful Pics of Sharon Tate Photographed by Milton H. Greene in 1966

Born 1922 in Los Angeles, California, American photographer Milton H. Greene initially established himself in high fashion photography in the 1940s and 1950s. His fashion shots appeared in Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.

Greene then turned to portraits of celebrities. He photographed many high-profile personalities in the 1950s and 1960s, including Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, Sammy Davis, Jr., Catherine Deneuve, Marlene Dietrich, and Judy Garland.

Greene was best known for his photo shoots with Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop (1956) and The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). The two also collaborated on some 53 photo sessions, some of which became well known, including “The Black Sitting”.

Greene's photograph for one such sitting in 1954 featuring Monroe in a ballet tutu was chosen by Time Life as one of the three most popular images of the 20th century.

Greene died of lymphoma at a Los Angeles hospital in 1985 at the age of 63.

These beautiful pics are part of his work that Greene took portraits of Sharon Tate in 1966.

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John Lennon Posing With Alexis Mardas’ Nothing Box, 1965

A series of images of John Lennon smiling, having just had his teeth done in the United States in 1965. While in the U.S (presumably) John purchased several “Nothing Boxes” from inventor and associate Magic Alex, one of which is featured here. These boxes did just as they promised, nothing. Other than blink of course, until their battery runs out. The Beatles released, Help!, the soundtrack from their film of the same name, that same year, featuring the iconic singles “Ticket to Ride” and “Yesterday”.

Yannis (later John) Alexis Mardas (2 May 1942 – 13 January 2017), also known as Magic Alex, was a Greek electronics engineer who is best known for his close association with the Beatles. His nickname was given to him by John Lennon when he was involved with the group between 1965 and 1969, during which time he became head of Apple Electronics.

Mardas had moved to London from his native Greece in 1965 and worked as a television repairman. At a time when almost anything seemed to be possible for someone with the gift of the gab, he went on to exhibit his Kinetic Light Sculptures at the Indica Gallery – one of which was bought by the Rolling Stones. The group's guitarist Brian Jones introduced him to John Lennon. And it was at this point that Mardas impressed Lennon with the Nothing Box; a small plastic box with randomly blinking lights that Lennon would stare at for hours while under the influence of LSD. Lennon later introduced the renamed John Alexis Mardas as his “new guru”, calling him “Magic Alex”.

Mardas allegedly told Lennon about ideas for futuristic electronic devices he was “working on”, which he later disavowed either promising or discussing: a telephone that responded to its owner’s voice and could identify who was calling, a force field that would surround the Beatles’ homes, an X-ray camera, paint that would make anything invisible, car paint that would change color by flicking a switch, and wallpaper speakers, which would actually be a part of the wallpaper. Mardas later asked for the V-12 engines from Lennon’s Rolls-Royce and George Harrison’s Ferrari Berlinetta car, so he could build a flying saucer. Mardas had denied these in a formal statement.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Magic Alex (Alexis Mardas), 1968.

The Beatles set up a company for Mardas called Fiftyshapes Ltd. in September 1967; he later became one of the first employees of the newly formed Apple Corps, earning £40 a week (equivalent to £700 in today) and receiving 10% of any profits made from his inventions.

The Beatles often called Mardas the “Greek wizard”, and Paul McCartney remembered being interested in his ideas: “Well, if you [Mardas] could do that, we’d like one. It was always, ‘We’d like one’”. Mardas’ ideas were not confined to the realms of electronic wizardry, but included songwriting involvement, with a Lennon-Mardas composition, “What’s the New Mary Jane”, originally meant for inclusion on the Beatles’ self-titled double album (also known as the White Album). Lennon later removed Mardas’ songwriting credit for unknown reasons.

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In 1918 People Made Some Tiny Flu Masks for Their Beloved Pets

These photos were taken during the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic when someone need to protect their pets from the global flu pandemic too.

36 Cool Snaps of Teenage Girls in Dresses From the 1960s

The 1960s was an exciting time to be a young woman in the Western World. The shockwaves of a cultural revolution were starting to rumble through the once modest and subdued societies of American and Western Europe.

The fast-growing feminist movement rejected typical “women’s clothes,” for more edgy garments, ranging from fashionable pantsuits to “no such thing as too short,” skirts and shorts. An explosion of new styles, such as the babydoll dress, became popular and women like Brigitte Bardot, Mary Quant, and even Jackie Kennedy became the fashion icons of the era.

These cool snaps that show teenage girl in beautiful dresses from the 1960s.

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42 Fascinating Color Photo Capture Street Scenes of New Orleans in the Late 1950s

New Orleans is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the most populous city in Louisiana. Serving as a major port, New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region of the United States.

New Orleans is world-renowned for its distinct music, Creole cuisine, unique dialect, and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The historic heart of the city is the French Quarter, known for its French and Spanish Creole architecture and vibrant nightlife along Bourbon Street.

The city has been described as the "most unique" in the United States, owing in large part to its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage.

This set of pictures from Monceau was taken by William M. Green Sr. in May of 1958. Anyone who if familiar with New Orleans, particularly Canal Street and the French Quarter, will recognize many of the places captured in these pictures, though many look different than we would see today.

Canal Street King Cotton

Adam Comeaux French Quarter

Bohland Pirate's Alley artist sketching girl

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Bourbon Street one way

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The Stories of Capt. Stanley Tucker and His Ford Mustangs: Serial Number 1 and Serial Number 1,000,001

Captain Stanley Tucker (May 12, 1931 – June 10, 2008) was a Canadian airline pilot for Eastern Provincial Airways of Newfoundland, Canada. Tucker was the original owner of two milestone Ford Mustangs within the car’s first two years of production.

Serial Number One

Before the car officially hit the sales floor on April 17, 1964, thousands of Mustangs had already been rolling off the assembly line for the past five weeks and getting shipped out to dealerships all over. The car was one of approximately 180 pre-production cars built at the Rouge between February 10 and March 5, 1964. These initial cars served two purposes:

1. They eased Ford into full production by familiarizing workers and supervisors with the build process.
2. They formed a batch of physical cars that could be shipped to every major Ford dealer in time for the April 17 launch.

Logically, the first cars built were sent to the farthest dealers – hence Serial Number One wound up 2,180 miles from Dearborn in St. John’s, Newfoundland. (Twelve of these pre-production cars, incidentally, went to the New York World’s Fair for use in Ford’s Magic Skyway ride). Mustang Serial Number One in particular was painted Wimbledon White with serial number 5F08F100001. The first-ordered Mustang was shipped to the Ford of Canada sales district and was taken on a nationwide tour of Ford dealer showrooms all across Canada ending at George Parsons Ford, a dealership perched on the eastern edge of the continent in St. John’s.

On April 15, 1964, Tucker was driving past the Ford dealer when he noticed a big crowd in the dealership on introduction day and stopped in to see what the commotion was about. By the time he finished dinner that evening, he decided that he had to have that car.

On April 16, 1964, Tucker walked into the showroom. Mr. Parsons, owner of the dealership, wanted to retain the car for a few days because it was the only Mustang he had in stock, but Capt. Tucker persuaded his young salesman, Harry Phillips, to make it available. A deal was reached and a check was written on the spot. Tucker took serial number 5F08F100001 home and, for a short time, was the general public’s only Mustang owner. At the time, he had no idea he had purchased the first Mustang ever ordered.

“The serial number didn’t mean anything to us,” Phillips told USA Today. “We didn’t know it was the first one made. We didn’t realize the significance of the car ’til Ford came looking for it.”

That Mustang was not supposed to have been sold. It was a preproduction vehicle intended to go back to Ford, and it ultimately ended up back with Ford in 1966 when Tucker exchanged it for the 1 millionth Mustang.

Serial Number 1,000,001

Once it became known a couple of weeks later that Mustang Number One had been inadvertently sold, Ford officials reached out to Tucker to try to buy it back. Tucker declined the request. He spent the next two years putting some 10,000 miles on his pony car.

By early 1966, when nearly one million Mustangs had been sold and the car’s status as a Ford landmark was secure, the Ford Motor Company called again. This time, Ford offered Tucker a worthy trade: in exchange for returning Serial Number One, he could have the One Millionth Mustang free of charge, equipped to his specifications. Tucker agreed and, when filling out the order, covered the entire option sheet with single large “X”. The car was a silver frost convertible with a black top, a deluxe black interior with a wood-grain steering wheel, styled steel wheels, Cruise-O-Matic transmission, air conditioning, stereosonic tape player, disc brakes and rally pac. It even had a Philco television. The only extra he didn’t take was the High Performance 289 engine – it carried a shorter warranty period.

Tucker traveled to Dearborn, Michigan, where Ford wined and dined him in the company of executives such as Lee Iacocca and Don Frey. On March 2, 1966, Tucker’s loaded ’66 Mustang convertible rolled off the line amid fanfare and excitement. Capt. Tucker posed for photos with his new Silver Frost 1966 Mustang convertible. Meanwhile, Ford reclaimed Tucker’s much-loved Serial Number One and soon donated it to The Henry Ford where it is on display to this day.

After taking delivery of the Millionth Mustang early in 1966, Tucker pressed it into daily use in all kinds of weather, including nasty Canadian winters. The elements took their toll. Through the years, he drove the Mustang thousands of miles. He even pulled a trailer with it. By the time the ’70s rolled around, Tucker knew it was time to sell the Mustang and opt for something new. He sold the car to his mechanic and never saw it again.

This is the first Mustang produced. It was sold to Stanley Tucker of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada on April 16, 1964 and is actually a 1965 model.