At the turn of the century, a spate of inexplicable deaths terrorised New York City. Only the participation of two researchers and a thorough examination uncovered a secret scheme. How identity shifts and resistance will spark a second pandemic years later.

At first look, Mary Mallon appeared to be an inconspicuous woman among the pots and pans. Just a regular chef making her way through the city’s kitchens. Nobody knew she would leave an unseen trail in her wake.

Between 1900 and 1907, her profession was quite successful, and she was able to work in seven family houses. However, in each case, individuals were sick or died. When this occurred, Mary fled and found employment elsewhere.

The State of New York recruited an investigator named George Soper, which put a halt to this strategy. When he found her, Mary immediately confronted and threatened him. Nevertheless, the guy endeavoured to determine the cause of these fatalities, and the answer was clear: typhoid disease. Mallon was an asymptomatic carrier.

Chronology of a case that marked medicine

Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who came to the United States in 1883 to work as a cook. She initially lived in New York and Long Island, where the first cases of the virus began. But by 1907, the number had already reached 30. According to the BBC , the first victims attributed their illnesses to factors such as the water or food.

Furthermore, another aspect caused confusion among health authorities: typhoid fever was appearing in the suburbs and poor areas of New York.

Therefore, it was unusual to think that the homes of well-off families could be infected. At that time, medical professionals were unfamiliar with cases of asymptomatic typhoid fever. For this reason, young Mary could not be suspected.

After many elite families fell ill and even died, and Mary disappeared only to return to a new home with the same outcome, Soper, a detective with a background in civil engineering and a leading figure in hygiene, appeared, summoned by the state of New York. By then, 30 deaths had already been recorded.

The truth is that Soper’s experience and knowledge focused on trying to identify the source of the typhoid fever outbreak. It was at that moment that he turned his attention to the cook, Mary Mallon.

According to National Geographic, typhoid fever is an infection transmitted through food and water contaminated with salmonella. Patients present with high fever, diarrhoea, and, in many cases, delirium and death.

Discovery and arrest

When Soper reviewed the list of people the Irish woman had worked for, he discovered a sequence of 22 infected individuals. After four months of investigation, the detective located Mallon , who at the time was working out of a house on Park Avenue.

“She was 5’6″ tall, blonde, with light blue eyes, a healthy complexion, and a defined mouth and jawline,” the detective described. Once contacted, the detective presented evidence and requested urine and stool samples. Mallon did not react well and threatened the investigator with a fork.

Unable to get a favourable response, Soper sent Josephine Baker, a Hygiene and Public Health representative, to speak with the cook. She also received no positive response. Finally, the specialist returned with five police officers, who escorted Mallon to a hospital.

The cook tested positive for Salmonella typhi, the bacteria that causes typhoid fever. After learning the results, the woman was quarantined in a house on the grounds of Riverside Hospital. Doctors concluded that the best solution was to remove Mallon’s gallbladder, which she decided to refuse.

The case was widely reported in the city. In 1909, the New York American dubbed her Typhoid Mary. And, in June of that year, the woman complained about the information being disseminated. According to National Geographic, in a letter written by her lawyer, Mallon stated, “The fact is, I have been a public spectacle to everyone. Even residents came to see me and ask me about facts that are already known. Men with tuberculosis would say to me, ‘There she is, the kidnapped woman.’”

Mallon repeatedly petitioned for her release, but the court denied her request. The court argued that they needed to “protect the community against the resurgence and spread of the disease.” Finally, after the new health commissioner took office, the cook was released early the following year on the condition that she no longer cook.

But lacking other skills, the woman returned to her old job in New York and New Jersey. There she worked in a hotel, a restaurant, a spa, and a boarding house. In 1915, a new outbreak of typhoid fever sickened 25 people at Sloane Maternity Hospital. The state again summoned George Soper to investigate. There he discovered that “Mrs. Brown” was actually Mary Mallon.

The cook had no choice but to return to North Brother Island and live there permanently. She spent her days reading and working in the laboratory until she died in 1938 from a stroke, after 25 years in quarantine. Her funeral, at St. Luke’s Church in the Bronx, was attended by nine mourners.

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