149: The Deadliest Cook in America? The Dark History of Typhoid Mary
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That's moment.co. Now let's get into today's episode of Dark History. Earlier this year, I kept getting sick and I ended up in the hospital like three times. I know, it was nuts. I'm fine. Don't worry. I was just having like a terrible reaction to something. It was awful. But while I was in the hospital bed, my doctor came in and he was kind of

He was giggling a little, you know, and he's like, "I'm gonna start calling you Typhoid Mary." And I was like laying there.

Wait, what? Who's Typhoid Mary? And what can I say? I mean, I get inspiration for these episodes in the strangest of places. I got to Googling Miss Typhoid Mary and I learned all about Miss Mary Mallon. And boy, what a wild ride. Mary was a cook in the early 1900s. And the problem was wherever she was cooking, people started getting sick.

some even dying. I don't know why my doctor called me typhoid Mary because this is not me, but okay. For whatever reason, she just ignored the issues and she kept on cooking. And it had many thinking like, was Mary spreading disease on purpose? I mean, she did work in rich households as a poor immigrant. Could this be like a reverse Robin Hood situation? Maybe she was like taking illness from the poor and giving it to the rich. I don't know. Or maybe she was the victim.

Well, let's talk about it in today's episode of the Dark History of Typhoid Mary. Hi, friends.

I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian, and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here, we believe history does not have to be boring. I mean, it might be tragic. Sometimes it's happy, but either way, it's our dark history. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe because I'm always posting new content. And you know, the podcast airs on Wednesdays, but you can also join me over on YouTube to watch the episode on Thursdays. And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe.

Hit that button, yeah. And also let me know what you think down below in the comment section. I love hearing from you. And at the end, you know, sometimes we read some of them. It's fun. Okay, let's get into it. So listen, everyone came in costumes today once again and didn't let me know. We have Joan over here. Joan, are you a germ? Are you, are you typhoid? Okay, that's cute.

We're a little too close though. And then I'm assuming Paul dressed up as Mary Mallon, aka Typhoid Mary, right? Fierce. You look good. Blue is your color. No comment? All right. You guys look great. I'm just Bailey. Okay.

Long before she was known as Typhoid Mary, her name was Mary Mallon. So Mary was born in County Tyrone, Ireland on November 29th, 1869. She's a Sag, a free spirit, so this actually makes a lot of sense now.

But at the time, listen, where she was born, this was one of the poorest counties in Ireland. So when she was only 15 years old, Mary got on a ship and headed to the United States. And she wasn't the only one. In the mid-1840s, tons of Irish immigrants were coming to the United States. And that's because back in Ireland, the

the country was going through with a great hunger. Now this is commonly known as the potato famine, where at least a million Irish people passed away, most from starvation. And those who were still alive, they were looking for a way out.

Now the population of Ireland at the time was like 9 million and of that 9 million, 6 million depended completely or almost completely on the potato crop. And a third of the population was so poor that they lived mostly on potatoes.

So when a mold wiped out most of the potato crop in 1845, it was catastrophic. Of course, there was other food, but people didn't have access to it. And the wealthy English landlords, they were harvesting crops and selling food to England and other countries. Pretty much everywhere but Ireland. It was up.

A million Irish people died of starvation and over 2 million people left Ireland just altogether looking for a better life. So Ireland ended up losing a third of its population in total. 75% of immigrants ended up in the United States. And by 1855, 80% of New York City's domestic workers were Irish immigrants. And pretty much anytime there's like a

big group of people from another country moving into a city people just assume that like the immigrants are here to take jobs and like ruin things so when this was all happening like most americans were not very welcoming in fact if you were irish most people really disliked you like automatically

At the time people would make jokes about the Irish being stupid, ugly, and dirty. There were, I'm not saying that, that's what they were saying back then. There were political cartoons about it, like just tearing them apart. It was ugly. Like many Irish men found work doing labor while the Irish women mostly got work as domestic servants. When I say servant, it's like exactly what you're picturing. If you were working as a domestic servant, I mean it was grueling work. You'd be

It'd be like 14 hour days you'd be working. And they, you know, they would be like the first ones up in the morning and the last ones to go to bed. And that was the world that Mary entered into as a teenager. Mary got a job working as a cook, which was great for her because it was like one of the highest paying servant jobs that you could get. And Mary was great.

really good at it. I mean, she landed a ton of different jobs working in multiple households for decades. By 1906, when Mary was in her 30s, the Warren family hired her as their cook. Now she lived in their house in Oyster Bay in Long Island, and she would work there like over the summer. But by the end of the summer,

the Warrens' young daughter became ill with what was diagnosed as typhoid fever. Then that same week, five more people within the household began showing symptoms. Today's episode is brought to you by Liquid IV. As soon as November hits, my calendar fills up with a bunch of different parties.

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So typhoid fever, what is it? I don't know. Well, let me tell you. It's an infection that's caused by bacteria. It's usually spread by water or food that's contaminated by fecal matter. And I know it sounds gross, but look, it's real. And it can hide like under your fingernails, on your hands or your skin. And then, you know, you like wipe your nose. Next thing you know, it's in your body.

The disease would begin with like a headache, you get fever, and then you would get like bloody, foul-smelling diarrhea. Then usually like a rash would form, followed by a high fever, which for some could lead to like death. Now at the time typhoid was terrifying because there was no cure and a vaccine wasn't discovered until 1911.

Plus, like antibiotics, they weren't even discovered until 1949. So if you got this, you just had to like hope for the best and wait it out, you know? Now of the 11 people that were staying at that summer home, six of them got sick. It was like mainly the workers, but not Mary. She never got it. And in fact, she appeared quite healthy. Like she showed no symptoms related to typhoid.

It was just kind of weird because like everyone around her got it. It was said that Mary was a stout woman with a robust, healthy appearance. She had dark hair, often pulled back or styled in a simple manner with a round face and a strong, determined expression. Now at the time, typhoid fever was really associated with poverty and filth.

So, you know, this town, Oyster Bay, it was very affluent and they never had like an outbreak of typhoid before. So when the wealthy Warren family home had typhoid going around, it made no sense to them. They're like, we're rich. This doesn't happen to us, you know? And like, not only was it deadly, it was low-key embarrassing.

They're like, "Oh my God, we are not poor. This is not okay." When the owners of the house found out about the outbreak, I mean, they freaked.

The owner of the house was worried that none of the well-to-do people would want to rent this fancy home if they knew people got typhoid there. So he hired people to come and inspect where the typhoid may have come from before word got out. Apparently the house had been a wedding present, and if they couldn't locate the source of the outbreak, it's possible that the house would be declared a health hazard and then burned.

So eventually, the homeowner was introduced to Dr. Soper, who technically wasn't a doctor, but he was a sanitary engineer. One newspaper described him as a, quote, a doctor to sick cities, end quote. Yeah, I don't know how he got the doctor title, but he did.

But whatever. So they call him up. So Dr. Sober, he comes out to the Warren home and he gets to work. He's like, I'm going to figure out where this tie point came from. They check every corner, the water, the people, they check everywhere. So he does, you know, he does a little digging. And then Dr. Sober finds out that the Warrens had recently changed cooks.

The most recent cook was Mary Mallon. And it was on because now she was missing. She was nowhere to be found. And she had left with like no notice or explanation. I mean, she was just gone.

It was like, oh, that's weird. Now Dr. Soper is like putting the pieces together and he's like, you know, the cook was really the only new thing that was introduced into the household. And this cook handled food, which all the people who got sick had eaten this food. So,

Dr. Soper, after some time, it took him a while, he believed he had found the culprit. It was this Mary Mallon person. Now, after this, he was determined to find her before she got anyone else sick. So meanwhile, Mary was bouncing from job to job around New York. She was usually getting hired for like a few weeks or months, then moving on to like the next gig. At one point, Mary started working for her family on Park Avenue in New York City. And pretty soon...

Two cases of typhoid were reported. A maid and the daughter for the family Mary worked for. Now the girl, the daughter, she would end up dying within just a few days. And word gets back to Dr. Soper. Now when he hears about this death, most people would be like, oh, that's sad. But he was like, oh my God, what?

Typhoid? Where? He knew in his head that this was probably Mary's doing. So Dr. Soper, he hops in his little car. I don't know what he does, but he gets his butt over to that family home on Park Avenue as soon as he could. So he just shows up like out of the blue, knocks on the door and asks to speak to Mary Mallon. So she answers the door and right off the bat, Dr. Soper is like accusing Mary of causing the typhoid

getting people sick, and even killing someone. I don't know, maybe Dr. Soper thought like she would just cooperate or like apologize. I don't know what he thought, but to his surprise, Mary was actually, she was pissed. She was pissed off. I mean, could you imagine you're working, you're working at your place of work, and then someone shows up and starts making wild accusations that you killed someone?

in front of your employer, you're like, "Hey, whoa, whoa. "Now is not the time." So she was mad. She's like, "What the fuck?" So this guy is just making wild accusations, calling her a killer, and then he was demanding samples of her urine, feces, and blood. Again, I'd be like, "Excuse me, who are you? "I don't know you."

So Mary, she doesn't like say anything. She instead grabs a carving fork and then lunges at Soper, who I guess just like turns right around and he just gets the fuck out of there. So, I mean, Dr. Soper, he left the meeting empty handed and Mary was now feeling angry, scared, paranoid, and probably like a little suspicious of the whole situation.

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So this first encounter really left Dr. Soper confused. I mean, he thought Mary would comply and like hand herself over. He could not understand why she was so defensive. I mean, to him, he was only trying to offer her good medical attention. So now after this, in his opinion, Mary was a menace to society. He's mad and he's determined.

So Mary, she continues to work at the home on Park Avenue and Dr. Soper, he knew this. So one night he like goes to the home and he waited outside. He's like waiting for her to get off of work so he could follow her. Yeah. Okay. He's going full stalker. So Mary was walking home, whatever. And she stops at 33rd street and third Avenue where her boyfriend lived and

man named August Breoff. Now Breoff was a former policeman and he honestly you know he didn't really have much going on in his life I guess based off what I read I don't know. He drank a lot, he lived in a dirty apartment, he had a dog and then other than that he had Mary. Mary would often bring Breoff food and like take care of him. It's kind of sweet and when Breoff wasn't at home doing

doing nothing, he would spend his days in a saloon around the corner. Now, remember, Soper like followed her here and he's watching the situation from outside like a creep.

So I guess he was spying on them for a little bit because he, Soper, he takes notice of Brio hanging at the saloon. And he thought, Soper, he thought the best way to get to marry would be through this guy. He's like, yeah, that's my way in. So Dr. Soper, he's like, you know what? I'm going to go make friends with this guy. So one day he goes to the saloon.

And he becomes friends with Brieov. Now Soper actually wrote about this encounter and said, quote, I got well acquainted with him. He took me to see his room. I should not care to see another place like it. It was a place of dirt and disorder, end quote. So that's really nice of him, you know. Okay, so that night Dr. Soper went to the Brieov's home with him.

And he decides like, I'm just gonna wait here until Mary shows up. Well, finally, Mary walks in and right away she was pissed. She was angry when she saw Soper waiting there for her. I mean, what was he doing? Like stalking her? Like, leave me alone.

She's like, "What is this? What?" So once again, Soper tried to explain to Mary that he believed that she was giving people typhoid. But Mary refused to hear him out. She never had typhoid. How could she be giving it to people? He was incorrect. She had been in perfect health.

and she would not allow anyone to come to her home and make such wild accusations about her. So once again, she, I guess, chased Dr. Soper out. So Dr. Soper, he felt like he had no other choice but to take the case to the New York City Health Department. He called Mary a, quote, "living culture tube and chronic typhoid germ producer," end quote. That's so sweet.

I mean, like he doesn't really know for sure, but he was really, he really went for it. You know, he was quick to tell everyone how big and strong Mary was. And it was almost like he wanted to have an excuse for like letting this woman chase him away multiple times. Here's how he described her to other people.

Mary had a good figure and might have been called athletic had she not been a little too heavy. She prided herself on her strength and endurance. Okay. Mary was about five foot six. So that's the monster of an athlete we're talking about here. I didn't look up how tall Sober was. He must've been, you know, you know,

A little bit, maybe shorter. I don't know. But the New York City Health Department decided to send another doctor to help sober. A woman named Dr. S. Josephine Baker.

I know I was like, "What crossover episode?" But no, there's no relation to the American born French dancer, singer and actress, Josephine Baker, who we've done a Dark History episode on. No relation, not the same person, just the same name. What are the odds, huh? But they thought, the health department, they thought that like maybe sending a woman might get through to Mary,

more so than a man. If a woman came up to you and was like, hey, I want to talk, you might listen. A man, you're like, get the fuck away from me. But they failed to mention to Dr. Baker that Mary might be a little...

So Dr. Baker, she's very excited. She's like, "I'm going to Park Avenue to, you know, collect some samples from this Mary woman." So she goes to the home and right off the bat, Mary once again slammed the door in her face. So the next day, a horse drawn ambulance from the health department was sent to Mary's workplace. Very dramatic.

Then I guess like three policemen, they show up, you know, and they surround the house and they're trying to like block any of the possible escape routes. So they're doing that. And Dr. Baker, she rang the doorbell. Mary, once again, she answers. She sees them again, you know, and she tried to slam the door. But the cop, there was a cop with Dr. Baker. The cop like put his foot inside the door so she couldn't shut it.

You know what I'm saying. So I guess at this point, Mary had turned around. She bolted to the kitchen and like disappeared. She was gone. So Dr. Baker and the officer, they run into the house. They're chasing after her. They are asking the other workers in the home, like, where'd she go? Where'd she take off to? But they had no answers. So they're looking around. They searched the closets, the basement, the living quarters, but they just like could not find her. They would continue searching for three hours, calling for backup, but

They got nowhere. So I guess Miss Mary, she had like run out the door. She hopped a fence and she hid in an outside water closet in the backyard of a neighboring house. And she was just hiding in there.

Well, the police and Dr. Baker, they eventually find her. And she was, like, trapped in this room. She had nowhere else to go. You know? So they got her cornered. And according to Dr. Baker, Mary had fought. She struggled. And she cursed while she tried to explain that Dr. Baker was trying to explain that she only wanted specimens. And then she can go back home. Like, that's all we need. So Mary, again, is...

refusing to comply with these people. So a policeman just ends up picking her up and they put her in the ambulance and it was said that Dr. Baker like sat on top of her the whole way to the hospital so she wouldn't escape.

So once they got Mary to the Willard Parker Hospital, the doctors for the New York City Health Department finally got what they wanted, Mary's stool samples. So according to the first analysis of Mary's stool samples, they revealed a, quote, pure culture of typhoid. So it was true. Typhoid seemed to follow her and...

she couldn't argue that. The health officials, they called her dirty and now they were calling her a murderer. The doctors told her that she carried the sickness inside of her body and she was spreading it with her dirty hands. But this was like, I guess, very, very insulting to Mary. You know, she was proud of the work she had done. To her, she's thinking like, if I'm so sick, like why did it take so many policemen to like take me down?

You know, like if I'm so sick, how come I don't have any typhoid symptoms? What do you mean I'm sick? I mean, to her, they were the sick ones coming after her like this. I mean, they were obsessed with her. She's minding her business one day and then the next, like she's locked up in a hospital with random people coming in and out making wild accusations.

You're the sick ones. So with Mary being restrained at the hospital, Dr. Soper decided to pay her a visit. Oh, yes. He's like, ah, they got her. So he goes and he sees her. And once again, he's trying to explain like what they were doing and that nobody wanted to harm her. But also, in my personal opinion, it kind of seemed like he wanted like you were right, Dr. Soper from her.

You know, he wanted a, you're right. But she didn't give that to him. Dr. Soper told her that these germs were most likely growing in her gallbladder. And the best way to like get rid of the germs would be to get rid of her gallbladder. Now, when she hears that, she didn't have anything to say. He then told her that he wants to write a book, a book.

about her case, but first she would need to answer his questions. And most of all, he wants to know like how many times she had caused a typhoid outbreak. And Mary's listening to this and she's like, now is not the time to talk about a fucking book deal. Okay? Like I'm locked up in a hospital. Like, come on. No, she, she's just mad.

So instead she just gets up, she doesn't say anything, she locked herself in the bathroom. She didn't say a word to Dr. Soper. So between March 20th and November 16th, Mary was tested three times a week while staying in the hospital. Now a few of those tests, they did come back negative and

Nobody could figure out why. Like it wasn't consistent. So Mary claimed that because some of these tests were negative, she, she like couldn't be the one infecting all these people, right? She's like, it's negative.

It's not me. And she wanted to leave. She was still at the hospital. So she didn't understand like why she was still being locked up if these tests were coming back negative. Well, Dr. Sober blamed Mary for her circumstances. He told her that since she had refused to help him or like any of the other doctors, she had to be kept in this tiny room. I mean, they didn't trust her. She's probably going to run off and kill more people.

So again, Dr. Soper, he tells Mary, like, there are a few things that she could do to stop spreading the disease. Like for starters, she should wash her hands after using the bathroom. Now to you and I, we're like, yeah, you should do that. Maybe. Maybe.

And maybe she was, we don't know, but he assumed that she wasn't. To be fair, it would have been like extremely difficult for Mary to fully remove all of the bacteria from her hands, even if she was washing them often. Why, you ask? Well, in order to rid any of the typhoid bacteria she was allegedly carrying, she would have to scrub her hands under hot water for at least 30 seconds. And when I say like hot, I mean hot,

scalding hot water because the typhoid bacteria can't be killed in less than 150 degree water. And washing your hands in 150 degree water isn't something that you can just do. You can't do it because you would get like third degree burns in a matter of seconds. So gloves. Anyways, so even if she was washing her hands, you know,

I didn't know why he was recommending it if she can't even wash her hands in 150 degree water. So kind of like shit advice, but okay, whatever. But Mary wasn't doing that. You know, she wasn't burning her hands off. So Dr. Soper kept recommending that Mary have surgery to remove her gallbladder because again, they believed like it was living in there,

but she didn't want to have her gallbladder removed. I mean, she didn't trust SOPR, she didn't trust these medical doctors, she didn't trust the medicine. And at this time, like most people didn't. So you can't really blame her. And again, these people had stalked and like kidnapped her.

She's like, you're not going to have my gallbladder. Is this like a black market plan or something? I don't know. So Mary did not want to cooperate. So once she refused to not do the surgery and not help Dr. Soper with his book, this is when things were taken to a whole new level.

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Well, then they moved her to North Brother Island to be kept in total isolation so she could no longer infect people. Now, North Brother Island is a tiny little island smack dab in the middle of the East River in New York City. It's between the Bronx and Rikers Island. Now, this island was originally purchased from the Dutch by New York specifically to

to isolate people with infectious diseases. They built Riverside Hospital there so that patients could be contained and also get treatment. And most people, they assumed if you were being sent to this hospital, it was most likely like you weren't leaving alive. Now again, to Mary, it didn't make any sense to her as to why she's being kept at the hospital. She didn't have any of these symptoms of typhoid. She died.

is confused, really confused. So they end up putting her in this little cottage on the island and this is like where she was forced to live. Now this little cottage, it's kind of cute, it's small, looks like a little hut. It was originally built for staff to live in and it was nice. It had its own like living room, a little kitchen and a bathroom and also had plumbing and electricity. So

She was like allowed to cook for herself and just hang out by herself all alone. It was a very lonely, lonely place because she couldn't like be around anyone. So I guess like every few days she would be tested for typhoid. But other than that, Mary was just totally alone all of the time. Start to go a little crazy, I'm sure. So by 1909, two years after she was first taken into custody. Yeah, two years later.

Mary decided, she's like, you know what? I'm gonna sue the health department. So she wrote a letter describing her treatment and living situation on the island. Now in it, she described being tested multiple times a week and developing like terrible anxiety from being kept in isolation. She described it as being like a peep show for the interns and like the other doctors to like come and just look at her. She just felt like a caged animal.

I guess her anxiety got so bad that one of her eyelids started to twitch and eventually became fully paralyzed. You know what I learned recently? This is a side note, it has nothing to do with anything. But my eye was twitching like a lot. And then my doctor told me it was because I was really stressed.

I just didn't know that was a thing. So I could see this happening to Mary, you know? She's probably stressed, riddled with anxiety. I didn't know it could be paralyzed though, you know? That's really scary. Anyways, so that happened. So in her letter, Mary wrote about how she was almost released from the island until another doctor said that she could only go if she agreed to have her gallbladder removed. But the doctors would flip-flop. It was like one week, it was the gallbladder.

The next week they would tell her the bacteria was in her intestines. Then they would say, "Oh no, no, no, it's actually in the muscle of your bowels." And then they'd circle back and be like, "No, actually, sorry, it's the gallbladder. You need to have that removed."

So it was confusing. I mean, how could she trust what they were saying when it changed all of the time? So Mary just kept refusing surgery. So, you know, time's passing, she's thinking a lot and she's like, you know, I want to prove that like I don't have typhoid.

So she's like, hey, what if I have like an independent lab test my samples? You know, maybe these doctors here are like messing with me. Let me try a different doctor. So remember Brieoff, like Mary's kind of little boyfriend? Well, he was on the job. So he would take the ferry to the island, collect Mary's samples, and then bring them to an independent lab. Now, each of her samples came back negative for typhoid.

She's like, "See, I don't have it." Now there are a few reasons like the test could have been wrong. The samples could have been old. Someone could have like made a mistake in the lab.

Or maybe typhoid just wasn't present in every single sample that Mary provided. But to Mary, this only confirmed what she already knew. That these doctors were making up lies to ruin her life. So she continued with her case, hoping to earn back her freedom. A little side rumor. People believe that William Randolph Hearst was the one who actually paid for Mary's attorney.

But even with her negative test results and a defense attorney arguing her case, the court decided that the Board of Health was allowed to keep her in custody. Now to them, they were protecting the community. So Mary was sent back to the island and she's like, shit, okay.

Now what? I guess she started picking up like little odd jobs around the place. I mean, what else was she supposed to do to pass the time? Now, there was one job she had where she was helping like care for the sick children who were staying in the hospital. I know at first I was like, is that a good idea? But I mean, they're already sick, so...

But I guess the kids think they really liked her. Well, time passed, you know? And finally, after about like three years of like fighting for her freedom, Mary was allowed to leave the island. Oh yes. So the doctors, they're like, "You can leave. We have a few conditions." They told Mary that she had to promise

to never work as a cook again. I'm laughing because it's like promise, pinky promise. Okay. And then, so she can't work as a cook and she promised in

In return, the health commissioner offered to help her find work. Also, she would need to check in with the health department every three months. Now, this was mostly so they could keep track of her, know where she's living, where she's at. And if there were any typhoid outbreaks in that area, they were like, they could link it to her.

essentially. So Mary's like, sure, I'll do whatever, you know? And she agrees and she was finally released back into society in 1910. Man, she's been through it. She's been completely isolated. Just...

Anywho, so Mary was now 41 years old and she was starting back at square one. She was able to find herself a job working as a laundress, but it didn't pay nearly as well as like being head of the kitchen, you know? So she tried to sue the board of health for keeping her prisoner and was seeking like $50,000 in damages. But...

the judge throughout her case. So things are bad and you know when it rains it pours and Mary's boyfriend Brioth he became very ill. He was having like heart problems so Mary had him admitted to the hospital. Sadly her one partner in this life would die. Now this just like made her dislike the medical profession a little bit more. She was worn down

She was at her last straw. She's like, "Look, I got nothing to lose at this point. No one is on my side. F this." So Mary stopped checking in with the health department and she completely disappeared. She changed her name and she went back to the one thing she was good at, cooking.

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So Mary couldn't go back to work under her real name. At this point, like her name, Mary Matlin, had been published in newspapers all over the country. They were all over the story. The papers talked about how dirty and diseased she was. And the name Typhoid Mary had become like a bit of a joke. It was a punchline, like with my doctor. So same thing.

Different times. So she knew like nobody would hire Mary Mellon. So she, you know, she had to use different names. For five years, Mary took jobs wherever she could find work. I mean, at restaurants, hotels, throughout like New York and New Jersey. And eventually she ended up employed as a cook at the Sloan Maternity Hospital. Yeah, maternity hospital.

Now, in March of 1915, that hospital had an outbreak of typhoid. Oh no, Mary. Oh, what are you doing? I know. Now, 25 people, most of them were nurses and doctors, they became ill.

And then it was said that like two people had died. Now the head gynecologist at Sloan Hospital picked up the phone and made a call to someone who was known for being great at tracking down disease outbreaks. That's right. Dr. Soburn.

So Dr. Soper, he comes in to the maternity hospital and this day that he comes in, Ms. Brown or AKA Mary Mallon, she wasn't working. She was off. So Dr. Soper was like snooping around and I guess he saw something that was very interesting. He saw a recipe that was written in Mary's handwriting.

And I guess he immediately like recognized the writing as Mary's because, you know, she was like, she needed to pass the time while she was on that island and she would write him threatening letters. So he was like, I recognize that handwriting. That's Mary. So Dr. Soper, he hung out and he waited for her to come back to the hospital. She had to come sometime. But Mary like must have gotten word of like what was going on because she was

Gone. Vanished. Poof. Bye. She's like, nope. So Dr. Soper and stuff, they were able to like find Mary through friends. And I guess she was staying at like a friend's house on Long Island. Now police go out there and stuff. And apparently they recognized her because of her distinctive walk. Dr. Soper described how she quote, walked more like a man than a woman. He just like really did not like her. He's like, bro, no.

Okay. But the cops show up to this friend's house where like Mary was at and you know, they bring back up because she has a reputation for fighting, but Mary was surrounded once again and she just didn't have that same fight in her anymore. She was 46. She was tired. They got her into custody and then they ended up sending her back to that familiar little cottage on North Brother Island. And this time,

she was there to stay. Now this point, well, yeah, I mean, no newspapers or anything. They had, listen, they had nothing nice to say about her. You know why? Because she was working at a maternity hospital. So around babies and pregnant women, knowing that she was infected and to them, you know, that was selfish, other words that I can't think of. And they just like ripped her off.

to shreds. Her life was like officially over and I think she knew it. So Mary would end up spending the next 23 years of her life living in isolation on the island. It was said that she kept busy sewing, crocheting, baking, reading, becoming friends with the staff. I mean, she really had no choice.

They're only people around. And then in 1918, the hospital would allow Mary to go on like day trips to New York. So she would go visit the few friends that she had left. And then she would return to the island in the evening, which is weird if you think about it, because if they think she's infecting everyone, why would they let her leave still? That's weird. It's just confusing. It's like, I don't know, right? It's just like, what are they, what?

Well, one of Mary's friends on the island was Dr. Alexandra Blavska.

I think I know that. So she trained Mary in lab work and the hospital gave her a job as a lab assistant. And Dr. Plowska would have like Mary over for dinner and it would be like her and her daughter, her daughter's name was Julie. And Julie described meeting Mary saying she was a part of the family and we really loved her. Julie also described Mary as having quote, loving eyes.

And it was like, finally someone had something nice to say. Geez Louise, this whole time it's just, everyone was so mean. Julie also said that after Mary would leave, her mother would boil all the dishes, you know, to disinfect them just in case, be safe. Well, one day in 1932, Mary didn't show, she didn't show up to work. And this was like very out of character for her. She was known to be like a reliable worker. She was never late.

They were like, "What else is she doing?" You know? She can't say she was stuck in traffic. So they go looking for her. And that day they discover Mary on the floor of her cottage. I guess she was paralyzed after suffering from a stroke. Now after this,

She had lived in the hospital bed for like six years. She died in November of 1938 without ever experiencing symptoms of typhoid fever. Mary was buried in St. Raymond Cemetery in the Bronx. And you can actually go see it. If you go see it, take a picture and send it to me. Send me pictures. I'm always asking you guys to send me pictures and I never get any. So someone do it for me. Thank you. I want to see it.

So in the end, Mary was linked to the infection of at least 122 people. Now five of those people ultimately died of the disease. But here's something wild. You see, while Mary was living on North Brother Island, there was another carrier of typhoid who was living and working in New York. Hmm?

Yes. Now this man, his name was Tony Labella. He was also completely symptom free. Now Tony was a farm worker, but after he was discovered as a carrier, he was forbidden from handling food. He was linked to 87 typhoid cases and two of them ended in death. Now this Tony guy, he didn't listen to instructions and he went right back to work.

He left New York and he went to New Jersey. And while he was there, he caused like 35 more cases plus three more deaths. Now he was held in isolation for two weeks, but then he was released and he got to just live his life.

So that was weird. And then there was also another man who worked in bakeries and restaurants who was also a carrier. He was told not to handle food, but he did it anyway. So when he was caught making a strawberry shortcake, which is super cute, right? He was brought before a judge. That judge said that he couldn't send him to jail and he would leave it up to the Department of Health.

So this guy, I'm sorry, I forgot his name, but he was not forced to live in any kind of isolation. He just got to live a normal free life. So what I'm getting at is it turns out like there were typhoid Johns, typhoid Tommies just running around the East Coast and they never had their lives ruined like Mary. So why is that is the question.

So in some cases, I guess the health department was more lenient with like these carriers because they were men, men with families to support. So they're like, it's fine. You could do whatever you want.

Yeah, talking about a double standard. By the time Mary died, research showed that hundreds of people could be carriers of the disease while remaining symptom free. And the only thing that was different was the way that she specifically was treated. Just her. Now, Mary Mallon is still known worldwide as Typhoid Mary. She was painted as a reckless and dirty woman who was either malicious or

stupid in her spread of the disease. I mean really Mary was so much more than typhoid Mary, you know? She took a lot of crap from a lot of different people. From the rich family she worked for to the health department, to the doctors. Mary had plenty of reason to be angry. Now decades after her death

celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. He wrote a book about Mary Mellon. I know, I read it. Do you follow me on Goodreads? I read it and I rated it.

No, whatever. It was a really good book. Oh my God, it was really good. It was good. And in it, he relates to her as a chef. I mean, even pointing out like what a nightmare her job must've been. He writes, quote, had I worked in the homes of the rich and silly circa 1906, I would have murdered them in their beds with the nearest available blunt object. I was never tough enough to put up with what Mary put up with. End quote.

Mary infected a lot of people with typhoid fever. Whether any of those she did knowingly, I doubt it, but we won't know for sure. But at the end of the day, she was locked up for it all the same. After reading this and learning about it, every time I wash my hands now, you know, after I go to the bathroom or before I like make some food, I give a little nod and think of Miss Mary Mallon. The end. Thank you. Thank you so much. What a journey, huh?

But next week, guess what? We are going to be talking about a very different kind of scandal. A scandal that has to do with an item that you and I probably never think about anymore. Matches.

Matches, we're going, yeah, matches. You know, in the late 1800s, matches were found in pretty much everyone's homes. Now people, they bought them from the store and they didn't give like any thought about how they were made. That is until one journalist wrote a horrifying expose on what was really going down in the factories. Now workers, they were suffering from a painful and deadly disease, leaving parts of their faces damaged.

Literally falling off. Oh, it's wild. Yeah. All of this because of matches? Oh. Oh yes. Oh yes. So join us next week when we talk about the matchstick girls.

Thanks for hanging out with me today. I want to hear your thoughts on Typhoid Mary, if she should have been locked up, isolated. What is the approach with that one? I don't know. I just feel bad for her. So sad. Well, friends, thanks for hanging out with me today. You can join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs.

And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery in makeup. That's on Mondays. I love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story so make sure to leave a comment below so I can see what you guys are saying and your comment might even be featured in a future episode. Now let's read a couple of comments you guys have left me. Cheryl C2049 left me a comment saying "I love Bailey's talking style and she talks history like gossiping week with Bailey.

Cheryl, thank you so much. Honestly, like, so I used to hate history. Oh my God. I think I got like a D minus in high school. Thank you so much. Cause it was boring. But as I got older and I learned about it, I was like, oh my God, history is basically just all hot gossip.

I like a lot of murder. It's wild, right? And it's so complicated in school and it doesn't have to be. They make it so complicated. So I thank you for hanging out with me and I'm glad you like my talking style. Steph Oliver left me a comment saying, "I hope Bailey feels an immense sense of pride when she says things like, 'We covered that in the XYZ episode, remember?' Professor Sarian, I've learned so much."

Oh, these are all so nice. Thank you. Steph, that is really so sweet of you.

Honestly, we've covered so much here on Dark History and I've learned so much. And yeah, you know what's cool? This is probably the coolest part about the whole Dark History thing. Is if I get invited to a party or somewhere, the knowledge I can just drop at any moment on the most random things. I'm like, oh, you want to talk about Stalin? Listen, baby, let me tell you.

Or like, oh, dildos. Do you know the history of dildos? I could just go on and on. Corn, corn. You wanna talk about corn? It's so fun. I'm a great party favor. Whatever, you know, whatever. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, it's cool. I love learning. It's my favorite. Honeybadgergirl77 left us an episode suggestion. Oh no. A whole episode on Helen Keller would be wild. She had an incredible life.

Honey Badger Girl 7-7, listen, I know, I know. There has been like so much back and forth about Helen Keller online. She had, I agree, she definitely had an interesting life. What I've read so far, she met some interesting characters. She had some weird beliefs, but good ones too. And have you seen bumper stickers lately? There's been bumper stickers in my neighborhood that say Helen Keller denier.

I want to know more about this. What is this about and why is it a thing? But yeah, I think actually that would be a good idea. I know I've told this story a million times, but I'm going to tell you again just in case you haven't heard it because it makes me laugh every time. I used to get Helen Keller and Lizzie Borden mixed up. You know Lizzie Borden, the one who took an ax and murdered her whole family? I thought she was blind and deaf. And I was like, what?

She murdered her whole family with an axe and she's blind and deaf and then she went on to like win awards and stuff. And I thought that to be true for the longest time. Like embarrassingly long. But I know now, not the same person, but it's a fun thought. Huh? Okay. Thank you. Helen Keller.

I'll write it down. There it is. I appreciate you guys so much for watching and engaging. So keep commenting because maybe you'll be featured in a future episode. And hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an Audioboom original. Special thank you to our expert, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of Terrible Typhoid Mary, A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America.

And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good day and make good choices. I'll be talking to you guys real soon. Goodbye.