Mary Mallon (1869-1938), more famously known as “Typhoid Mary,” received the moniker due to her involvement of spreading typhoid fever to thousands of people while asymptomatic. After discovering that Mary was connected to these contaminated families while employed as a cook, sanitary engineer George Soper and others tried numerous times to get bodily samples from Mary to confirm active infection. Finally, after intervention by the Department of Health and the police, Mary provided samples to prove active bacteria in her system despite denials by Mary. She was sent to quarantine at North Brother Island until 1910, when she was released. She entered into an agreement with the new health commissioner to get employment in domestic services, excluding as a cook. Unfortunately, Mary continued on as a cook under a different name (as “Mary Brown”) in various companies and contaminated more people. She was finally found and sent back to North Brother Island in 1915, and stayed there until her death in 1938.
The Ghastly Historian 
