On the one hand, how understandable at a time when worker’s rights were nearly completely absent and to be both a woman and Irish in America was not a good combination. These sentences were spoken with a combination of fear and awe. But some people (mainly other children) told tales of her purposefully infecting those she served. I grew up hearing the cautionary tale of Typhoid Mary, who was mostly mentioned within hearing range in combination with an admonition to wash your hands. Until she’s released and begins cooking again. Captured and held against her will on North Brother Island, it’s easy to empathize with her plight. This was the early ages of germ theory, and most didn’t realize you could pass on an illness without any symptoms. What many don’t know is that she was an asymptomatic carrier. Have you ever heard of Typhoid Mary? The Irish-American cook in the early 1900s who was lambasted for spreading typhoid through her cooking.
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