Friday, June 20, 2014

Sunday, June 20, 1909. Typhoid Mary.

The New York American broke the tragic and odd story of Mary Mallon, Typhoid Mary, who had been quarantined at that point for two years.

Mallon never accepted that she was responsible for passing typhoid, but remained quarantined until 1910 when she was released with a promise that she would not return to cooking. Facing economic desperation, she did, and new infections commenced that were traced to her.  She was returned to quarantine in 1915 where she remained until her death at age 69 in 1938.

In a modern context, this is interesting due to the recent debates on quarantines.  The ethnics of essentially imprisoning a person for life as a disease carrier have been debated, but its clear that in the first half of the 20th Century, it could in fact be done.

Errol Flynn was born in Hobart, Tasmania.  The Australian actor obtained a reputation as a dashing figure in Hollywood, with his reputation tarnished by being tried for two accusations of statutory rape in 1942.  His career didn't end, but it did suffer thereafter, even though he was acquitted.  He oddly had a late in life role as a journalist from Cuba, where he supported Fidel Castro.  He died in 1959 at age 50 of a heart attack while in British Columbia.  His then current girl friend, 17 years old at the time, was with him on the trip.

Last prior edition:

Friday, June 18, 1909. Medals for the Wright Brothers.

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