Happy Birthday Typhoid Mary: The Shorewood Patch 'This Day in History'

An Irish immigrant and domestic servant, Typhoid Mary Mallon was the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in America.

Mallon had no idea she was sick and is thought to have unwittingly infected 53 people, three of whom died.

For no other crime than carrying an illness, Mallon was forcibly taken into custody and held without a trial in virtual isolation for nearly three years.

Mallon was released on the condition she no longer work as a cook, but eventually returned to this occupation, apparently after being unable to make adequate money in other domestic positions.

Before long, the authorities caught up with Mallon again. This time, they sent Mallon away for the last 23 years of her life.

Mary Mallon was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, in Ireland on Sept. 23, 1869. She died on Nov. 11, 1938. She was cremated and her ashes were buried in St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.