Assume Nothing: The Hunt for Typhoid Mary

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The Hunt for Typhoid Mary

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Assume Nothing: The Hunt for Typhoid Mary: Episode 2

Episode 2

BBC Radio Ulster - Assume Nothing, The Hunt for Typhoid Mary, Episode 2

The hunter corners his prey, but Mary is armed and angry.

New York, 1907. Dr Soper, typhoid slayer, undertakes a high-stakes hunt for Mary Mallon, whom he suspects to be an unknowing healthy typhoid spreader. 

If he finds her, and proves his case, she’ll be the first such typhoid carrier identified in the English speaking world. 

If he doesn’t, the outcome in a crowded city could be lethal. 
Dr Soper is determined not to be defeated in his quest to find the Irish immigrant cook, but at what cost to the woman who would become known as ‘Typhoid Mary’? 

Exploring the backgrounds of both Mary Mallon and Dr George A Soper, this is a story of ambition, clashing ideals, and radically different worlds - with consequences for all of us to the present. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

Direct quotations from Dr George A Soper, where indicated, courtesy of the New York Academy of Medicine. Quotations featured from the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin, are from the Schools’ Collection. 

 
Series written, presented and produced by Ophelia Byrne 

Executive Editor: Andy Martin 

A BBC Northern Ireland production.

Northern Ireland's national station for local news, sport, weather, speech and music

Northern Ireland's national station for local news, live sport, weather, intelligent speech, great personalities and music to suit all tastes

New York, 1907. An unknowing typhoid spreader is being hunted – but at what cost to her? 

New York, 1907. Dr Soper undertakes a high-stakes hunt for a typhoid spreader, but at what cost to the woman who would become known as Typhoid Mary?

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