# Typhoid Mary **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 14, 2000, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348 "2000-08-14T20:20:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2000, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/1 "2000-08-14T20:20:52Z")
There are a number of books on her, which I have looked up for you and listed here: [http://whipper.abebooks.com/abep/BookSearch](http://whipper.abebooks.com/abep/BookSearch) No need to thank me, it’s all in a day’s work! ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2000, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/2 "2000-08-14T21:31:06Z")
Thanks, Eve …and the link to the column is: [Who was Typhoid Mary?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtyphoidmary.html) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2000, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/3 "2000-08-14T21:33:15Z")
Eve, don’t forget the link to the mailbag item! [Who was Typhoid Mary? (14-Aug-2000)](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtyphoidmary.html) Also, the link you posted shows a search page for me. What kind of search terms did you enter? That information would be helpful. I got 14 hits by entering “typhoid mary” in the “keywords” field. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2000, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/4 "2000-08-14T21:36:12Z")
I should know better than trying to beat CKDextHavn to the punch. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2000, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/5 "2000-08-14T23:11:52Z")
The column said: > [@](#): > > Cultures of Mary’s urine and stools (taken forcibly with the help of prison matrons) revealed that her gallbladder was teeming with typhoid salmonella. What analysis of her excretions revealed that the bacteria were in her gallbladder (rather than elsewhere)? ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/6 "2000-08-15T01:38:16Z")
SaxFace and I wanted to visit her grave when we did our Tour of Famous Dead People in New York City but no one was working in the cemetary that day. St. Ray’s is also where Billie Holiday is buried. [‘Typhoid’ Mary Mallon](http://www.findagrave.com/pictures/2166.html) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/7 "2000-08-15T13:11:09Z")
Umm, for us technologically impaired folk, how the hell do we CREATE a link to the column? I thought naming this thread “Typhoid Mary” and putting it under “Comments on Mailbag Answers” was sufficient, but it seems not . . . . . . Oh, well, that the last time I try to be helpful . . . ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/8 "2000-08-15T18:28:51Z")
Eve, don’t despair! Of course everyone here is grateful for suggestions. And you know we all love you. (or at least some of us do.) To create a link, just do a copy and paste of the URL (make sure there’s a space before and after to prevent problems with punctuation.) It’s easy. e.g. [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtyphoidmary.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtyphoidmary.html) To do the “fancy” link like CKDextHavn did, look at the example on the [vB code](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/index.php?action=bbcode) page. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/9 "2000-08-15T22:09:02Z")
You see, Eve, since we all love you so well, we’re likely to keep this thread near the top of the page for a while, by which time the mailbag article will leave the homepage. Of course, all of the newbies drawn in by your obvious charm will no doubt wish to read this article deemed worthy of your attention, and will have a much easier time doing so if the link to the mailbag article is in the thread. If you haven’t noticed, by the way, you already know one way to create a link, even if you don’t realize it. Look at the URL you posted in the OP; it automagically turned into a link. ---
**Author:** ![IvaHD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/fbc32d/32.png) [@IvaHD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvaHD)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/10 "2000-08-15T22:18:18Z")
So who was Bloody Mary? I know I know this one, but I can not come up with it right now and it is bugging me! -IvaHD ---
**Author:** ![LazarusLong42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@LazarusLong42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LazarusLong42)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/11 "2000-08-15T22:47:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IvaHD \* > **So who was Bloody Mary?** “Bloody Mary” was Mary, Queen of Scots. Her son, IIRC, James II (I? anyone help me here?) became the king of England. Why she was “Bloody,” however, escapes me. Something to do with beheading a number of people who weren’t backing her up, I think. Damn, I need another history course. LL ---
**Author:** ![LazarusLong42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@LazarusLong42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LazarusLong42)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/12 "2000-08-15T22:51:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LazarusLong42 \* > **Why she was “Bloody,” however, escapes me. Something to do with beheading a number of people who weren’t backing her up, I think.** I should look things up _before_ I post. [http://home.earthlink.net/~zzz12/index.htm](http://home.earthlink.net/~zzz12/index.htm) It turns out Mary was the one who was beheaded, after apparently killing one husband, marrying a man who everyone thought was in on the murder, then fleeing to Britain, and being convicted of plotting to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth. Apparently, Bloody Mary was descended from Lady MacBeth. LL ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2000, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/13 "2000-08-15T23:22:23Z")
Unfortunately Eve, it appears the site you reference does not display the search results page info. Maybe it’s a java thing? The URL you provide pulls up the search engine page, not the results page. ☹ I could not identify a URL for results. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/14 "2000-08-16T13:57:38Z")
Oh, the hell with all my links. Go to [http://www.bookfinder.com](http://www.bookfinder.com) and do a search on “Typhoid Mary,” and you’ll get a whole buncha books on her. “Bloody Mary” wasn’t Mary, Queen of Scots—I thought it was Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I’s older half-sister, who had a lot of Protestants killed during her reign. Bloody Mary was also “the girl we love” in “South Pacific,” but I don’t think that’s the one you meant . . . ---
**Author:** ![Amok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/15 "2000-08-17T06:02:11Z")
**Eve** is right. Mary, Queen of Scots was not “Bloody Mary”, that was Queen Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII and half-sister to one of the Edwards (I think Edward VI off the top of my head, but whatever one was king after Henry VIII died) and Elizabeth I. Henry was succeded by his son Edward, who was a Church of England Protestant, but Edward died childless (I believe) and the throne passed to Mary who was Catholic. Mary attempted to bring England back into the Catholic fold with some rather harsh measures, and she ended up being deposed by the nobles, with the throne then going to Elizabeth I, who was Protestant. I don’t remember what Mary I’s fate was after being deposed (whether she was executed), but the appelation “Bloody Mary” is apparently due to those harsh measures I mentioned before as they involved executing quite a few people for their heresy. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/16 "2000-08-17T13:25:54Z")
Amok—Mary I wasn’t deposed, she died “in office.” Edward VI, her half-brother, died at the age of 16, and Mary (getting out my Biographical Dictionary here) died in 1558 at 42 (yikes! That’s a year younger than I am!). The Protestants and Catholics have been at each other’s throats since Henry VIII’s reign, they just don’t kill each other legally anymore. I’m sure the Catholics called Mary “Proud Mary” or something like that and Elizabeth I “Bloody Liz.” ---
**Author:** ![DominicSayers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@DominicSayers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DominicSayers)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/17 "2000-08-25T15:06:46Z")
1 jigger Vodka 1 cup tomato juice dash Worcestershire Sauce garnish with gallbladder secretions Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Landsknecht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@Landsknecht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landsknecht)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/18 "2000-08-25T16:52:29Z")
Mary the first was indeed known as bloody Mary, although I really have no idea if she was called that during her reign, or if it was a more modern nickname. She married King Philip of Spain, which didn’t win her any points with her people. English at the time were notoriously xenophobic. It also didn’t help that Spain was strongly Catholic, which added to Mary’s anti-protestant views. Anyway, the reason she got the name bloody Mary was that she had a lot of people executed as heretics. If she would have stuck to executing nobles, history probably would have been a lot kinder to her. Nobles accepted the fact that they might be put to death, it came with the territory. Mary started in on the commoners though, which, as you might guess, made her immensely unpopular. As a side note, she nearly executed her half-sister Elizabeth (who become queen after Mary’s death), for treason. Obviously, she didn’t, but Elizabeth still spent some time in the Tower of London. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typhoid-mary/29348/19 "2000-08-25T18:04:04Z")
How about if **this** topic be devoted to TYPHOID Mary. Anyone who wants to talk about BLOODY Mary, or Broody Mary, or Mary Martin, or Mary Queen of Scotch, or any one of the other notable Marys… start yer own topic.