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Book Review by Kevin Ooratond
"The Ballad of Typhoid Mary" by J.
F. Federspiel, E.P. Dattcn Inc.
Ours is a mythological land, a land of
folklore and tall tales, of ballads with
out origin, characters greater than life.
If you consider that over 300 years ago,
when the original boat people first
stumbled on the eastern shores, ex
hausted, bewildered and maniacally
religious, to gaze upon a verdant prom
ised land of seemingly endless poten
tial, it is not surprising that myths
abound, for nothing produces them
with greater fecundity than religion.
Our past is colored with the Various
scalawags and heroes that crowd the
corridors of our national imagination.
Time and repeated tellings tend to
dissipate the line between myth and
reality, until it is no longer possible to
tell where the one ends and the other
begins. Out of these myths, one en
dures, that of Typhoid Mary, the cook
who was responsible for the deaths of
at least twenty-six people in New York
City during the early part of this cen
tury. The story of Typhoid Mary is the
subject of a new book by the Swiss
author J. L. Federspiel.
In 1868 the immigrant ship Liebnitz
drifts, crippled and decimated, into
New York harbor. Aboard is a young
woman named Mary Caduff. One of
the few survivors of the voyage, Mary is
taken in by a young doctor with a guilt
inducing passion for adolescent women.
Mary is able to speak only one three
word sentence, I can cook.' And cook
she does, with lethal efficiency. For
Mary harbors within her youthful body
a deadly and contagious disease, which
she quickly transmits to the doctor,
who promptly, and with little dignity,
passes away. Mary herself is immune
to the disease. Thus begins the ballad
of Typhoid Mary, preparer of meals
(German food is her specialty, though
she claims to be Irish), angel of death.
It is perhaps significant that the
myth of Typhoid Mary has been debunk
ed by a foreign writer. The book is filled
with pithy observations of the strange
and multi-dimensional land of Amer
ica by an outsider.
The story is told by a Dr. Howard J.
Rageet, a personable and empathetic
narrator who suffers from a treacher
ous disease' of his own. The disease is
never identified, and one suspects that
Music and Lyrics by George M. Cohan
Book by Michael Stewart and John and
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Lyrics and Music Revisions by Mary Cohan
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it may not be entirely physical in nature, v
In spare, direct language, the doctor
follows the deadly path of Mary as she
moves from one employer to another,
leaving as soon as the symptoms of the
disease become apparent.
The figure that emerges is that of a
tormented, driven woman who pas
sionately believes that it is her purpose
to cook. Mary is possessed with the
idea of cooking. It is her essence, her
mission, and it will not let her be. If
there is a moral to the story (and all
worthy tales, of which this is one, have
some moral), it is this: that we alone
are responsible for our actions, that
we alone must decide when it is risht
to continue, or when we must call it
quits.1
The lives of the victims are treated
lightly, their deaths flippantly. "Dying,"
Dr. Rageet writes, "is always a tragic
event while it's happening, even an
individual's dying especially an in
dividual's. But given some distance in
time, the whole thing flattens out, and
what was once a reality gets twisted in
time like the image in a funhouse
mirror.' "
The Ballad of Typhoid Mary," as the
title suggests, b not a full-blown bio
graphy of Mary CadulT. So little is
known of her life that it would be
impossible to write a full account.
According to the author, "Ballad" i3 "85
percent fiction and 15 percent fact."
But there is more involved in "Bal
lad" than the tale of Mary. It is a mor
bidly funny book that haunts the reader.
The character of Mary remains obs
cure throughout the book. We rarely
hear her speak, and she is always seen
through the eyes of Dr. Rageet. This
must have been deliberate on the part
of Federspiel, for by keeping Mary
twice removed, he was able to focus
more clearly on the present.
By.concentrating on Mary, who car
ried her own treacherous disease yet
remained aloof from it, Dr. Rageet con
trasts his own life of helping others, a
life now wracked by a debilitating and
ironic disease.
"The Ballad of Typhoid Mary" is,
then, a moral tale, and the tragic life of
a long-dead woman is used as a spring
board by which we might better view
our own lives.
Romance author finds success
Last wcelc, the story qf Celeste 's release
of 30 drunken prisoners from Podunk
county jail hit the news stands. While
America-recovers, we turn now to Har
tey Davidson, budding romance author,
as he sits on his front porch typing and
sipping martinis.
Mary Louise
Knapp
Harley had just sent the manuscript
of "WHEN FRONTS COLLIDE" to the
publisher, but he was already hard at
work on "TORNADO WARNING."
"I think this is gonna be a real suc
cess, Otis," he said. Silently he read
over the climatic ending of Chapter 3:
"Isabella, with a loud cry, rushed to
the weather machine. 'You shall not
take our meteorological secrets from
us, Don Pedro, unless it's over my dead
body!'"
"Don Pedro laughed menacingly, and
pointed his pistol at Martin. 'First I
shall kill you, you degenerate producer
of erroneous weather forecasts, and
afterwards my unfaithful wife!' He fired
a shot into the rococco ceiling."
Martin, whose lips had turned blue
with fear, spoke bravely.
" What do you hope to gain from our
deaths? The weather secrets are out of
my possession. Even if you and your
henchmen took over KRAP-TV, the
public would turn away from you.
They know Isabella and I can never be
replaced.' "
Harley took a drag on his cigar, and
began the next chapter. The tele
phone, which he had reconnected out
side, rang.
"Answer it, Otis, will you?" he said.
"I'm on a hot streak and can't be disturbed."-
Otis got to his feet.
"Chapter 4. Thunderclouds Ap
proach." Harley typed. "In the mean
time, Mrs. Baxter questioned Linda
about Steve 'What does your fiance do,
my dear?'
'He drinks all night and sleeps all
day, Mother,' Linda, who had been
trained to be honest, replied. Mrs. Bax
ter's smile remained frozen on her
face. T see. And does he plan to get a
job any time in the near future?'
'No, Mother, he's waiting until he
wins the Montgomery Ward sweep
stakes. Then we can buy a small trailer
in the Mojave Desert.'
Mrs. Baxter silently but devoutly
wished that families still arranged mar
riages for their children. However, Steve
was coming to dinner, and she knew
she had to welcome him graciously..."
"Hey, Harley! It's for youf Otis shouted,
breaking Harley's train of thought.
Harley took the receiver from Otis, and
listened in wonder.
"Say that again?" he said blankly.
"I've what!" He put down the phone
and turned to Otis.
"Otis! Youll never believe this, but
my book is selling like hotcakes! My
publisher has arranged for me to ap
pear on a talk phow, as the first suc
cessful male romance author! Pack
your bags, kid, we're going to New
York!"
Next week: Harley meets ike Big
Apple, and Celeste's children come to
visit
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tr s II
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Daily Nebraskan
Tuesday. Juiy 17, 1984