Cholera Outbreak
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In the London cholera epidemic of 1854, the cases can all be traced back to the water pump located in Broad Street Square. Each person listed on the cards who contracted cholera had some contact with the water from the pump in some way. For instance, the families who lived around Broad Street (those on Paddy Lane, Butcher Lane, Ely Street, and Queens Row) are poor and lack indoor plumbing. They must use outdoor toilets and get their water from the nearest pump - the one in Broad Street Square.
Owen and Obedience Turner, living on Paddy Lane, would obviously get their water from the infected Broad Street pump. The Slye Children are listed as playing in the Square while their father works, and it is only logical that they would, over the course of several days, drink at least once from the pump. Mucky Johnson stated that he loved the water from the Broad Street pump more than other water, as did Matilda Wright of Marston Court, who required that her water be hauled from the Broad Street pump. Thomas Sutterfield's great-aunt was Wright, and one day, upon visiting her, he had a drink of water from the pump. John and Mary Canty, visiting John's ailing mother on Butcher Lane, must have had a drink of water from the pump. Tolly Martin, after a fistfight in Broad Street Square, washed the blood off of his mouth with water from the pump...