Frightful Case of the Mary Bonfield.

The article presents a story which was earlier printed in the Corriere della Sera of Milan, Italy, as the literary feature of the issue of July 26, 1937. In the story the main character Mary Bonfield had just set sail for Europe with a cargo of dried meat and canned meat when a virulent form of influenza broke out on board and wiped out one-third of the crew in three days. The boat was an old schooner which had been hurriedly reconditioned because of the high freight charges prevalent at that period. It was overrun, or rather absolutely infested, with rats, rats fattened on dried meat.