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Illicit P.O.W. Photos; Grace Kelly Automobile; Mystery Motorcycle
Illicit P.O.W. Photos - A contributor from Daytona Beach, Florida,
has an extraordinary set of photographs he believes come from his
great-great-grandfather, who fought in the Civil War and was once a
confederate prisoner of war at Johnson's Island on Lake Erie. The
collection of portraits comes with a note that asserts the images
were taken illicitly and depict fellow incarcerated confederate
officers. The author claims the photos were taken with a camera he
built from items he possessed when he was captured, as well as
tools he collected while in the prison camp, and adds that the
chemicals used to develop the photos were stolen from the camp
hospital. Is the contributor's relative in fact the photographer,
and if so, would it have been possible for him to make a camera
with the materials he describes? HISTORY DETECTIVES heads to Ohio,
Maryland and Pennsylvania to investigate the history of Civil War
photography and discover how confederate and union prisoners,
officers and enlisted men, were treated during wartime.
Grace Kelly Automobile - In 1955, famed director Alfred Hitchcock
was at the top of his game with the release of To Catch a Thief, a
romantic thriller starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. But for some
Hitchcock fans, the real star of the film is the Sunbeam Alpine, a
sleek, sexy 1953 convertible. The car was already popular in elite
automotive circles, but its Hitchcock film cameo would transform
this car into a cult object. Now, a man in Los Angeles believes he
has the original Sunbeam Alpine used in the film. HISTORY
DETECTIVES heads to California to revisit the glamour of 1950s
Hollywood and rub elbows with some of the key players who worked
side by side with the Master of Suspense.
Mystery Motorcycle - A man in Flemington, New Jersey, has recently
purchased a beautiful old Harley-Davidson motorcycle and is eager
to learn more about the machine's early history. The tank of his
1914 bike bears the "Cross of Lorraine," a historic symbol of
French nationalism. The contributor is aware that Harley-Davidson
sold motorcycles to the U.S. Military during WWI, and he wants to
know whether his bike clocked mileage in war-torn Europe. As the
detectives follow this lead in New Jersey and Wisconsin, their
course takes an unanticipated swerve when they find that the cross
also served as the emblem for the U.S. National Tuberculosis
Association in the early 1900s. While uncovering clues about the
early public health initiative to wipe out tuberculosis, the
detectives dig deep in the Harley-Davidson archives to examine the
company's possible involvement in the campaign to eradicate the
deadly "White Plague."