The Case:
A man in Flemington, NJ, has recently purchased a beautiful old Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The bike hasn’t seen the light of day since the 1940s when it was tucked away in a Wisconsin man’s shed.
The tank of this 1914 bike bears the "Cross of Lorraine," a historic symbol of French nationalism.
Harley-Davidson sold over 15,000 motorbikes to the U.S. military during World War I. Our contributor wants to know whether his bike clocked mileage in war-torn Europe.
Yet the Cross of Lorraine also served as the emblem for the U.S. National Tuberculosis Association in the early 1900s. What could this bike have to do with this dreaded disease?
As History Detectives uncovers clues about this early public health initiative to wipe out tuberculosis, the detectives delve deep in the Harley-Davidson archives to examine the company’s possible involvement in the campaign to eradicate the deadly "White Plague."
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