Season 8, Episode 4

Our contributor thinks his great-grandfather was a World War I spy, he has a notebook he believes details the investigations. Inside the book are typed entries and handwritten notes. Who was John H. Brady and is this his spybook? History Detectives tracks down the secrets of this mysterious little black book.

Our contributor has a collection of photos, letters and scrapbooks that belonged to a man named Eugene Lauste. Most compelling was a rolled strip of film and an article from 1928 featuring a photo of a similar film strip with the caption, "The First Talking Picture: A section of a talking picture made in 1913 by Eugene Lauste." Could this film be a piece of the first talking picture?

Our contributor has an interesting object: a mouth and chin carved out of wood. Articles and a letter at the bottom of the box say this mouth was part of a figurehead of President Andrew Jackson affixed to the bow of U.S.S. Constitution until protestors vandalized the carving in the 1830's. Could this wooden mouth have once adorned U.S.S. Constitution?

Tucked into the pages of an antique book, our contributor has what he thinks may be a letter written by Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. Dated July 1866, the letter reports the death of a man named Israel Brown and has an envelope addressed to J. Blair Welch. Did Clara Barton actually write this letter? If so, why was she writing about these men?