The story
Historian James Heintze can tick off colorful accounts of how the nation has celebrated the Fourth of July over the years: In the 19th century, canons fired, church bells sounded and fireworks exploded.
Indianapolis, Indiana residents watched in 1911 as two trains purposely collided at full speed, their conductors bailing out at the last minute.
The gray-haired, bespectacled academic has chronicled just about everything there is to know about commemorating the birth of the United States. 
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