These New York ‘Twins’ Instantly Became ‘Triplets’

You might call Robert Shafran, Eddy Galland and David Kellman the Pep Boys of Manhattan. While Manny, Moe and Jack weren’t actually brothers, Shafran, Galland and Kellman are--although they didn’t know it for the first 19 years of their lives. Adopted at birth 27 years ago and reared by three separate families on Long Island, N.Y., the brothers found each other in 1980 when Shafran and Galland enrolled at the same community college. News stories were published about the “twins,” and when Kellman saw one, he realized the twins were in fact triplets. “It was like we always knew each other. It was instant--an incredible feeling,” Galland said. Now they own a restaurant in New York called--what else?--Triplets.

--Talk about service. A young Japanese woman who flew from Tokyo to London had her choice of 353 seats, six movies, a gourmet menu and the exclusive attention of 15 cabin attendants. The woman, whom British Airways identified only as Mrs. Yamamoto, was the only passenger on the 8,000-mile Flight 008. According to the airline, the jumbo jet was delayed going into Tokyo, and by the time it left for London all the other passengers had already been booked on other flights. The plane was going to go back to London empty because it was due back in Britain to get back onto its schedule. The London Daily Express estimated the flight cost at least $22,750--$17,500 for fuel and $5,250 in wages for the crew. Mrs. Yamamoto paid the standard $2,975 economy fare.

--On Dec. 16, 1773, 30 Colonial patriots, angered over British King George III’s three-penny tax on a pound of tea, raided three ships and tossed 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. Now an explorer says he has located the site of the Boston Tea Party and is asking the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Resources for permission to salvage the chests. The board tabled Barry Clifford’s request, and Paul Johnston, curator of marine history at the Peabody Museum in Salem, Mass., says it is unlikely that the chests can be found. “The whole landscape of the harbor has changed since then,” he said. But then many people were surprised when, four years ago, Clifford located the first pirate ship found in the New World, the Whydah, off Cape Cod.