Why would three-way switch travelers both show as hot?
If it was wired with knob and tube originally, it's possible that the 3 way switch was old enough to be wired as "Carter 3-way":



Image from Popular Mechanics, October, 1971

In this setup, the load is switched between H-N (on), H-H (off), N-H (on), and N-N (off). Since the 3 ways have the load on the common terminal, the "travelers" can both test hot.

Another old 3-way setup that used to be common with knob and tube was a travelling bus or Calfiornia 3 way:



Image from http://www.electriciantalk.com/f29/threeway-nightmare-41332/index2/

I've run into this a couple times, although in all the times I've seen it the neutral was being switched.  It's possible to do the same thing with the hot being switched, in which case you can also have 2 live "travelers".  

Note that the top layout hasn't met code for a long time (or the bottom with a switched neutral), but at the same time you can't assume that you won't run into them (or various other 3-way wiring patterns) in an old house.  The best way to test for non-conventional wiring like this is with a multimeter at the fixture.  Test (what should be) the hot and neutral with different combinations of switch positions and you should be able to sort out how it was wired.