July 8, 2010

Tombstone On The Sidewalk: A New York Story


Today's TIMES has a great New York story;  a man walking down E. 4th street one night finds a tombstone. It is dated 1910 and has the name Hinda Amchanitzky on it.  The rest of the tombstone is in Hebrew. 

When artist and part-time cook John Lankenau carted this curiosity back to his apartment, he began a quest to find out who Hinda was and what her tombstone was doing on a city street.  After hitting some dead ends, he enlisted an intrepid reporter from the TIMES. With an assist from the Library of Congress, they found out some surprising facts about this mystery woman who died nearly a century ago.  And, against all odds, they were able to reunite Hinda's tombstone with her final resting place.