120_Newfoundlandia_0609 Home Front.qxd 1/31/20 4:53 PM Page 122
reminiscing
The Light of Dark Shadows The tale of the Government House forger by Chad Bennett
“Be it known that I, Alexander Pindikowsky, a citizen of the United States, residing at 63 South Lambeth Road, London, S.W., England, have invented a certain new and useful process for the production of stencils of wire-netting, of which the following is a specification...” This was an application for a patent filed in 1911 in England, filed by a man thought to have died in the United States years earlier.
A passenger ship docked at one of the many wooden finger piers clawing the pinched oval of St. John’s Harbour one night in 1879. A stranger emerged, his shoes touching Newfoundland soil for the first time. This 122
March 2020
mysterious figure touched Newfoundland’s character, and his hand can be seen to this very day. To live this tale, we must press our toes into the worn coarse leather and wear the shoes of Alexander Pindikowsky. 1-888-588-6353
