Remembering our history, the Kaul Clay riots

(Editor's Note: This is the second installment on the riots. The first installment ran in the April 10 Toronto Scene edition.)

TORONTO - The day following the Kaul riot, plant manager Jimmy Dyer issued his first statement, accusing the pickets of opening fire on employees and guards and that no shots were fired by any company official.

"Dyer also asserted that the strike which started April 1, does not have the sympathy of a majority of the workers and blames outsiders for the tragedy," the Herald-Star reported.

Jefferson County Prosecutor Arthur L. Hooper questioned the Kaul Clay deputies and another 25 witnesses and determined every shooting casualty occurred on company property while finding no evidence that any of the pickets who invaded the plant were armed. Already warned by Sheriff Long not to arm themselves, many of the pickets who rushed past the gates April 17 guarded by deputies Cyrus Cook and Charles Merryman threw back their coats and said, "I got no gun, look."

According to Joe Lastivka, who was 3 years of age at the time of his father's death, neither his father nor Straka breached Kaul property.

Andy Lastivka, Joe Lastivka's father, was killed, allegedly by a bullet from a sniper's gun from guard guarding the plant. Another picketer, Andy Straka, also was shot during the incident.

"He was just standing on the railroad tracks and so was (Andy) Straka," said Lastivka. "He was struck in the chest with a bullet they think was fired from a security guard from a roof or window."

"It was the first time anyone used gunfire to stop a strike," McKelvy said. "Spectators across the tracks thought they were using blanks. Dyer was new to the area and big anti-union. He wanted to show off."

No matter who fired first at whom, the death of Andy Lastivka became cause celebre within the clay region of Eastern Ohio. His death was not only a result of the labor movement sweeping across the county, but also symbolized the solidarity of Eastern Europeans immigrants, particularly Slovaks, many of whom served in World War I and desired acceptance and respect as American citizens while manning some of the hardest and lowest paying jobs within the industry.

Andy Lastivka, a husband and a father of two young children, was interred on Easter Sunday at Toronto Union Cemetery before a crowd of 3,000 people who had marched from St. Joseph's Greek Catholic Church.

Even the local law agencies tended to side with the labor movement after Lastivka's death. During the only incident at Kaul to occur since the troubles of April 17, a truck driver hauling finished products from Kaul Clay sometime during May was halted by a barricade of 40 to 50 pickets - an illegal assembly. Dyer telephoned Sheriff Long, who responded that he had no men available to help. Dyer also called Toronto Police Chief Thomas Wilson, who arrived at the scene alone.

Wilson asked the truck driver whether he had a driver's license, and the trucker answered he did not. Wilson then ordered the driver to back up and unload the pipe, but permitted him to leave with the empty truck.

Meanwhile Dyer and other managers of the clay industry negotiated with the United Clay and Brick Workers through federal mediators at Uhrichsville. On June 10, 54 days after they went on strike, the union settled for a two cents an hour raise, no check-off system and no closed shop.

No one was convicted for any of the April 17 shootings. Lastivka's widow Anna did not receive any monetary compensation for her husband's wrongful death.

She and her young children went on to live with her mother in Stratton where son Joe helped at his grandmother's grocery store.

"I worked at Union Clay during my junior and senior years of high school," Joe Lastivka said. "When I graduated, I went to the Kaul office and asked if I could see Jimmy Dyer. I wanted a job. The secretary said he wasn't there, but I could see somebody move in his office. I just walked in. 'You know who I am, don't you?'" I said.

"He said, 'I'm not hiring.' Dyer said that I would destroy his building and cause trouble. What did I know? I was only 18."

In addition to his legacy as a tough negotiator, Jimmy Dyer and Kaul Clay had philanthropic reputations, donating the property for Dyer Country Club and the 900-acre Kaul Wildlife Area, as well as being one of the main financial contributors for the 1948 construction of the new St. Francis School.

In 1981 Kaul Clay ceased operations.

(Petras is a member of the Historical Society of Toronto. Comments and story suggestions to Petras are welcomed and can be done so by calling (740) 537-2019 or e-mailing klydepetras@hotmail.com.)