Murder on the Borderland: John Klym & Onufrey Mandziuk

Although we might not admit it, the majority of us like a bit of gossip. There's a reason true crime is one of the most popular genres of TV, movies, books, podcasts, and documentaries. There've been many crimes committed in this region over the years, and what better time to delve into one case than Friday the 13th? 

FARMER KILLED AFTER QUARREL WITH NEIGHBOR

—Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 24 June 1937

On the morning of June 23, 1937, 18-year-old George Klym was cutting hay along the road which butted up against his family's farm in Sundown, Manitoba. Klym was the son of John Iwan Klym, born in Bukovyna, a region of Central Eastern Europe that today sits between the borders of Romania and Ukraine. Southeastern Manitoba hosts a large population of Ukrainian immigrants. When John was eleven (1902–1903), his family moved to Gardenton. John worked over the border in Humboldt, Minnesota as a farm hand for several years, and he later worked as a monument setter along the border. In 1914, John and his wife Mary (also known as Maria) moved to a homestead in Sundown. The couple had nine children, seven of which survived. In 1937, five children, aged 5–18, still remained in the home.

John Klym

To the west of Klym's farm was another homestead owned by Onufrey Mandziuk. Like Klym, Mandziuk was born in Bukovyna and moved to the region in 1930 with his wife Mary and four children, aged from an infant to about 14. Visible from both homesteads was the international boundary line. Despite Mandziuk's similar heritage to Klym, the families butted heads numerous times. According to John Klym, the troubles between the two men began when Mandziuk attempted to purchase Klym's property but was unsuccessful. Klym stated that Mandziuk threatened to "chase me from my farm; he is going to buy [it] for tax sale."

Onufrey Mandziuk

Further problems between the two men occurred when, in 1931, Klym "dragged part of the ninety-nine-foot road allowance between the two farms, dug a ditch, and planted timothy seed along it. The result was a north-south strip of grass which by 1932 provided Klym with hay." Because the hay grew all along this road allowance, it crossed the midway line into what could reasonably be called Mandziuk's property. When both parties began cutting the hay, they often argued that they were trespassing onto the other's property. The confrontations between the men started as verbal threats of retaliation, but apparently escalated into physical violence when Mandziuk shot Klym's dog after it reportedly harassed some of Mandziuk's sheep and killed a lamb. Klym brought his neighbor to the local magistrate's office and demanded that Mandziuk pay damages for the lost dog. He was unsuccessful. According to Mandziuk's wife, she "remembered feeling unsafe because of their troubles with Klym. Her husband, she said, 'he just say all the time that we have got to move from here.'" 

Mandziuk was not the only neighbor John Klym quarreled with. To the north of his homestead was John Nastiuk, yet another immigrant from Bukovyna. Nastiuk stated that on several occasions, he told John Klym that his son  was damaging Nastiuk's property. He further suggested that in retaliation, Klym reported him to the police on charges of suspected bootlegging. Although nothing came of this report after the police investigated, "gossip seemed to do much to fuel neighbourhood animosities." 

By 1937, the three men were nearing their wits end. On the afternoon of June 23, Onufrey Mandziuk saw George Klym cutting the hay along the road allowance and went over to John Nastiuk's homestead to tell him about it. He invited Nastiuk to take a look at the left-behind pile of hay laying across the road allowance. Mandziuk told Nastiuk he should take some of it, but Nastiuk rejected the offer. The two men parted ways to enjoy lunch at their own homesteads.

Nastiuk initially went to a different neighbor for a visit, hoping to be away from the expected dispute between Mandziuk and Klym. However, the neighbor was not home, so Nastiuk returned to Mandziuk's farm. As he arrived, he saw Mandziuk raking the hay that was left across the road allowance between the two men's farms. He urged Mandziuk to  leave the hay alone, and, hearing the commotion, Mary Mandziuk also urged her husband to go to town. But Mandziuk was determined, and he continued raking the hay south, reaching within one-eighth of a mile of the international boundary line. For unknown reasons, Nastiuk began helping him.

John and George Klym pulled their horse-drawn wagon up to the spot where the two other men were working. John demanded to know what Nastiuk was doing. Nastiuk apparently responded that Mandziuk had hired him to help. With this information, the Klyms then rode southward. Mandziuk finished raking and drew his own wagon up beside Nastiuk. Nastiuk climbed in alongside him and they pursued the Klyms. Mary Mandziuk and her infant child began walking behind the wagon.

The Klyms stopped at the last hay pile along the road allowance. John Klym began using his pitchfork to pile that hay into his wagon. As he was doing so, Mandziuk and Nastiuk drew up alongside the man. Mandziuk told Klym to stop what he was doing to which John Klym reportedly replied "you had better get out from here, I have a gun, and I am going to shoot you." 

Mandziuk apparently responded: "I don't care, I want you to shoot me." With those words, John Klym grabbed his twelve-gauge shotgun from the wagon. He later claimed that Mandziuk picked up a pitchfork and was running towards him when Klym shot him once in the leg. Klym stated that Mandziuk "started to jump and shout, and I got on the wagon and went home."

Scene of the murder, August 2010 (Source: David Malaher)

By this time, Mary Mandziuk and the child had caught up to the arguing men and, in horror, she'd watched her husband get shot. Mandziuk reportedly turned west and then fell into the grass, at which point Nastiuk applied a tourniquet to stem the bleeding from his right knee. A physician for the court later stated that the bullet had hit the femoral artery. They then placed Mandziuk on the back of his wagon and drove back towards Mandziuk's homestead. Once there, Mary brought her husband some water which temporarily woke him from unconsciousness. 

Nastiuk sought the help of another neighbor, a schoolteacher, who helped lift Mandziuk into the back of Nastiuk's truck. According to witnesses, Mandziuk was "yelling" the entire time. It took seven miles to reach Sundown and another thirteen miles to reach the nearest hospital in Vita. By that time, Mandziuk was unconscious again with a very weak pulse.

The shooting occurred sometime after 3:00. Mandziuk arrived at the Vita hospital at 5:20. About an hour later, the schoolteacher who had helped transport Mandziuk, Nick Kassawan, arrived at the office of RCMP Constable John D. Taylor of Piney, MB. Taylor called the hospital to gather information on Mandziuk's condition and then drove out to the Klyms homestead. He found John as he was finishing milking his cows. Before talking to him, Constable Taylor read “the customary police warning” to Klym: "You need not say anything. You have nothing to hope from any promise or favour and nothing to fear from any threat, whether or not you say anything. Anything you say may be used in evidence against you at your trial."

Constable Taylor later commented that Klym "seemed anxious" and believed he was the victim in the situation. Klym took Taylor to the scene of the shooting and signed his statement that he had shot Mandziuk. Klym stated that he had brought out his gun "because I knew that Mandzuik and Nastiuk wanted to make trouble for me when they came for the hay. They are always making trouble for me, and they say many times I am crazy.” It should be noted that Klym's questioning most likely took place in English, though his fluency in the language was questionable. This is something that would come up later.

George Klym gave the shotgun and shell to Taylor as evidence, and then went with him to Sundown. Here, Taylor received a call from another RCMP officer that Mandziuk had died of his injury. Klym was then taken to the RCMP barracks in Winnipeg, arriving in the early morning hours of June 24. Unprompted, Klym made a second supplemental statement asserting: "I didn’t want to shoot him, I wanted to shoot in the ground to scare him. I was holding the gun pointed in his direction but towards the ground. I pulled the trigger. I did not want to hit him. I saw him jumping around. I thought he was jumping for fun and that I didn’t hit him.” He was brought before the magistrate that same afternoon (Winnipeg Evening Tribune 06/24/1937). 

Later that day, RCMP officers took Nastiuk to the crime scene where he pointed out where the individuals were standing during the shooting. One officer took photos of the scene and, based upon a visual estimate, believed that the crime might have occurred south of the international border. Four days later, George A. Warrington, Chief Surveyor for the Manitoba Public Works Department took measurements and examined the scene. He provided the following blueprint for the location of the parties involved. 

Chief Surveyor Warrington

This was no longer a Canadian case. The case was then handed off to Roseau County Attorney R. J. Knutson who filed a complaint before Justice of the Peace A. O. Hagen. Knutson argued that Klym had premeditated the crime. In response, Hagen issued a warrent for Klym's arrest.

Further complications arose over the fact that, technically, Mandziuk died in Canada. John Klym's attorney stated that the Canadian charges against him should take precedence, despite the fact that Canada could institute the death sentence and Minnesota could not. Harl Dalstrom suggested that the reason for this might have been a previous case in that region where homicide in the case of self-defense had been exonerated. The hearing for extradition was scheduled for September 2nd, and until the matter was settled, Roseau County officials couldn't do anything with the case (Warroad Pioneer 07/29/1937). 

The hearing finally happened between September 23–24. John Klym did not speak at the hearing, but his son George did. George attempted to take some of the blame for the incident off his father. He stated that he was the one who cut the hay along the road allowance, making the inciting incident his fault and not his father's. He supported his father's claim that Mandziuk had come after his father wielding a pitchfork and that his father moved northeast to get out of his reach and then shot him. He claimed that his father was on the Canadian side of the border when he shot Mandziuk, who was standing on the U.S. side. 

Nastiuk's testimony rejected these claims by the younger Klym. Nastiuk stated he did not see if Mandziuk did something with his fork since he was watching Klym's gun. He denied that Mandziuk "menaced" Klym and stated he could not tell where either man stood according to the boundary line. 

Justice Donovan accepted the ruling of Warrington on the position of both men in relation to the border and granted Klym's extradition to the U.S. The testimony given by George Klym was regarded as coming from a "boy, in a difficult position, [who] would be likely to color his evidence," (WP 09/30/1937). 

Justice William J. Donovan 
(Source: F. H. Schofield, The Story of Manitoba, 1913)

Despite admitting to shooting Mandziuk, Klym pleaded not guilty to the charges once brought to Minnesota. This is likely because he believed he acted in self-defense. Because of this plea, the district court was required to bring together a grand jury to hear the case. The 12 jurors who sat on the case were: G. A. Gustafson, River Township; John Dynes, Jadis; J. A. Scharf, Ross; Ben Hamlin, Clearriver; Bert Myers, Cedarbend; Dan Hamnes, Strathcona; Ralph Gjorvik, Huss; Herbert Lund, Enstrom; Mrs. Bert Roberts, Warroad; Earl Erickson, Badger; Mrs. Melvin Halvorson, Badger; and Union Congregational pastor Rev. F. C. Schmidt, who acted as the jury foreperson. Klym retained Bert Hanson as his defense attorney, with R. J. Knutson prosecuting. Judge Brattland presided over the case (WP 12/02–16/1937). 

In the remote northwest corner of Roseau County [a] feud which had brewed between two Ukrainian farmers came to an abrupt conclusion...

—Warroad Pioneer 16 December 1937

The trial lasted three days during which time the jury was taken through the build up of tensions between Mandziuk and Klym, the road allowance, and the events of June 23. The case was to determine if the shot which killed Mandziuk was accidental or if Klym was guilty of first degree murder. 

The men's feud was well-established by eyewitness accounts from multiple neighbors, including John Nastiuk. Nastiuk once again stated that he was hired by Mandziuk to help rake the hay off the road allowance between the two farms. The Klyms rode up beside them and began loading the hay into their wagon. According to Nastiuk, Klym actually loaded the first forkfull of hay into his wagon, an action which Mandziuk took issue with since he claimed it was on his property. Klym then grabbed his gun to warn Mandziuk and Nastiuk off, at which point Klym shot the victim. John and George Klym then fled the scene (WP 12/16/1937). 

George Warrington presented his findings to the jury, placing both Mandziuk and Klym on the southern side of the international boundary at the time of the shooting. Mary Mandziuk was asked numerous questions about the animosity the two men held for each other. RCMP Taylor testified that Klym admitted to shooting Mandziuk and presented the court with the two written statements made by Klym on the day of the shooting. 

The defense called George Klym to the witness stand and had him recount the events. He continued to say that he was responsible for cutting the hay and that Mandziuk was running at his father with a pitchfork when the gun was fired. Under cross-examination, George maintained this story (WP 12/16/1937). John Klym told a similar tale. He denied the claims of witnesses that he ever cursed Mandziuk out in passing or used foul language in the presence of Mrs. Mandziuk. He claimed he was scared of Mandziuk and that he had only hoped the gun would scare him off from bothering he and his son. In agreement with his son's testimony, Klym stated that the gun went off as he was retreating from Mandziuk's attack and stumbled over a "furrow" in the ground. The defense called no more witnesses.

Closing arguments were made on December 17. The jury then deliberated for three and a half hours over whether to find him guilty of first degree (premeditated) or second degree (unpremeditated) murder, or acquit him on the basis of self-defense. Judge Brattland noted that "the law held homicide to be justifiable "when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury to the slayer, and there is imminent danger of such design being accomplished." He added that "The law does not permit the taking of human life to repel a mere trespass as in this case..." 

On December 17, 1937, John Klym was found guilty of second degree murder in the shooting death of Onufrey Mandziuk and was sentenced to life in prison.

However, the story does not end there. Further investigation into this case tells us a lot about our understanding of the law and life on the borderland, especially as it pertains to living just south of the international boundary. It also tells us about John Klym, whose trial might not have been as fair as Americans expect our justice system to be. For an in-depth study of the case and to see what happens next, we encourage you to read Harl Dalstrom's "Homicide on the Canada-US Border," here.

________

Unless otherwise noted, the quotes and information for this article were taken from Harl A. Dalstrom, "Manitoba History: Homicide on the Canada-US Border," Manitoba History Vol. 73. Manitoba Historical Society, 2013.

Thank you all for reading, and happy Friday the 13th!

~Erin Thompson, Museum Manager