It was something to do with social unrest but I don't know the story. My grandfather (the youngest of the 19) died when I was a year old, but you are right about one thing.... from what I heard he was one major tough guy.

One quick story ... he had come here to the U.S. around 1912 or so with the Merchant Marine. He jumped ship, married my grandmother and they had two kids. He became a plumber by trade and they lived in Brownsville, Brooklyn. In about 1926 or 1927 he took my dad for a day in Coney Island. There was a crowd around something on the boardwalk. My dad, about 8 years old then, fought his way to the front to see what was going on. It was an act called "The Mighty Atom", a strongman who went around performing feats of strength (you can find some stories about him on the internet). He took a horseshoe, wrapped its ends with cloth and then over his shoulder he'd bend the horseshoe straight. Afterward, he passed the shoe around the crowd to show everyone it was real. When it got to my dad, he held it up to his father and said, "Go ahead, Papa, bend it back". The crowd around them started laughing, and even though my grandfather was something of a showoff he declined at first but soon changed his mind when he thought the crowd was laughing at my dad. He took the horseshoe, and without benefit of cloths on the end and without benefit of leverage over his shoulder, bent the shoe back to its original shape.

Years later, he opened up a storefront gym for the kids in the (poor) neighborhood. One of those who came in to work out was bodybuilder Dan Lurie who went on to much fame.