December 4

What happened that day?

• 2015: A firebomb is thrown into a restaurant in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, killing 17 people.
• 2014: Islamic insurgents kill three state police at a traffic circle before taking an empty school and a "press house" in Grozny. Ten state forces die with 28 injured in gun battles ending with ten insurgents killed.
• 2006: Six black youths assault a white teenager in Jena, Louisiana.
• 2005: Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protest for democracy and call on the government to allow universal and equal suffrage.
• 1998: The Unity Module, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched.
• 1992: Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia in Northeast Africa.
• 1991: Pan American World Airways ceases its operations after 64 years.
• 1991: Terry A. Anderson is released after seven years in captivity as a hostage in Beirut; he is the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon.
• 1984: Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers kill 107-150 civilians in Mannar.
• 1982: The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution.
• 1981: South Africa grants independence to the Ciskei "homeland" (not recognized by any government outside South Africa).
• 1979: The Hastie fire in Hull kills three schoolboys and eventually leads police to arrest Bruce George Peter Lee.
• 1978: Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco's first female mayor.
• 1977: Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjong Kupang, Johor, killing 100.
• 1977: Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire.
• 1971: The Indian Navy attacks the Pakistan Navy and Karachi.
• 1969: Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers.
• 1967: Vietnam War: U.S. and South Vietnamese forces engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta.
• 1965: The Grateful Dead's first concert performance under this new name.
• 1956: The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studio for the first and last time.
• 1954: The first Burger King is opened in Miami.
• 1945: By a vote of 65-7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations. (The UN had been established on October 24, 1945.)
• 1943: World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes down the Works Progress Administration, because of the high levels of wartime employment in the United States.
• 1943: World War II: In Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Josip Broz Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile.
• 1942: World War II: Carlson's patrol during the Guadalcanal Campaign ends.
• 1939: World War II: HMS Nelson is struck by a mine (laid by U-31) off the Scottish coast and is laid up for repairs until August 1940.
• 1918: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.
• 1909: The Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, the oldest surviving professional hockey franchise in the world, is founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association.
• 1909: In Canadian football, the First Grey Cup game is played. The University of Toronto Varsity Blues defeat the Toronto Parkdale Canoe Club, 26-6.
• 1906: Alpha Phi Alpha the first black intercollegiate Greek lettered fraternity was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
• 1893: First Matabele War: A patrol of 34 British South Africa Company soldiers is ambushed and annihilated by more than 3,000 Matabele warriors on the Shangani River in Matabeleland.
• 1881: The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published.
• 1875: Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison; he is later recaptured in Spain.
• 1872: The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the Canadian brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged.
• 1867: Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange).
• 1864: American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: At Waynesboro, Georgia, forces under Union General Judson Kilpatrick prevent troops led by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler from interfering with Union General William T. Sherman's campaign destroying a wide swath of the South on his march to the Atlantic Ocean from Atlanta.
• 1829: In the face of fierce local opposition, British Governor-General Lord William Bentinck issues a regulation declaring that anyone who abets suttee in Bengal is guilty of culpable homicide.
• 1791: The first edition of The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper, is published.
• 1786: Mission Santa Barbara is dedicated (on the feast day of Saint Barbara).
• 1783: At [Fraunces Tavern](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunces_Tavern#Washington.27s_farewell_to_his_officers) in New York City, U.S. General George Washington bids farewell to his officers.
• 1745: Charles Edward Stuart's army reaches Derby, its furthest point during the Second Jacobite Rising.
• 1676: Battle of Lund: A Danish army under the command of King Christian V engages the Swedish army commanded by Field Marshal Simon Grundel-Helmfelt.
• 1674: Father Jacques Marquette founds a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan to minister to the Illiniwek. (The mission would later grow into the city of Chicago.)
• 1619: Thirty-eight colonists arrive at Berkeley Hundred, Virginia. The group's charter proclaims that the day "be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God."
• 1563: The final session of the Council of Trent is held. (It had opened on December 13, 1545.)
• 1259: Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.
• 1110: The Kingdom of Jerusalem captures Sidon.
• 771: Austrasian king Carloman I dies, leaving his brother Charlemagne king of the now complete Frankish Kingdom.