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| New Hope Baptist Church near Beatrice, Ala. |
Feb. 4, 1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-seven
Ronin committed seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their
master's death.
Feb. 4, 1783 - Britain declared a formal cessation of
hostilities with its former colonies, the United States of America.
Feb. 4, 1789 – George Washington was unanimously elected as
the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
Feb. 4, 1792 - George Washington repeated the feat of being
the only president to be unanimously elected by the Electoral College.
Feb. 4, 1794 – The French legislature abolished slavery
throughout all territories of the French First Republic. It would be
reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802.
Feb. 4, 1818 – Lawrence County was created by the Alabama
legislature, and Melton’s Bluff was selected as the first county seat.
Feb. 4, 1826 – “The Last of the Mohicans” by James Fennimore
Cooper was first published. One of the earliest distinctive American novels,
the book is the second of the five-novel series called the “Leather-stocking
Tales.” The other books in the series include “The Deerslayer” (1841), “The
Pathfinder” (1840), “The Pioneers” (1823) and “The Prairie” (1827).
Feb. 4, 1847 - In Maryland, the first U.S. Telegraph Company
was established.
Feb. 4, 1861 - Delegates from six break-away U.S. states
that had recently seceded from the Union met in Montgomery, Ala. to establish
the Confederate States of America. Four days later this provisional Confederate
Congress, comprising representatives of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, and South Carolina, organized the Confederacy with the adoption of
a provisional constitution.
Feb. 4, 1862 – During the Civil
War, a Naval reconnaissance of Fort Henry, Tenn. was conducted.
Feb. 4, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Batesville, Ark.; Lake Providence, La.; and
Murfreesborough, Tenn.
Feb. 4, 1864 – During the Civil War,
skirmishes were fought at Hot Springs, Mountain Fork and Rolling Prairie, Ark.;
Columbia, La.; Bolton Depot, Champion's Hill, Edward's Ferry, Liverpool
Heights, and Queen's Hill, Miss. (all part of the Meridian Expedition); and at
Moorefield, West Va.
Feb. 4, 1865 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Park, La. and at Angley's Post Office and
Buford's Bridge, S.C. Three days of skirmishing also began at Mud Springs,
Nebraska, with Indians. A three-day Federal operation between Winchester, Va.
and Moorefield, West Va. began.
Feb. 4, 1865 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred at
Ladd's House, Ala.
Feb. 4, 1887 – Confederate veteran Joseph A. Adams, the
founder of The Southern Star newspaper in Dale County, Ala., passed away at the
age of 43 in Ozark, Ala.
Feb. 4, 1896 - Gauntlet Lodge No. 151, Knights of Pythias,
was organized at Tinela in Monroe County with the following officers: W.L.
Abernethy, C.C.; L.K. Benson, V.C. and Rep. to G.L.; J.A. McCants, Prel.; R.C.
Abernethy, K. of R&S and M. of F.; G.W. McCants, M. of E.; R.A.M. of W.;
J.K. McLeod, M. at A.; T.S. Packer, I.G.; S.J. Grace, O.G.
Feb. 4, 1902 – Pilot and explorer Charles Lindbergh, the
first man to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris,
was born in Detroit, Michigan.
Feb. 4, 1904 – Journalist, novelist and screenwriter
MacKinlay Kantor was born in Webster City, Iowa. He was awarded the Pulitzer
Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel “Andersonville,” about the
Confederate prisoner of war camp.
Feb. 4, 1913 – Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks was born in
Tuskegee, Ala.
Feb. 4, 1914 - Alabama journalist Hazel Brannon Smith was
born in Alabama City, Ala.
Feb. 4, 1915 – Conecuh County, Ala. convicts commenced
working on public roads, and work was progressing “satisfactorily.” There were
10 convicts at work at that time, and “two portable steel cages were received
and put into use.”
Feb. 4, 1915 – The Monroe Journal reported that “notable
improvements have been made in the condition of streets and roads within the
corporate limits of Monroeville within the last few months, and the public
square is now being graded and all stumps, decayed trees and other unsightly
objects removed. A movement is on foot to enclose the square so as to prevent indiscriminant
travel over it by vehicles and livestock.”
Feb. 4, 1915 – A full two years before Germany’s aggressive naval policy would draw the United States into the war against them, Kaiser Wilhelm announced an important step in the development of that policy, proclaiming the North Sea a war zone, in which all merchant ships, including those from neutral countries, were liable to be sunk without warning.
Feb. 4, 1916 – Poet Gavin Ewart was born in London, England.
Feb. 4, 1919 – During World War I, Army Pvt. James O.
Merrill of Andalusia, Ala. “died from disease.” A member of the 330th
Supply Co., QMC, he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.
Feb. 4, 1920 – The Evergreen Courant reported that H.S.
Hagood had announced his candidacy for re-election to the office of county tax
assessor.
Feb. 4, 1921 – Betty Friedan, the author of 1963’s “The
Feminine Mystique,” was born in Peoria, Ill.
Feb. 4, 1923 - A movie version of Alabama author Milford W.
Howard's book “The Bishop of the Ozarks,”
starring the author, was released.
Feb. 4, 1932 – Novelist and short-story writer Robert Coover
was born in Charles City, Iowa.
Feb. 4, 1933 - Mr. and Mrs. E.M. Salter, Miss Ida Shomo and
Miss Alice Lee spent this Saturday in Mobile, according to The Monroe Journal.
Feb. 4, 1935 – Jack Robinson of Baltimore, Md. arrived in
Evergreen, Ala. to assume a position with the firm of I. Long & Sons.
Robinson was the nephew of Evergreen businessmen, Robert Long and Haiman Long.
Feb. 4, 1938 - The play "Our Town" by Thornton
Wilder, opened in New York City.
Feb. 4, 1940 - The Coast Guard cutter Cartigan found the
Gloria Colita “adrift, crippled and unmanned” about 150 miles south of Mobile,
Ala. in the Gulf of Mexico. On Jan. 21, 1940, the Gloria Colita, a 125-foot
schooner, sailed from Mobile, loaded with a cargo of lumber bound for
Guantanamo, Cuba.
Feb. 4, 1952 - Jackie Robinson was named Director of
Communication for NBC.
Feb. 4, 1955 – Evergreen High School’s varsity boys
basketball team beat W.S. Neal, 59-44, in East Brewton, Ala. Randy White led
Evergreen with 31 points, and Ward Alexander followed with 14 points.
Feb. 4, 1959 – Pro Football Hall of Fame outside linebacker
Lawrence Taylor, one of the best defensive players in NFL history, was born in
Williamsburg, Virginia. Taylor went on to play his entire 13-season
professional career with the New York Giants and is credited with redefining
the position of outside linebacker and terrorizing a generation of NFL
quarterbacks. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.
Feb. 4, 1961 – Writer Stewart O’Nan was born in Pittsburgh,
Pa.
Feb. 4, 1962 - The first U.S.
helicopter was shot down in Vietnam, one of 15 helicopters ferrying South
Vietnamese Army troops into battle near the village of Hong My in the Mekong Delta.
Feb. 4, 1964 – A meeting was held at 7 p.m. in the Civic
Room at the Conecuh County Courthouse in Evergreen, Ala. to organize a women’s
auxiliary for the Conecuh County Hospital.
Feb. 4, 1964 - The Administrator of General Services
announced that the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had been ratified.
The amendment banned the poll tax.
Feb. 4, 1965 – The Evergreen Courant reported that
construction would begin right away on the new addition to the educational
building of the Evergreen Baptist Church. The new building joined the existing
building, which was built in 1950, in the rear and was about the same size, i.e.,
6,000 square feet and two stories tall. John Nielsen was the chairman of the
building committee and the Rev. Sam Granade was the church’s pastor.
Feb. 4, 1965 - McGeorge Bundy,
American Special Assistant for National Security, arrived in Saigon for talks
with U.S. Ambassador General Maxwell Taylor.
Feb. 4, 1969 - John Madden was named the head coach of the
NFL's Oakland Raiders.
Feb. 4, 1969 – Tal Stuart Jr. and Jim Williams killed a
23-pound bobcat on his farm at Belleville. They caught the bobcat in a
two-compartment trap baited with a live rooster.
Feb. 4, 1971 - “I Walk
the Line,” a movie version of Alabama author Madison Jones's book “The Exile,” was released.
Feb. 4, 1972 - A force of 824 soldiers, the last of
Thailand’s 12,000 troops serving in South Vietnam, departed.
Feb. 4, 1974 - Heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the
Symbionese Liberation Army from her Berkeley, Calif. apartment.
Feb. 4, 1975 – Conecuh County High School’s varsity boys
basketball team beat T.R. Miller, 61-51, in Brewton.
Feb. 4, 1984 - Theron L. Sims, manager of the Piggly Wiggly
Super Market in Evergreen, Ala. for 20 years, retired on this Saturday, ending
a 40-year career in the grocery business. He was succeeded by Robby Stanford of
Atmore.
Feb. 4, 1988 – The Monroe Journal reported that construction
of the “new fire station” on East Claiborne Street in Monroeville, Ala. was
nearing completion and would replace the old station behind City Hall. At that
same time, another fire station was also under construction in front of the
Whetstone Street Recreation Center.
Feb. 4, 1993 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Hillcrest
High School’s varsity basketball team was experiencing unprecedented success
for the school that season, thanks to Coach Danny Covin and players Isaac
McMillan, Derrick Averett and Bryant Richardson, who were all named to the
All-Tournament Team following the Third Annual Hillcrest High School
Invitational Tournament the week before. The Jaguars took first place in the
tournament, defeating Charles Henderson High School of Troy, 73-64. Averett was
named the tournament’s most valuable player by a vote of the coaches from the
six teams participating.
Feb. 4, 1993 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the trial
dates for the two men accused of the murder of Clarene Haskew had been changed
in an order by Circuit Judge Sam Welch so that defense attorneys could examine
evidence in the case which they claimed had not been made available to them as
a previous order by the judge decreed. In a motion hearing on Tues., Feb. 2,
the defense attorney for Wayne Travis alleged that evidence in the possession
of the state had not been made available to him and other evidence was made
available to him only as late as Jan. 28. Judge Welch agreed to move Travis’
trial to Feb. 22, the date originally scheduled for (co-defendant Steven Wayne)
Hall’s trial.
Feb. 4, 1994 – Episode No. 15 of “The X-Files” – entitled
“Lazarus” – aired for the first time.
Feb. 4, 1997 - A civil jury in California found O.J. Simpson
liable in the death of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Goldman's parents were awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages.
Feb. 4, 1998 - Bill Gates got a pie in the face while
entering the European Union Building in Brussels.
Feb. 4, 2000 – New Hope Baptist Church near Beatrice, Ala.
was added to Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage by the Alabama
Historical Commission.
Feb. 4, 2000 – Sparta Academy’s varsity girls basketball
team won the AISA Class AA, East Area II Regional Tournament in Evergreen, Ala.
by beating Greenville Academy, 48-45. Katie Etheridge was named Tournament MVP
and Ashley Hammonds and Jill Pate were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Feb. 4, 2001 – “Bojangles,”
a television version of Alabama author James Haskins' book “Mr. Bojangles: The Biography of Bill Robinson,”
was broadcast.
Feb. 4, 2001 - Jimmy Buffet was ordered by NBA referee Joe
Forte to give up his courtside seat due to the use of profanity. After a
several-minute delay, the game between the Miami Heat and the visiting New York
Knicks continued.
Feb. 4, 2002 - Minnesota's Supreme Court refused to consider
an appeal by the Minnesota Twins of an injunction that would force the Twins to
fulfill their lease at the Metrodome.
Feb. 4, 2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social
networking site, was founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
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