Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, May 4, the 124th day of 2011. There are 241 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1886: At Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour work day turns into a deadly riot when a bomb explodes.

1904: The United States takes over construction of the Panama Canal.

1942: The Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircraft, begins during World War II.

1961: The first group of “Freedom Riders” leaves Washington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals. (The Freedom Riders are repeatedly attacked by violent mobs, mostly in Alabama.)

1970: Ohio National Guardsmen open fire during an anti-war protest at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Damage is reported as heavy from a second fire that breaks out at Idora Park, two years after a fire that damaged the Wild Cat roller coaster and doomed the park.

A robber awaiting sentencing escapes from the Lawrence County Jail after his girlfriend rammed her car through an overhead garage door into the jail exercise yard.

1971: Three women and two men are arrested at South High School for recruiting students for protests on Central Square to mark the 1970 shootings at Kent State and Jackson State universities.

U.S. Rep. Charles J. Carney, D-19th, is among five Ohio congressmen who reported having no substantial stockholdings or income beyond their salaries of $42,500 annually.

1961: Mayor Frank R. Franko ousts Frank W. Waters as chief of police, replacing him with Patrolman Cyril Smolko.

Two teenage boys, grandsons of Youngstown residents, are among the youthful survivors credited with courage and coolness enabling them to be saved from the sinking Albatross in the Gulf of Mexico. They are David Tod Johnstone of Stonington, Conn., and Phillip G. LeBoutillier of Toledo.

1936: Four area residents die in weekend traffic accidents: Richard Courtney Fletcher, 3, of Youngstown; Paul Bailey and Dunwood Holleman, both 19 of Lisbon, and Pasquale Carline of Leetonia.

Atty. Fred J. Warnock, former mayor of Youngstown and a Masonic leader, dies of a heart attack at his cottage at Geneva-on-the Lake.