May 4

May 4 in Clemson History

• 1893: The Pickens Sentinel reports this date that Major Stewart, Clerk of Court, recorded last week a deed from H. A. Strode, Nelson C. Poe and David R. Sloan to the Calhoun Land Co. at Calhoun for 614 acres of land. The consideration of the deed is $48,000. ("The Pickens Sentinel, Pickens Court House, South Carolina, 1872-1893, Historical and Genealogical Abstracts, Volume 2, compiled by Peggy Burton Rich and Marion Ard Whitehurst, Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie, Maryland, 1994, ISBN 1-55613-985-3, page 557.)
• 1933: A tornado or tornados, sweeping into the state in a line from Louisiana and Alabama, strikes the Piedmont heavily, killing at least 15 and injuring more than 60, and doing damage estimated at more than $1 million. Belton is hardest hit, with ten killed and 45-55 injured. The Blair Towel Mill there is practically demolished, and C. Blair Rice, its president, estimated the company's loss at $150,000. Four were killed in the Lebanon section of Greenville County and another across the line in Laurens County. The storm skipped over Anderson. Damage was also done in Chester County.Associated Press, "15 Killed as Tornado Sweeps Through State", Florence Morning News, Florence, South Carolina, 5May 1933.
• 1939: Governor Olin D. Johnston signs the South Carolina Rural Electric Cooperative Act, 1939 (41) 240, Title No. 173, into law, advancing the electrification of rural South Carolina.
• 1970: The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre or Kent State massacre, occur at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of students by members of the Ohio Army National Guard. Four students were killed and nine others were wounded, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against the Cambodian Incursion / American invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30. However, other students who were shot had merely been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance. Photographs of the dead and wounded at Kent State that were distributed in newspapers and periodicals worldwide amplified sentiment against the United States' invasion of Cambodia and the Vietnam War in general. In particular, the camera of Kent State photojournalism student John Filo captured a fourteen-year old runaway, Mary Ann Vecchio, screaming over the body of the dead student, Jeffrey Miller, who had been shot in the mouth. The photograph, which won a Pulitzer Prize, became the most enduring image of the events, and one of the most enduring images of the anti--violent demonstrations. Eight of the guardsmen were indicted by a grand jury. The guardsmen claimed to have fired in self-defense, which was generally accepted by the criminal justice system. In 1974 U.S. District Judge Frank Battisti dismissed charges against all eight on the basis that the prosecution's case was too weak to warrant a trial.
• 2008: The Clemson Wiki main page tallies hit 48,000.

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