1887
Apr 4, Susanna Medora Salter became the first woman elected mayor of an American community -- Argonia, Kan.


1924
Apr 4, Eva Marie Saint, actress (Sandpiper, Loving, Exodus), was born in Newark, NJ.


1998
Apr 4,During a visit to Haiti, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged leaders to stop political infighting that had paralyzed the Caribbean nation for nearly a year.)

2006
Apr 4, Kuwaiti women voted and ran as candidates for the first time in a municipal election in the conservative country's capital, but initial reports indicated not many women were casting ballots.


2008
Apr 4, Child welfare officials scrambled to find foster homes for dozens of girls removed from a secretive West Texas religious retreat built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs after a 16-year-old living there complained of physical abuse. By April 8 Texas had taken 416 children into protective custody. Some 140 women came along voluntarily. It was later reported that over half of the teenage girls from the Yearning for Zion Ranch had children or were pregnant. The number of 14-17 year old girls with children was later reduced as ages became confirmed. On May 22 a state appeals court ruled that authorities had no right to take children from the polygamist compound. In 2009 jurors convicted sect member Raymond Jessop (38) of sexually assaulting a girl, who became pregnant at age 16. By 2012 legal costs associated with the case approached $20 million.


2009
Apr 4,In southern Israel a woman opened fire on a police station Beersheba before officers shot back and killed her, in an apparent Palestinian militant attack. Israeli forces shot and killed two militants who were approaching the Gaza border. Elsewhere in Gaza, militants fired at least two mortar shells toward Israel. There were no reports of damage.