TODAY is Tuesday, May 4, the 124th day of 2010. There are 241 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE

In 1626, Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on present-day Manhattan Island.

In 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labour demonstration for an eight-hour work day turned into a deadly riot when a bomb exploded.

In 1904, the United States took over construction of the Panama Canal.

In 1916, responding to a demand from President Woodrow Wilson, Germany agreed to limit its submarine warfare. (However, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare the following year.)

In 1932, mobster Al Capone, convicted of income-tax evasion, entered the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. (Capone was later transferred to Alcatraz Island.)

In 1945, during the Second World War, German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany agreed to surrender.

In 1946, a two-day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay ended, the violence having claimed five lives.

In 1960, actress-comedian Lucille Ball divorced her husband, Desi Arnaz, after 20 years of marriage.

In 1961, a group of "Freedom Riders" left Washington, DC, for New Orleans to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.

In 1980, Marshal Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia, died three days before his 88th birthday.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

"The greater the number of laws and enactments, the more thieves and robbers there will be." – Lao-tzu (low dzu), Chinese philosopher (c.604-531 B.C.).