Wednesday 4th of September 1241

King of Scots Alexander III aka Alaxandair mac Alaxandair is born in Roxburgh Castle, Roxburgh, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 4th of September 1523

218th Pope Hadrianus VI dies of unknown causes at the age of 64 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Sunday 4th of September 1768

Writer, politician, diplomat and historian François-René de Chateaubriand aka The Father of Romanticism is born in Saint-Malo, Bretagne, France.

Saturday 4th of September 1824

Composer Anton Bruckner is born in Augustinerstraße 3, Ansfelden, Oberösterreich, Austria.

Tuesday 4th of September 1888

Painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer Oskar Schlemmer known for Das Triadisches Ballett is born in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Friday 4th of September 1891

SA-Obergruppenführer and Reichsminister für Bewaffnung und Munition Fritz Todt known for Bautruppe Organisation Todt is born in Pforzheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Tuesday 4th of September 1894

38-year-old Benjamin Freelon Pitezel is murdered by serial killer Henry Howard Holmes aka The Torture Doctor in 1316 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Pitezel had agreed to fake his own death so that his wife could collect on the $10.000 policy, which she was to split with Holmes.

Friday 4th of September 1896

Playwright, poet, actor and theatre director Antonin Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud known for le Théâtre de la Cruauté is born in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Sunday 4th of September 1904

SS-Standortarzt at Auschwitz KZ Eduard Wirths is born in Geroldshausen, Bayern, Germany.

Wednesday 4th of September 1907

Composer Edvard Hagerup Grieg dies of unknown causes at the age of 64 in Bergen, Hordaland, Norway.

Grieg's final words were "Well, if it must be so."

Saturday 4th of September 1915

Tenor Rudolf Schock aka Der Czárdás-König is born in Duisburg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Wednesday 4th of September 1918

38-year-old Anne-Marie Pascal is murdered by serial killer Henri Désiré Landru aka Le Barbe-Bleue de Gambais in l'Ermitage, Allée des Tilleuls et la Roserale, Gambais, Île-de-France, France.

Wednesday 4th of September 1940

Murderer William Nelson is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 44 in Tennessee State Prison, Nashville, Tennessee, United States.

Wednesday 4th of September 1963

80 die in Swissair Flight SR306 Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III crash in Dürrenäsch, Aargau, Switzerland.

43 people from Humlikon boarded the plane to visit a farm test site near Geneva. The village lost one fifth of its population of 217 in the crash.

Saturday 4th of September 1965

Theologican, physician, musician and moralist Albert Schweitzer dies of at the age of 90 in Lambaréné, Gabon.

Saturday 4th of September 1971

111 die in Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 Boeing 727 crash into a mountain in Haines Borough, Alaska, United States.

Sunday 4th of September 1977

27-year-old Elizabeth Mary Wolf is stabbed to death by serial killer Henry Lee Lucas aka The Hand of Death in Davis, California, United States.

Saturday 4th of September 1982

21-year-old Mass murderer Humberto De La Torre torches his uncle's hotel after a dispute in Dorothy Mae Hotel, 821 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, California, United States.

Nineteen people including an unborn baby and its mother perished as the fire roared through the 50-year-old three-story structure. Thirty-six other people were injured and within 10 days six of them had died. At least nine victims were relatives of Humberto de La Torre. His uncle Mateo survived. Humberto de la Torre was arrested the following December in Texas, pleaded guilty to 25 counts of murder and in 1985 was sentenced to 625 years in prison.

Monday 4th of September 1989

Writer Georges Joseph Christian Simenon known for creating the fictional detective Jules Maigret dies of natural causes at the age of 86 in Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland.