VARIED and diverse are the lives and for-
tunes of men; while the paths of some are
strewn with flowers and ease from the cradle
to the grave, with naught to disturb their
peace; others are marked victims of varied
misfortunes, accidents and dangers. The last
named class is the one in whose ranks I have
stood, through my infancy, childhood, youth
and manhood, up to the present time, so much
so that it has seemed as though some invisible
power or fate was watching my foot steps in
order to find some opportunity to take my life
from the earth. I can only attribute the con-
tinuation of my life to the present time to a
merciful God, whose hand has been stretched
out and rescued me from death in the midst of
the many dangers and hair breadth escapes, I
have passed through; some of which I will
here mention.
When three years of age, I fell into a cal-
dron of boiling water, was instantly caught
out, but was so badly scalded, that it was nine
months before I was considered out of dan-
ger.
At five years of age, I fell from the great
beam of a barn, striking my face upon the
floor, which came near breaking my neck.
Three months afterwards, I broke one of my
arms, by falling down stairs. I soon after
broke my other arm by falling out of a high
stoop, upon a pile of timber.
When six years of age, I came near being
killed by a surly bull. My father and I were
feeding pumpkins to the cattle; a surly bull
drove my cow away from the one she was
eating. I took the pumpkin he had left, upon
which he pitched at me. My father told me
to throw down the pumpkin and run. I ran
down a steep hill, and took the pumpkin with
me, being determined that the cow should have
her rights. The bull pursued; as he was
about to overtake me, I stepped into a post
hole and fell; the bull leaped over me, after
the pumpkin, and tore it to pieces with his
horns, and would have served me in the same
way, had I not fallen.
During the same year I went into my father's
saw mill, with several others; I got upon the
head-block to take a ride while the carriage
was running back, not anticipating any dan-
ger; my leg was caught between the head-
block and the fender-post, and broke both
bones of my leg below the knee. I was taken
to the house, and lay nine hours before my
bones were set, suffering severe pain; but being
young, my bones soon knit together and I was
upon my feet again; during my confinement by
this lameness, my bro. Thompson was also
confined in the same room with the typhus
fever.
When seven years of age, I was riding on
the top of a load of hay, which my uncle, Oz-
en Woodruff, was driving to the barn; he turn-
ed the load over upon me; I was nearly suffo-
cated for the want of air, before the hay was
removed.
At eight years old, I was riding in a one
horse wagon with several others; the horse
took fright, ran down a steep hill, and turned
the wagon over upon us; but again while in
the midst of danger, my life was preserved:
none of us were seriously injured.
When nine years old, I climbed into an elm
tree to obtain bark. I stepped upon a dry
limb, which broke, and I fell about fifteen feet
upon my back, which beat the breath out of
my body. A cousin ran and told my parents I
was dead; before they arrived at the spot, I
came to my senses, and met them.
When twelve years of age, I was drowned
in Farmington river, and sunk in 30 ft. of
water, and after carrying one person to the
bottom with me, I was miraculously saved
by a young man, named Bacon, diving to the
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bottom, and carrying with him a large stone
to hold him down until he obtained my body,
not expecting to save me alive: I suffered much
in being restored to life.
At thirteen years of age, while passing
through Farmington meadows, in the depth of
winter, the roads were drifted with snow; and
in an exceedingly blustering day, I became so
chilled and overcome with cold that I could
not travel. I crawled into the hollow of a
large apple tree. A man in the distance, see-
ing me go in, hastened to my rescue, realizing
my danger more fully than I did: when he ar-
rived at the spot, I had fallen asleep, and was
nearly insensible; he had much difficulty in
arousing me to a sense of my situation. He
procured means to carry me to my father's
house, and through a kind providence, my life
was again preserved.
At fourteen years of age, I split my left
instep open with an ax, which went nearly
through my foot: it was nine months getting
well.
At fifteen years of age, I was bitten in my
left hand by a mad dog in the last stage of
hydrophobia; he dented my hand with his
teeth, but did not draw blood, and I was again
preserved, through the mercies of God, from
an awful death.
At the age of seventeen, I was riding a very
ill-tempered horse that I was not acquainted
with; and while going down a very steep
rocky hill, the horse taking advantage of the
ground, suddenly leaped from the road, and
ran down the steep, amid the rocks, at full
speed, and commenced kicking up, and at-
tempted to throw me over his head upon the
rocks; but I lodged upon the top of his head,
grasped hold of each ear as with a death grip,
expecting every moment to be dashed to pieces
against the rocks. While in this position,
sitting astride of his neck, with no bridle to
guide him but his ears, he plunged down the
hill under full speed, until he ran against a
rock and was dashed to the ground. I went
over both his head and the rock, about one rod,
and struck the ground square on my feet, being
the only thing visible that saved my life; for
had I struck upon any other part of my body,
it must have killed me instantly; as it was, my
bones crushed from under me, as though they
were reeds. It broke my left leg in two places,
and put out both my ankles in a shocking
manner, and the horse came near rolling over
me in his struggles to get up. My uncle, Titus Woodruff, saw me fall, got assistance
and carried me to his house. I lay from 2 p.m.
till 10, without medical aid; then my father
arrived, bringing Dr. Swift, of Farmington, with
him, who set my bones, boxed up my limbs,
and carried me in his carriage eight miles
that night, to my father's. My sufferings
were very great; I had good attention, how-
ever, and in eight weeks I was out doors upon
my crutches.
In , while attempting to clear the ice
out of a water-wheel, standing upon the wheel
with one arm around the shaft, a man hoisted
the gate, and let a full head of water upon it;
as soon as the water struck the wheel, it
started; my feet slipped into the wheel, but I
immediately plunged head foremost over the
rim into about three feet of water, and my
weight drew my legs out of the wheel, or I
should have been drawn under a shaft and
crushed to death.
In , while having charge of the flouring
mill in Collinsville, Connecticut, I was stand-
ing inside of a breast wheel, 20 feet in dia-
meter, upon one of the arms near the top,
clearing out the ice, when a full head of water
was let on to it. The wheel immediately
started; but I dropped my ax and leaped
through it to the bottom, by the shaft and
arms about twenty feet; as I struck the bot-
tom of the wheel, I was rolled out against a
ragged stone wall with only about two feet
clearance between it and the wheel; the
wheel caught me and rolled me out into the
water below, where I found myself without
any bones broken, but with some bruises and
much fright.
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During the winter of 1831, while in New
Hartford, Ct., I passed through a severe course
of lung fever.
In , the day I was baptized, one of my
horses, newly sharp shod, kicked my hat off
my head, and had he struck two inches lower
would probably have killed me instantly; in
ten minutes afterwards, while driving the
same team down a hill on a sleigh without
any box, the bottom boards slipped forward
under the roller and caught the ground, turned
endwise, and fell on the horses' backs, throw-
ing me between the horses; they ran to the
bottom of the hill, dragging me with the lines,
head foremost, with the sleigh on top of me,
about twenty rods over a smooth snow path:
I escaped unharmed, however, in the midst of
both dangers.
In , while traveling in Zion's Camp in Missouri, a rifle was accidentally discharged,
and the ball passed through three tents, with
about twelve men in each, and lodged in a
wagon axle-tree, while a man was standing
behind it, and injured no one; it passed within
a few inches of my breast, and many others
escaped as narrowly as myself.
A few months afterwards, a musket, heavily
loaded with buckshot, was accidentally snap-
ped within a few feet of me, with the muzzle
pointed at my breast; it had a good flint and
was well primed, but it missed fire, and my
life was again preserved.
In April, 1839, in Rochester, Illinois, I was
riding upon the running gears of a wagon with-
out a box, sitting upon the forward axletree,
when the bolt, fastening the coupling pole,
came out, which left the hind wheels; and my
weight on the forward bolster and tongue,
turned the coupling pole over on to the
horses, turning the stakes upside down, and
shut me up fast between the bolster and tongue,
but in such a manner that my head and
shoulders dragged on the ground; my horses
took fright, and ran out into an open prairie
and dragged me in this position for about half
a mile. I managed to guide them with my
left hand, so as to run them into a corner of a
high worm fence, where we landed in a pile
together. I was considerably bruised, but es-
caped without any broken bones.
. — Prest. Joseph Smith, sent me
from Nauvoo to St. Louis to procure a stock of
paper. I went down upon a steamboat; was
six days on the way, during which time I was
severely attacked with bilious fever. The day
I made my purchase the fever was so high I
was scarcely sensible of what I was doing.
As soon as I made my purchase and got my
freight on board, I took my berth and lay there
until I arrived at Nauvoo on the .
I was confined to my bed forty days, and pass-
ed through the most severe fit of sickness I
ever endured; my life was despaired of by
many of my friends. I was administered to
by Prest. Smith and the Twelve: my life was
preserved by the power of God. I took a re-
lapse twice after I began to recover; once
while in council with the Presidency and
Twelve; my strength left me, my breath stop-
ped, and I felt as though I was struck with
death.
. — At five o'clock p.m., I left Boston on the express train for Portland.
While passing through Chesterwoods, six
miles south of Kennebunk, after dark, and
while going at full speed, we struck one of
the rails which some persons had raised by
rolling a log under it, and landed in a pile;
three cars were filled with passengers, and
their lives were saved by having a long train
of freight between the passenger cars and the
engine; all of them were mashed to pieces; the
engineer was killed, some of the passengers
had bones broken; I escaped unhurt.
On the , while with the
camp of Israel building up Winter Quarters,
on the west side of the Missouri river, (then
Indian country) I passed through one of the
most painful and serious misfortunes of my
life. I took my axe and went two and a half
miles on to the bluffs to cut some shingle tim-
ber to cover my cabin; I was accompanied by
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two men. While the third tree was falling,
which was an oak, over two feet in diameter,
I stepped behind it some ten feet, and also to
one side the same distance, where I thought I
would be entirely out of danger; but when the
tree fell, there being a crook in the body of it,
which struck a knoll on the ground, the whole
body shot endwise back of the stump and
bounded, and the butt of the tree struck me on
the breast and knocked me several feet into
the air against a standing oak, and the falling
tree followed me in its bound and caught me
against the standing tree, and I came down
between them; before reaching the earth, how-
ever, I was liberated from them, and struck
the ground upon my feet in a badly bruised con-
dition. My left thigh, the whole length of it,
and my hip and left arm were much bruised;
my breast bone and three ribs on my left side
were broken; my lungs, vitals and left side
were also bruised in a shocking manner. After
the accident I sat upon a log until Mr. John Garrison went a quarter of a mile to get
my horse. Notwithstanding I was so badly
hurt, I mounted my horse, and rode two and a
half miles over a very rough road, dismount-
ing twice in consequence of miry places; my
breast and vitals were so badly torn to pieces,
that at each step of the horse the pain went
through me like an arrow. I continued on
horseback until I arrived at Turkey creek, on
the north side of Winter Quarters. I then be-
came exhausted, and was taken off my horse
and carried to my wagon in a chair. I was
met in the street by Prests. Brigham Young, H. C. Kimball and W. Richards and others,
who assisted in carrying me to my family.
Before laying me upon my bed, the Presidency laid hands upon me, rebuked my suffering and
distress in the name of the Lord, and said I
should live and not die. I was then laid upon
my bed in my wagon, and as the Apostles pro-
phesied upon my head, so it came to pass. I
employed no physician on this occasion, but
was administered to by the Elders of Israel
and nursed by my wife. I lay upon my bed
unable to move until my breast bone began to
knit together, which commenced on the ninth
day. I began to walk about in twenty days;
in thirty days from the time I was hurt I again
commenced to do hard labor.
. — While on a mission to the
Eastern States, I drove my carriage, contain-
ing myself and family into the door yard of
br. James Williams in Iowa, to camp for the
night. I tied my mules to a large oak tree
several rods from the carriage. As we were
about to lay down in the carriage for the night,
I was strongly impressed to go and move my
mules from the oak tree, and also to move my
carriage. I followed the dictates of the Spirit,
and removed my mules to a small hickory
grove, also moved my carriage several rods,
and retired to rest.
In a short time a heavy rain storm came on,
which broke the tree near the ground, and
laid it prostrate where my carriage had stood.
As it was, the top struck the hind end of the
carriage; the tree was two feet in diameter.
Thus, by obeying the whisperings of the Spirit,
myself and family were preserved.
On the , while assist-
ing to remove an ox that had died from poison
and had been skinned, I inoculated my arm
with poison, and mortification ensued. The
poison worked through my system for seven
days before it showed itself outwardly. On
the my arm began to swell, was in great
pain and showed signs of mortification. I
showed it to Prest. Young, who advised me to
cleanse my stomach immediately, and put on
onion poultices, and anything that would draw
the poison from my system into my arm, which
counsel I immediately put in execution. The
was another trying day to my life; the
poison had so thoroughly penetrated my whole
system, that my strength left me; I could not
stand, I was led to my bed, my bowels and
stomach ceased to act, my speech was like
that of a drunken man. Prest. Young called,
in company with Dr. Sprague, and laid hands
upon me, and rebuked the disease and the
