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Source: Church History Vol. 1 Chapter 17 Page: 466 (~1834)

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466 torrents, and, united, it seemed as if the mandate of vengeance had gone forth from the God of battles to protect his servants from the destruction of their enemies; for the hail fell on them, and not on us, and we suffered no harm except the blowing down of some of our tents and getting some wet, while our enemies had holes made in their hats and otherwise received damage, even the breaking of their rifle stocks, and the fleeing of their horses through fear and pain.

"Many of my little band sheltered in an old meetinghouse through this night, and in the morning the water in Big Fishing River was about forty feet deep, where the previous evening it was no more than to our ankles, and our enemies swore that the water rose thirty feet in thirty minutes in the Little Fishing River.

"Friday the 20th. We went five miles on the prairie to procure food for ourselves and horses, and establish ourselves for the moment in some secure place where we could defend ourselves from the rage of our enemies; and while in this situation, on Saturday the 21st, Colonel Sconce, with two other leading men from Ray County, came to see us, desiring to know what our intentions were; for, said he, 'I see that there is an almighty power that protects this people, for I started from Richmond, Ray County, with a company of armed men, having a full determination to destroy you, but was kept back by the storm, and was not able to reach you.' When he entered our camp he was seized with such a trembling that he was obliged to sit down to compose himself; and when he had made known his object of their visit, I arose, and addressing them, gave a relation of the sufferings of the saints in Jackson County, and also of our persecution generally, and what we had suffered by our enemies for our religion, and that we had come one thousand miles to assist our brethren, to bring them clothing, etc., and to reinstate them upon their own lands; and that we had no intention to molest or injure any people, but only to administer to the wants of our afflicted friends; and that the evil reports circulated about us were false, and gotten up by our enemies to procure our destruction. When I had closed a lengthy speech, the spirit of which melted them into compassion,

(page 466)

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