A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS.
Arms and Legs Broken.--Injury to Breast Bone and
Ribs.--Drowned.--Frozen.--Scalded.--Other Escapes.--Life Preserved by a
Merciful Providence.
The journal of Wilford Woodruff contains a chapter which he designates
as a "chapter of accidents." It is given thus early in his biography as
it reveals the purposes of an overruling Providence whose mercies and
guiding powers are remarkably manifested throughout a long and arduous
career. He himself regarded his escapes from death as an evidence of a
destructive power that sought to thwart that special mission in life
so wonderfully revealed in the subsequent chapters of this biography.
His life throughout discloses a constant struggle against obstacles
which he had to overcome. They are manifested in every degree of
difficulty, and to less courageous natures many of them would have been
insurmountable.
There are in his words which describe the misfortunes that overtook him
no traces of envy, discouragement or despair. That others were born to
an easier life did not awaken within him a spirit of envy or doubt. To
his mind the joys or sorrows of this world were all subordinate to the
will of an overruling Providence. While he did not complain, he did
not ascribe his difficulties or dangers to fate. He was never so much
concerned about the difficulty in surmounting an obstacle as he was
about his ability through the goodness of God to do so. "Evidently," he
says, "I have been numbered with those who are apparently the marked
victims of misfortunes. It has seemed to me at times as though some
invisible power were watching my footsteps in search of an opportunity
to destroy my life. I, therefore, ascribe my preservation on earth to
the watchcare of a merciful Providence, whose hand has been stretched
out to rescue me from death when I was in the presence of the most
threatening dangers. Some of these dangers from which I so narrowly
escaped I shall here briefly describe:
"When three years of age, I fell into a caldron of scalding water
and although instantly rescued, I was so badly burned {6} that it
was nine months before I was thought to be out of the danger of
fatal consequences. My fifth and sixth years were interwoven with
many accidents. On a certain day, in company with my elder brothers,
I entered the barn, and chose the top of a hay mow for a place of
diversion. We had not been there long before I fell from the great beam
upon my face on the bare floor. I was severely hurt, but recovered in a
short time, and was again at play.
"One Saturday evening, with my brothers Azmon and Thompson, while
playing in the chamber of my father's house, contrary to his
instructions, I made a misstep and fell to the bottom of the stairs,
breaking one of my arms in the fall. So much for disobedience. I
suffered intensely, but soon recovered, feeling that whatever I
suffered in the future, it would not be for disobedience to parents.
The Lord has commanded children to obey their parents; and Paul says,
'This is the first commandment with promise.'
"It was only a short time after this that I narrowly escaped with my
life. My father owned a number of horned cattle, among which was a
surly bull. One evening I was feeding pumpkins to the cattle, and the
bull leaving his own took the pumpkin I had given to a cow which I
called mine. I was incensed at the selfishness of this male beast, and
promptly picked up the pumpkin he had left, to give it to the cow. No
sooner had I got it in my arms than the bull came plunging toward me
with great fury. I ran down the hill with all my might, the bull at my
heels. My father, seeing the danger I was in, called to me to throw
down the pumpkin, but (forgetting to be obedient) I held on, and as
the bull was approaching me with the fierceness of a tiger, I made a
misstep and fell flat upon the ground. The pumpkin rolled out of my
arms, the bull leaped over me, ran his horns into the pumpkin and tore
it to pieces. Undoubtedly he would have done the same thing to me if I
had not fallen to the ground. This escape, like all others, I attribute
to the mercy and goodness of God.
"During the same year, while visiting at my Uncle Eldad Woodruff's, I
fell from a porch across some timber, and broke my other arm.
"Not many months passed by before I was called to endure {7} a still
greater misfortune. My father owned a saw mill in addition to his flour
mill, and one morning, in company with several other boys, I went into
the saw mill and got upon the headlock of the carriage to ride, not
anticipating any danger; but before I was aware of it my leg was caught
between the headlock and the fender post and broken in two. I was taken
to the house, and lay nine hours before my bones were replaced. That
time was spent in severe pain; but being young, my bones soon knitted
together, and in a few weeks I was upon my feet as usual, attending to
the sports of youth. During this confinement my brother Thompson was my
companion. He was suffering from typhus fever.
"Shortly after this, upon a dark night, I was kicked in the abdomen by
an ox; but being too close to the animal to receive the full force of
the blow, I was more frightened than hurt.
"It was not long before I made my first effort at loading hay. I was
very young, but thought I had loaded it all right. When on the way to
the barn, the wheel of the wagon struck a rock, and off went the hay. I
fell to the ground with the load on top of me; this was soon removed,
and aside from a little smothering I was unhurt.
"When eight years of age, I accompanied my father, with several others
in a one-horse wagon, about three miles from home, to attend to some
work. On the way the horse became frightened, ran down a hill, and
turned over the wagon, with us in it. We were in danger, but were again
saved by the hand of Providence. None of us were injured.
"One day I climbed an elm tree to procure some bark; while about
fifteen feet from the ground, the limb upon which I stood, being dry,
broke, and I fell to the ground upon my back. The accident apparently
knocked the breath out of my body. A cousin ran to the house and told
my parents that I was dead, but before my friends reached me I revived,
rose to my feet, and met them on the way.
"When twelve years old I was nearly drowned in Farmington River. I sank
in thirty feet of water, and was miraculously saved by a young man
named Bacon. The restoration to life caused me great suffering.
"At thirteen years of age, while passing through Farmington {8}
meadows, in the depths of winter, in a blinding snowstorm, 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 saw me,
and, realizing the danger I was in, hastened to where I was. Before he
arrived at the spot I had fallen asleep, and was almost unconscious. He
had much difficulty in arousing me to a sense of my critical condition,
and promptly had me conveyed to my father's house, where, 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 almost through my foot. I suffered intensely from this injury, and
my foot was nine months in getting well.
"When fifteen years old I was bitten in the hand by a mad dog in the
last stages of hydrophobia. However, he did not draw blood, and through
the mercy and power of God I was again preserved from an awful death.
"At the age of seventeen I met with an accident which caused me
much suffering, and came nearly ending my life. I was riding a very
ill-tempered horse, which, while going down a very steep, rocky hill,
suddenly leaped from the road and ran down the steepest part of the
hill, going at full speed amid the thickest of the rocks. At the same
time, he commenced kicking, and was about to land me over his head
among the rocks, but I lodged on the top of his head, and grabbed
each of his ears with my hands, expecting every moment to be dashed
to pieces against the rocks. While in this position, sitting astride
the horse's neck, with neither bridle nor other means of guiding him
except his ears, he plunged down the hill among the rocks with great
fury, until he struck a rock nearly breast high, which threw him to
the earth. I went over his head, landing squarely upon my feet almost
one rod in front of the horse. Alighting upon my feet was probably the
means of saving my life; for if I had struck the ground upon any other
part of my body, it would probably have killed me instantly. As it was,
one of my legs was broken in two places, and both my ankles put out
of place in a shocking manner. The horse almost rolled over me in his
struggles to get up. My uncle saw me, and came to my assistance. I was
carried to his house in an armchair. I lay from 2 o'clock {9} in the
afternoon until 10 o'clock at night without medical aid and in great
pain, when my father arrived with Dr. Swift, of Farmington. The doctor
set my bones, boxed up my limbs, and that night conveyed me eight
miles in his carriage to my father's house. I had good attention, and
although my sufferings were great, in eight weeks I was out upon my
crutches, and was soon restored to a sound condition.
"In 1827, while managing a flour mill for Aunt Wheeler, in Avon, Conn.,
I was standing upon one of the wheels, clearing away the ice. A man,
not knowing I was in that position, hoisted the gate and turned upon
the wheel a full head of water. The wheel started at once, my foot
slipped, and I was plunged head foremost over the rim of the wheel
into about three feet of water. My weight had drawn my legs out of the
wheel, or I would have been drawn under a shaft and crushed to death.
"In 1831, while in charge of a flour mill at Collinsville, Conn., I
was standing upon one of the arms inside of a breast-wheel twenty feet
in diameter, clearing off the ice. A full head of water was turned
on suddenly. The wheel started instantly. I dropped my ax and leaped
about twenty feet to the bottom of the wheel. As I struck the bottom,
I rolled out against a rugged stone, with only two feet of clearance
between the stone and the wheel. The latter caught me and rolled me
out into the water below, where I found myself, much frightened, but
thankful to Providence that no bones were broken.
"The day that I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints--December 31, 1833--my horse, with newly calked
shoes, kicked the hat off my head. If he had struck two inches lower,
doubtless he would have killed me instantly. Ten minutes later, while
driving the same horse and another hitched to a sled with loose boards
on the bottom and no box, the boards slipped forward under the pole
and struck the ground. This at once threw the boards up endwise, and
pitched me forward between the horses. I held on the lines; the horses,
frightened, ran down the hill, dragging me under the sled behind them.
The road, however, was smooth, and I escaped without injury.
"In 1834, while traveling in Zion's Camp to Missouri, a rifle was
discharged accidentally. The ball passed through three {10} tents with
a dozen men in each, and lodged in the axletree of a wagon, without
injury to anyone; it passed within a few inches of my breast. Many
others escaped quite as providentially as I did.
"A few months later a musket, heavily loaded with buckshot, and pointed
directly at my breast, was snapped accidentally; but it missed fire,
and again the Lord preserved my life.
"In April, 1839, in Rochester, Ills., I was riding upon the
running-gear of a wagon. I sat upon the front axletree. The bolt
came out of the coupling-pole, separating the wheels, the front from
the rear; and my weight upon the front bolster and tongue turned the
coupling-pole over on the horses' backs, turned the stakes upside down,
which shut me between the bolster and tongue, but in such a manner that
my head and shoulders dragged upon the ground. The horses took fright
and ran into an open prairie. They dragged me for about half a mile,
and notwithstanding my awkward position I managed to guide them so as
to run them into the corner of a high worm-fence, where we landed in
a pile together. I was considerable bruised, but escaped without any
broken bones, and after one day's rest was able to attend to my labors
again.
"On the 15th day of October, 1846, 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 ax and went two and a half
miles upon the bluff to cut some shingle timber to cover my cabin. I
was accompanied by two men. While felling the third tree, I stepped
back of it some eight feet, where I thought I was entirely out of
danger. There was, however, a crook in the tree, which, when the
tree fell, struck a knoll and caused the tree to bound endwise back
of the stump. As it bounded backwards, the butt end of the tree hit
me in the breast, and knocked me back and above the ground several
feet, against a standing oak. The falling tree followed me in its
bounds and severely crushed me against the standing tree. I fell to
the ground, alighting upon my feet. My left thigh and hip were badly
bruised, also my left arm; my breastbone and three ribs on my left side
were broken. I was bruised about my lungs, vitals and left side in a
serious manner. After the accident {11} I sat upon a log while Mr. John
Garrison went a quarter of a mile and got my horse. Notwithstanding
I was so badly hurt, I had to mount my horse and ride two and a half
miles over an exceedingly rough road. On account of severe pain I had
to dismount twice on my way home. My breast and vitals were so badly
injured that at each step of the horse 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 was then exhausted, and was taken
off the horse and carried in a chair to my wagon. I was met in the
street by Presidents Brigham Young. Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards,
and others, who assisted in carrying me to the wagon. Before placing
me upon my bed they laid hands upon me, and in the name of the Lord
rebuked the pain and distress, and said that I should live, and not
die. I was then laid upon my bed in the wagon, as my cabin was not yet
done. As the apostles prophesied upon my head, so it came to pass; I
did not die. I employed no physician, 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 on the ninth day. In
about twenty days I began to walk, and in thirty days from the time I
was hurt. I returned to my laborious employment.
"I have not now a lame limb about me, notwithstanding it all. I have
been able to endure the hardest kind of manual labor, exposures,
hardships, and journeys. I have walked forty, fifty, and, on one
occasion, sixty miles in a single day. The only inconvenience I am
now conscious of is that if I overwork, or take a severe cold, I feel
it more sensibly in my breast and left side than I did before my last
injury. I have given considerable space in recounting the foregoing
peculiar circumstances which I have experienced in life. A summary of
what is here given may be briefly stated thus: I have broken both legs,
one of them in two places; both arms, both ankles, my breastbone, and
three ribs; I have been scalded, frozen, and drowned; I have been in
two water wheels while turning under a full head; I have passed through
a score of other hairbreadth escapes. The repeated deliverances from
all these remarkable dangers I ascribe to the mercies of my Heavenly
Father. In recalling them to mind I always feel impressed to render the
gratitude of my heart, with {12} thanksgiving and joy, to the Lord.
I pray that the remainder of my days may pass in His service, in the
building up of His kingdom."
When one stops to reflect upon the character of the accidents and the
manner of escape, he is impressed by the thought that they came along
as part of the remarkable incidents of his life. They are marvels
to be sure, but the whole life of Wilford Woodruff is a marvel. He
was on the spot when the danger arrived. He never seems to have been
disconcerted by it. He was so serene in his faith that he always had
an assurance that all would end well, and he, consequently, is never
found in a complainly mood, even when undergoing the severest pain. His
patience, therefore, was a powerful factor in bringing to his life a
large measure of confidence in the ultimate goodness of an overruling
Providence.
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