Testimonies for the Church Volume 1 - A New You Ministry

sleep some that night. The car was full, and we passed back into the next, and therefound seats. I did not, as usual when traveling in the night, lay off my bonnet, but heldmy carpetbag in my hand, as if waiting for something. We both spoke of our singularfeelings.The train had run about three miles from Jackson when its motion became veryviolent, jerking backward and forward, and finally stopping. I opened the window, andsaw one car raised nearly upon end. I heard agonizing groans, and there was greatconfusion. The engine had been thrown from the track; but the car we were in wason the track, and was separated about one hundred feet from those before it. Thebaggage car was not much damaged, and our large trunk of books was uninjured. Thesecond-class car was crushed, and the pieces, with the passengers, were thrown on bothsides of the track. The car in which we tried to get a seat was much broken, and oneend was raised upon the heap of ruins. The coupling did not break, but the car we werein was unfastened from the one before it, as if an angel had separated them. Four werekilled or mortally wounded, and many were much injured. We could but feel that Godhad sent an angel to preserve our lives.We returned to Jackson, and the next day took the train for Wisconsin. Our visit tothat state was blessed of God. Souls were converted as the result of our efforts. TheLord strengthened me to endure the tedious journey.August 29, 1854, another responsibility was added to our family in the birth ofWillie. About this time the first number of the paper falsely called The Messenger ofTruth was received. Those who slandered us through that paper had been reproved fortheir faults and errors. They would not bear reproof, and in a secret manner at first,afterward more openly, used their influence against us. This we could have borne, butsome of those who should have stood by us were influenced by these wicked persons.Some whom we95