Miraculous Escape from Wagon Accident on Sangamon River Slope

While traveling down a steep slope toward the Sangamon River, Lewis Barney was thrown from the wagon tongue and became tangled in the harness beneath the wagon. The startled horses ran at full speed down the hill. Miraculously, when the horses straddled a tree, the tree stripped away all the harness but Lewis passed through without being 'literally smashed to pieces.' He escaped unhurt except for a slight cut on the head. Lewis could only attribute his preservation to the direct intervention of Providence in what should have been a fatal accident.