David Patten Casts Out Evil Spirit and Restores Man to Reason

While David Patten was traveling through Avon, Ohio with Brother Cahoon in March 1833, preaching at Father Bosley's house, there was a man present 'who had disturbed several of our meetings, and would not be civil or quiet; he had defied any man to put him out of the house or make him be still.' Feeling stirred up in the Spirit, David Patten told the man to be quiet, or he would certainly put him out. The man scoffed, declaring 'I could not do it.' David replied: 'In the name of the Lord I will do it.' Patten then 'walked up to him, and seizing him by the neck with one hand and by the seat of the breeches with my other hand, I carried him to the door, and threw him about ten feet on to a pile of wood.' This dramatic removal of the disruptive man from the meeting had a profound effect. As David himself recorded: 'From this circumstance the saying went out that David Patten had cast out one Devil, soul and body.' While this account uses colorful language reflecting the understanding of that time period, it demonstrates how David's willingness to act in the power of priesthood authority brought order and disrupted an evil influence that was preventing the Saints from worshipping in peace.