Divine deliverance of Elders Morgan and Smith from a train wreck
Published October 5, 2026 at 9:45 PM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
After a trip to the San Luis Valley and Bluff City, Elders Morgan and Smith (and their wives) missed their connection for the Denver and Rio Grande Railway at Santa Fe. They were compelled to lay over, and later learned that the train they had missed had collided with a freight train in Albuquerque, resulting in injuries and fatalities. The narrator acknowledges this as the hand of the Lord.
Fuller account of this event (the complete account as preserved in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 46, No. 47, 24 November 1884, p. 747):
Elders John Morgan and Smith, with their wives, were recently traveling from the San Luis Valley and Bluff City, and on arriving at Santa Fe, they missed their connection for the Denver and Rio Grande Railway. They were compelled to lay over, and subsequently learned that the train they had missed had collided with a freight train at Albuquerque, resulting in a number of injuries and some fatalities. The hand of the Lord is clearly visible in this preservation of His servants.
In Their Own Words
“At Albuquerque we were compelled to lay over. At first we felt disappointed, as our appointments had been forwarded by mail; but we did soon understand, that the train we had missed come into collision with a freight train at Albuquerque, with a loss of life and broken limbs. We acknowledge the hand of the kind Providence in this. — Millennial Star 46:47”
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 24 November 1884 (Vol. 46, No. 47). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1884-11-24_46_47 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Complete account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 46, No. 47, 24 November 1884, p. 747 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1884-11-24_46_47
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