Divine Protection of Emigrant Saints in a Railroad Collision at Evanston
Published October 5, 2026 at 1:45 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
An emigrant train carrying Latter-day Saints from Liverpool via the Minnesota was involved in a collision with an express train near Evanston, Wyoming, on October 27, 1869. An engine driver on the express line, seeing a collision was inevitable due to the grade, heroically detached his locomotive and drove it toward the emigrant train to break the shock, an act credited with preventing greater loss of life. Despite the accident, it is noted that the season's emigration had been remarkably blessed with immunity from accidents and serious sickness.
In Their Own Words
“Excepting this untoward event, the emigration the present season has been remarkably blessed by the Almighty, and has experienced an extraordinary immunity from accidents, death, or serious sickness, both on land and on sea. But the people of the United States generally are so cdmpletely reckless of life that the wonder is that the gathering Saints have passed through with so few casualties as they have. We tender our heartfelt sympathy to the wounded and to the friends of the dead in the above accident, while there is great cause for thankfulness that it was no worse. The driver of the express engine was a hero. — Millennial Star 31:47”
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 17 November 1869 (Vol. 31, No. 47). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1869-11-17_31_47 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high)
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