Elder James H. Walton and Companion Protection from Mob Violence

“On the 15th of July, Elder Miller and I were at Fall Branch, Tennessee. We had been holding meetings there for some time, and the people were very much interested. On the evening of the 15th, we were at the home of a friend, and about 8 o'clock we started to go to another friend's house, about a mile distant. We had not gone far when we were met by a mob of about seventy-five or one hundred men. They were armed with shotguns and rifles. They ordered us to stop, and asked us who we were. We told them we were 'Mormon' elders. They then told us we had to leave the country. We told them we were willing to leave, but we wanted to go to our boarding house to get our clothes. They would not let us go, but told us to go in the opposite direction. We started to go as they directed, but they soon began to fire at us. As we started up this hill they opened fire, and soon about seventy-five or one hundred shots were fired. When about half way up the hill, I called to Brother Miller, my companion, who was possibly ten rods ahead of me, to come back to where I was. As soon as they heard this, they began shooting directly towards us. In a second, cornstalks were being scattered all around us, but we felt perfectly safe in the care of the Lord. We walked on up the hill, and they continued to fire until we were out of sight. We spent the night in the woods, and it rained nearly all night. We were in the mud and rain, but we were not harmed. The next morning we went back to the neighborhood, and the people were very much surprised to see us, as they thought we had been killed. We stayed there until we got our clothes, and then we left the place.”

— James H. Walton, Millennial Star 67:32