Elder John Crawford's spiritual warning to avoid train wreck
Published October 5, 2026 at 6:19 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
Elder John Crawford, while laboring in Edinburgh, felt a strong impression to send a group of Saints on the 'Waverly route' instead of the usual Caledonian Railway route to Liverpool. He followed this prompting despite concerns about departing from established customs. The next morning, the Caledonian train that the Saints would have traveled on was reported wrecked, with many people severely injured.
In Their Own Words
“I had some of the Saints to send to Liverpool from here. We usually send them by the Caledonian Railway, but that day I felt impressed to send them over the Waverly route. I had some fears about departing from the established custom, but could not have peace in my feelings until I had decided to do so, and take the blame if there was any. So I went down to the station to find out if I could get the same rates, and finding that I could, I sent them on by this route. Next morning it was reported in the newspapers that the Caledonian train upon which the Saints would have traveled had they gone on that line had been wrecked, and a great many severely hurt. I saw in this another evidence of the goodness of God to His people.”
— John Crawford, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 45, No. 43
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 22 October 1883 (Vol. 45, No. 43). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1883-10-22_45_43 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, 22 October 1883, Vol. 45, No. 43, p. 686 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1883-10-22_45_43
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