Jabez Woodard Divinely Protected from Mob Attack in Italy

While conducting missionary work in Pinerolo, Italy, in 1853, Elder Jabez Woodard was targeted by a mob. As he attempted to return to a house at night, he realized he was being pursued. He managed to evade the mob by slipping away in the darkness, and although the mob threw a volley of stones that passed just over his head and struck the house, he escaped unharmed and remained unobserved while passing close to the mob members.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

I have been in Pinerolo, and have had a narrow escape from a mob. I was returning to the house where I reside, about ten o'clock at night, and as I turned the corner of a street, I heard the footsteps of several persons behind me. I walked fast, and they did the same. I turned into a narrow passage, and they followed. I then turned into a garden, and they lost sight of me for a moment. Finding they had lost sight of me, they threw a volley of stones, which struck the wall of the house, and I suppose thinking that I was in the garden, they rushed in, and then, striking the trellis of vines, one of the stones rattled through the foliage just over my bare head. A brother and sister came out to seek me, fearing that I had been killed or wounded, but at that moment I passed unobserved almost close to the threshold of the house where a band of men were waiting with cudgels to the tune of the Devil’s music. I immediately guessed their intention, but before I could enter the garden several stones struck right and left, and I glided away under the shade of the night. I have since learned that they were waiting for me at the house, and had been there for some time, and that they had been drinking to prepare themselves for the work of the night. I feel to thank my Heavenly Father for my preservation, and I pray that He will continue to protect me in my labors in this land.