John P. Hayes's Prophetic Warning to Samuel Peters

About 1851, in Breachwood Green, Hertfordshire, Elder John P. Hayes was preaching under an ash tree when a publican named Samuel Peters, who despised the LDS faith, hired a man named Henry Thrussell to strike the preacher. When Thrussell approached, the Elder rebuked the intent and prophesied that judgment would overtake Peters, predicting that he would soon come to want, his family would suffer sickness, and he would die in poverty forsaken by friends. The events occurred as predicted: the wife died, the family suffered sickness, and Peters eventually lost his property, became dissipated, and died alone in a small outbuilding. Henry Thrussell later testified that he could not bring himself to strike the Elder and witnessed the fulfillment of the prophecy.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 45, No. 3, January 15, 1883, pp. 44-45):

About the year 1851, Elder John P. Hayes was preaching the Gospel under an ash tree at Breachwood Green, Hertfordshire. A publican named Samuel Peters, who was a bitter enemy to the truth, and who had often tried to disturb the meetings, hired a man named Henry Thrussell to go and strike the preacher. Thrussell, who was a man of some physical power, approached the Elder with the intention of carrying out his instructions. The speaker paused in his remarks on seeing him approach in such an aggressive style, and reaching out his hand to him, he said, 'Well, my good man, what do you want?' Disarmed by the friendly greeting, the bully hesitated about replying, when the Elder continued: 'Did some one send you here to disturb this meeting?' 'Yes, sir!' the fellow answered, still hesitating about executing the errand. 'Was it the publican yonder?' asked the Elder, pointing to the men at the tavern door watching the proceedings. Receiving an affirmative reply, he then continued: 'I am sorry, very sorry, for his sake! You go and tell that man that judgment will soon overtake him. Though he is now prosperous, he shall soon come to want. Though his family is now healthy, sickness and death shall enter his house; his children shall die, and he shall himself die in poverty, forsaken by his friends!' The intended assailant turned upon his heel without accomplishing what he was sent for, and the meeting proceeded without further interruption. Soon after the prediction was uttered sickness came into the Peters family, and the wife, one of the first, died. The husband became dissipated and neglected his business and squandered his property. Financial ruin soon followed and his friends deserted him. After dragging out a miserable existence he finally died, forsaken and alone, in a little outbuilding. Henry Thrussell, who is still living, often relates this incident, and testifies that he could not bring himself to strike the Elder, and that he witnessed the literal fulfillment of the prophecy.