Levi Hancock Shot Point-Blank in the Chest — God Destroys the Power of the Bullet

One day in Nauvoo, Mosiah Lyman Hancock witnessed one of the most striking miracles of his father's life. He recorded it in his autobiography:

'Father had a great deal of opposition in Nauvoo. One day as father and I were walking down Water Street, and we came within twenty feet of the Mansion, an east window raised up, and Francis M. Higbee took deliberate aim with a rifle, and shot father in the left breast. I was walking on father's right side, and I saw the shot fired, and heard the thud as the bullet struck, but father stopped and picked up the bullet from the ground, and reaching it toward heaven with his right hand, said, "I thank thee, O God the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, that thou didst destroy the power of this bullet." As soon as the shot was fired, the window was shut down.'

Mosiah heard the thud of the bullet striking his father's chest, yet Levi was unharmed. The bullet was found on the ground. Mosiah noted that 'father had been shot at many times by the mobbers and apostates.'

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

Father had a great deal of opposition in Nauvoo. One day as father and I were walking down Water Street, and we came within twenty feet of the Mansion, an east window raised up, and Francis M. Higbee took deliberate aim with a rifle, and shot father in the left breast. I was walking on father's right side, and I saw the shot fired, and heard the thud as the bullet struck, but father stopped and picked up the bullet from the ground, and reaching it toward heaven with his right hand, said, "I thank thee, O God the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, that thou didst destroy the power of this bullet." As soon as the shot was fired, the window was shut down. Father had been shot at many times by the mobbers and apostates, but he always said that they could not kill him until his work was done.