President Joseph F. Smith's Deliverance from the Drunken Mob in Los Angeles

While traveling by mail wagon from San Francisco to San Bernardino in 1857, then nineteen-year-old Joseph F. Smith encountered a group of drunken men near a ranch in Los Angeles who were on their way to San Bernardino to kill "Mormons." After the mail carrier and his companion fled, Joseph F. Smith approached the campfire and was confronted by a desperado who asked if he was a "Mormon." Smith courageously answered, "Yes, siree; dyed in the wool." The desperado's arms dropped as if paralyzed, and he responded in a subdued voice, "Well, you are the pleasantest man I ever met," before leaving.

In other accounts, Smith clarified that the desperado's response included the invitation, "Shake, young fellow, I am glad to see a man that stands up for his convictions." Smith also noted that he had initially thought about fleeing like the other members of his party who had sought shelter in the brush, but ultimately decided that he should not run.

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

I dared not run, though I trembled for fear which I dared not show. I therefore walked right up to the camp fire, and arrived there just a minute or two before the drunken desperado, who came directly toward me, and, swinging his revolver in my face, with an oath cried out: 'Are you a Mormon?' I looked him steadily in the eye and answered: 'Yes, siree; dyed in the wool; true blue, through and through.' The effect of this answer was instantaneous. The man's arms dropped as if paralyzed, his revolver fell to his side, and his face changed from a look of murderous hate to one of admiration. He said: 'Well, you are the pleasantest man I ever met! Shake, young fellow, I am glad to see a man that stands up for his convictions.'