Sarah D. Rich's deliverance from a mob by an unseen influence
Published October 5, 2026 at 2:56 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
While Sarah D. Rich was living in Missouri, three or four mob members armed with swords, pistols, and bowie-knives entered her house and demanded to know her husband's whereabouts. When she refused to betray him, they threatened to blow out her brains, and subsequently threatened to set fire to the house, but were prevented by an unseen influence.
In Their Own Words
“At one time in the State of Missouri, three or four of a mob came into my house, armed with swords, pistols and bowie-knives, and demanded to know where my husband was, and when I refused to betray him into their hands they threatened to blow out my brains, but finding I would not comply, they threatened to set fire to the house, but were prevented by some unseen influence. They then left me, and I was left in peace for a time, but the mob spirit was so prevalent that we were in constant fear of our lives.”
— Sarah D. Rich, Autobiography
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 3 July 1876 (Vol. 38, No. 27). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1876-07-03_38_27 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: Women's Voices: An Untold History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830–1890, edited by Kenneth W. Godfrey, Audrey M. Godfrey, and Jill Mulvay Derr (Deseret Book, 1982), 102. https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/record/622a8107-7a9c-4e88-908d-b8be7e21adfd/0?view=browse
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