Wilford Woodruff and Companions Warned by the Spirit to Refuse a Stranger's Ride Near Newburgh (1834)
Published October 4, 2026 at 4:51 AM
Contributed by
Times and Seasons Research
While traveling from New Portage to Newburgh on April 18, 1834, Wilford Woodruff, Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, and Zebedee Coltrin were flagged down in the dark by a man who asked to ride. Woodruff and the others were 'checked by the spirit' and refused. The man was quickly joined by two others who followed them, swearing at them, but they escaped harm through the Lord's providence.
In Their Own Words
“On the 18th of April, I left Kirtland in company with Elder Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, and Zebedee Coltrin, for New Portage, to attend a conference. We dined with W. W. Williams, in Newburgh, and continuing our journey, after dark we were halted by a man who desired to ride. We were checked by the spirit, and refused. He professed to be sick, but in a few minutes we were joined by two others, who followed us hard, and were swearing, but we were successful in escaping their hands, through the providence of the Lord, and stayed that night in a tavern without harm.”
— Wilford Woodruff, Leaves from My Journal
Sources & References
Times and Seasons (Commerce, later Nauvoo, Illinois, November 1839–February 1846), 15 December 1845 (Vol. 6, No. 19). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1845-12-15_6_19 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: Leaves from My Journal, Chapter 2, Millennial Star, Vol. 43, No. 39 (September 26, 1881), p. 613 https://archive.org/details/millennialstar431881/page/613/mode/1up
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