Wilford Woodruff's miraculous escape from a falling oak tree

On October 5, 1846, at Winter Quarters, Wilford Woodruff was engaged in cutting timber near the bluffs. As a tree he had been chopping began to fall, he retreated to what he believed was a safe distance—approximately ten feet away and to one side. However, the tree possessed a crook in its trunk; as it fell, this irregularity struck a knoll on the ground, causing the entire tree to bounce endways off the stump. The butt of the tree struck Woodruff in the chest with such force that it knocked him into the air, pinning him violently against another stump. The impact resulted in a broken breastbone, three broken ribs, and severe internal injuries. Woodruff survived the immediate trauma, but his condition was grave. Refusing to employ a physician, he relied upon the nursing care of his wife and the administration of the Priesthood. He was laid in his wagon, where Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards administered to him, rebuking his suffering and commanding him to live in the name of the Lord. As they prophesied over his head, Woodruff was restored to health, later testifying that the promise of the Elders came to pass exactly as they had spoken.

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

On the 5th of October, 1846, I was engaged in cutting timber near the bluffs, at Winter Quarters. I had a large oak tree to cut down, and I had been chopping at it for some time. I stepped behind it some ten feet, and also to one side the same distance, where I thought I would be entirely out of danger; but when the tree fell, there being a crook in the body of it, which struck a knoll on the ground, the whole tree shot endways off the stump and bounded, and the butt of the tree struck me on the breast and knocked me into the air, and I fell against another stump. My breast bone and three ribs on my left side were broken. I was taken to my wagon, and my wife and others did what they could for me. I would not have a physician, but I sent for President Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Willard Richards. They came and laid hands upon me, rebuked my suffering and distress in the name of the Lord, and said I should live and not die. I was then laid upon my bed in my wagon, and as the Elders prophesied upon my head, so it came to pass. I was soon restored to health, and was able to attend to my business.