Wilford Woodruff's Spirit-Directed Escape from a Steamer Fire

While returning from Boston to the West with a company of approximately one hundred Saints, Wilford Woodruff arrived at Pittsburg at dusk. He was anxious to continue the journey to St. Louis immediately. Woodruff spotted a steamer preparing for departure and inquired of the captain, who confirmed he had three hundred and fifty passengers but could accommodate another hundred. Woodruff was about to secure passage for his group when he felt the Spirit prompt him: 'Don't go aboard that steamer, you nor your company.' Having learned to heed the still, small voice, Woodruff obeyed and decided to wait until the next morning. Within thirty minutes of the vessel's departure that night, it caught fire. Because the steamer used ropes instead of metal wheel chains, the crew could not bring the ship to shore, and in the darkness, all souls on board perished. Woodruff later noted that had he not followed this spiritual monitor, he and his entire company—including individuals such as Atwood, who later served as Bishop of the Thirteenth Ward, Leonard W. Hardy, who served in the Presiding Bishopric, and Samuel Hardy—would have died in the disaster.