FATHER SMITH
HAD POWER TO BLESS AND TO CURSE
(Note: While visiting at the home
of Sister Robert Scott, in Rock Springs, Wyoming, on October 13, 1935, Sister
Scott dictated the following incident from the diary of her father, Perrigrine
Sessions.)
“in the year 1838, when on my way
out of Missouri, near Palmyra, in company with Father Joseph Smith, the father
of the Prophet Joseph, and Carlos Smith, his brother, we encountered a heavy
storm. We halted at a farm house to buy corn and to stay all night. Father
Smith asked the owner if we could camp there and buy feed for our animals. He
asked: Are you Mormons? Father Smith answered: yes, we are. He became very
angry and said: Damn you, you can’t stay on my property, and with many
insulting words and threats we were driven out into the street. Here we stopped
and gathered together in the falling snow. Slowly Father Smith removed his hat
and with uplifted hands he prayed: In the name of the Lord whom we serve, let
that man be cursed in his basket and in his store and let his man’s name be cut
off from under heaven.” We all said, Amen.
When I came to travel this same
road two years later, this incident was brought fresh to my mind. For behold
there was nothing to mark the spot but the ruins of his home burned to ashes;
his orchard broken down; his farm a picture of desolation; his wife and three
children were burned to death in their home and he at this time was in close confinement
for the insane. I saw the power of the priesthood manifested, for at the next
farm we were received kindly and given all the comfort and assistance we needed
and father Smith left his blessing on this household as we departed. Here my
eyes beheld the fulfillment of his words to the letter as there I looked upon a
picture of prosperity and happiness. All this passed and the two neighbors were
ignorant of the curse or the blessing placed upon them as we passed on.” (N.B.
Lundwall, comp., Assorted Gems of Priceless Value [Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book, 1944], 316-17)
