"Brother Patten replied: 'I have weapons that you know not of, and they are given me of God, for He gives me all the power I have.'
"The judge seemed willing to get rid of them almost upon any terms, and offered to dismiss them if their friends would pay the costs, which the brethren present freely offered to do.
"When the two were released, they mounted their horses and rode a mile to Seth Utley's; but, as soon as they had left, the court became ashamed that they had been let go so easily and the whole mob mounted their horses to follow them to Utley's.
"One of the Saints, seeing the state of affairs, rode on before the mob to notify the brethren, so that they had time to ride into the woods near by.
"They traveled along about three miles to Brother Albert Petty's, and went to bed. The night was dark, and they fell asleep.
"But Brother Patten was warned in a dream to get up and flee, as the mob would soon be there. They both arose, saddled their animals, and rode into the adjoining county.
"The house they had just left was soon surrounded by the mob, but the brethren had escaped through the mercy of God."
In that expression, referring to the Lord, "He gives me all the power I have," Apostle David W. Patten gave at once the secret and the watchword of his wonderful career.
It was probably not long after his arrival in Tennessee in the spring of 1836, that David had one of the most remarkable experiences of his life. He was making his home with Levi Taylor, the stepfather of Abraham O. Smoot, at the time and had been to Paris, some sixteen miles away, holding a meeting. Riding home in the evening, just where his road lay through a dense growth of brush, called in those parts a "barren," he suddenly became aware that a person on foot by his side was keeping pace with the mule on which he rode.
But the subjoined letter, dated at Provo, Utah, will explain the matter: