Approaching De Witt, Caroll County, Missouri, about fifty miles from Far West, as he was holding back his horse, while descending a hill, his foot slipped and he fell from his carriage. The wheels passed over his arm, inflicting a serious injury, and he was again detained. In DeWitt there was a number of Saints who had purchased land and settled there, and Elder Taylor stayed at the house of a Brother Humphreys. It was while at DeWitt that he had his first experience with mobs. It was late in the summer of 1938 when he arrived there, and the persecutions which were to terminate in the expulsion of the Saints from Missouri were just beginning. The mob that first came upon the Saints at DeWitt, was led by two alleged ministers of the gospel, Sashiel Woods and Abbot Hancock. "This was the first mob I had ever seen," remarks Elder Taylor, "and the whole affair was new to me, especially when I considered the kind of officers they had. I had heretofore looked upon gospel ministers as messengers of peace; here they came not only in a war-like capacity, but as the leaders of an armed mob--a gang of marauders and free-booters, with the avowed object of driving peaceful citizens--men, women and children--from their homes." It would appear that while Elder Taylor did not believe in fighting for slight infringements of his rights, he did believe to the fullest extent in self-defense; and the ease with which he adapted himself to the new circumstances in which he was placed, exhibited the character of the man. "I had no arms," he continues in his account of this affair at DeWitt, "and heretofore considered that I needed none in a Christian civilized land; but I found I had been laboring under a mistake. The civilization here was of a very low order, and the Christianity of a very questionable character. I therefore threw off the sling and bandages from my lame arm, suppressed my repugnance to fighting, borrowed a gun, bought a brace of pistols, and prepared myself at least for defensive measures." There were twenty four of the brethren, and about one hundred and fifty of the mob. The little band, nothing daunted at the superior forces of the enemy, organized under a captain and prepared for the onset. "These _reverend_ gentlemen," says Elder Taylor's narrative, "concluded that it was best to have a parley, and by a little strategy throw us off our guard. Having captured a stray Saint, they sent by him a message informing us that they would like three or four of our leaders to come and treat with them. To this we returned answer that they had come in the capacity of banditti, to interfere with our rights when in the peaceful prosecution of our daily avocations; that we could have no confidence in men occupying so questionable a position; that their _ruse_ to divide us would not work; and though inferior to them in numbers, if they attempted to molest us, we should protect ourselves as best we could."