LIVERPOOL, Sun., April 9.

An extraordinary accident which befell Mr. Evan Roberts on Thursday afternoon has until now been kept private, by the evangelist’s own request, but, the need for privacy having passed away, the story may as well be told. Well, on Thursday Mr. Roberts was, by his own desire, taken out to West Kirby by the Rev. J. Williams, and they visited a well-known medical gentleman, Dr. M’Affee, who takes great interest in evangelistic mission work in the Liverpool districts, and after a while the doctor drove Mr. Roberts and Mr. Williams out to Hilbry Island, a small island at the mouth of the Dee.

But I am forestalling my version of the affair. The only tenant of the island, Captain Lewis Jones, keeper of the telegraph station there, had driven over during low water, and called at the doctor’s house. The doctor in his trap joined the captain with the other trap, and both of them having spirited “fresh” horses, the journey to the island was undertaken.

Mr. Roberts was with the doctor, and the Rev. John Williams with Mr. Lewis Jones. The island was reached in safety, and so thoroughly had the evangelist enjoyed the two-mile ride that he was in high spirits on their arrival at the house of the “king” as Captain Lewis Jones is locally called. Mrs. Jones was away on a visit to her father, but Mr. Roberts was given a cordial welcome by the “king” himself, and when everything had been seen arrangements were made for the journey home to West Kirby. It was suggested that Mr. Evan Roberts should ride back in the “king’s” trap, while the Rev. J. Williams rode with the doctor, and almost immediately after this had been decided upon, and the occupants got into the vehicles, the horse attached to the trap in which Mr. Evan Roberts sat got restive and galloped for the cliff, which is steep and high, and only a few hundred yards away from the spot. Indeed, the whole island is only three and a quarter miles long by half a mile wide, and this only at its widest part.

The Rev. John Williams declares that when he saw the horse bolting he said to himself, “Well, here’s a struggle between Jesus Christ and the devil,” and for a wonder he kept cool, although he saw that if the horse was not stopped the evangelist must go over the cliff, and he fancied he saw the happening. Mr. Lewis Jones, however, held the reins well, and deliberately swerved the runaway horse so as to bring it against the side of an empty coal cart that was standing between them and the sea. A collision occurred, of course, and the trap was smashed, and Evan Roberts thrown out on his side. Then the horse attached to the coal cart got restive and, and seemed to be trampling on Evan Roberts, and the wheel of the cart went over his left leg. The doctor and Captain Lewis Jones promptly raised Mr. Roberts and placed him to lie on some planks close by. The doctor began to examine him, and was fairly well satisfied that he was not fatally injured; at all events, when Mr. Evan Roberts opened his eyes, smiled, and said, “Ah, it is only another of his (Satan’s) old tricks, but he has failed again.” He was then taken to Dr. M’Affee’s house, and fearing the re-action after the shock, the doctor suggested that he had better not go to the Crescent Chapel that evening, but Mr. Evan Roberts said he must go.

The Rev. J. Williams remarked that the physician said “No.” “But the Great Physician says I am to go,” declared Evan Roberts, and he went. The doctor accompanied them to the meeting, and no one else in the great meeting besides the doctor and Mr. Williams knew that the evangelist, who swayed the multitude in that glorious service, had that afternoon been in a serious accident, and had had a miraculous escape from death.

[These remaining chapters are availible on the CD-ROM which can be purchased shortly]

Remarks By Rev. W. O. Jones
The Welsh Free Church
Another Visit To Bootle
A Dramatic Interruption
Rowdiest Scene of All
Mr. Evan Roberts’s Health
Seven Hundred Converts
The Departure
A Surprise Visit
At Festiniog
Revival Reaches India