175 years ago today - Sep 16, 1840

[Wilford Woodruff] ... Mr John Simons the Rector of the Church in Dymock manifested much of the Spirit of the Devil by stiring up mobs against the Saints which had disturbed the meetings of the Saints in several instances, & on this occasion as we began to gather together the beat of drums pails pans & Sticks was herd through the street, & the mob soon Collected & Parraded in the streets in front of the house. We Closed the window shutters & doors in the room whare we ware, & I opened meeting by Singing & Prayer & no sooner had we Commenced than the mob armed themselves with eggs, Bricks, rocks, & evry thing els they could lay their hands upon & began to throw them upon the house like a shower of hail Stones for nearly an hour. They dashed in the windows scatterd Stones, Brick, & glass, through the rooms, broke the tile on the rooff & continued such depredations untill the close of the meeting.

And the Brethren feeling disposed to try what virtue their was in the English laws which were strict against such procedings I proposed to accompanied them to go into the midst of the mob to see who they were that there might be testimony against them. But they would not permit me to go with them lest I should receive an injury from the shower of stones. But several of the Brethren went themselvfs into the midst of the mob & took the name of the leaders & returned to the house in the midst of Stones, & Brick bats, though without Injury. The mob soon broke up & after Clearing our rooms of brick, stones & glass we lay down & had a good nights rest. ....

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]