“When Joseph came to Kirtland his fame spread far and wide. There was a woman living in the town of Hiran, forty miles from Kirtland, who had a crooked arm, which she had not been able to use for a long period. She persuaded her husband, whose name was Johnson, to take her to Kirtland to get her arm healed.
“I saw them as they passed my house on their way. She went to Joseph and requested him to heal her. Joseph asked her if she believed the Lord was able to make him an instrument in healing her arm. She said she believed the Lord was able to heal her arm.
“Joseph put her off till the next morning, when he met her at Brother Whitney’s house. There were eight persons present, one a Methodist preacher, and one a doctor. Joseph took her by the hand, prayed in silence a moment pronounced her arm whole, in the name of Jesus Christ, and turned and left the room.
“The preacher asked her if her arm was whole, and she straightened it out and replied, ‘It is as good as the other.’ The question was then asked if it would remain whole. Joseph hearing this, answered and said: ‘It is as good as the other, and as liable to accident as the other.’
“The doctor who witnessed this miracle came to my house the next morning and related the circumstance to me. He attempted to account for it by his false philosophy, saying that Joseph took her by the hand, and seemed to be in prayer, and pronounced her arm whole in the name of Jesus Christ, which excited her and started perspiration, and that relaxed the cords of her arm.”
Philo Dibble in Faith Promoting Series #8, “Early Scenes in Church History,” p. 79.