Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-11-17
NO. 276.
Miscellameous.
OVER THE FALLS TO DEATH.
THE FATAL EXPERIENCE OF FoOLHARDY
SAM PATCH RECALLED.

A merchant of this city, who saw the
descent of Sam Patch from the brink Of
the high falls of the Genesee to the water
below, in 1929, and is still in full health
and activity, hands us a copy of the Cow
ington, o., Gazette of August 2l, 1873. in
which appears an article by the editor,
Seneca w. Ely then printer in Rochester,
since an editor of the Cincinnati Gazette.
describing the great feats performed by
that daring acrobat in November, 1929,
fifty years ago, in the presence Of great
throng OF spectators. Sans first leap
was made the 9th of November, and
| Thursday of last week was the fiftieth an
| niversarv of that event, which, foolhardy
and fatal as it was, has rendered the name
of man. remarkable for nothing but dar-
ing and dissipation, all but as immortal as
that of the rash youth who fired the Ephe-
sian dome.
Same Patch leaped at once from the diz-
zy height successfully, on the 9th of No
vember, and an account of it appears in
the Daily Advertiser of the 9TH. Elated
and encouraged by his first success, he
was induced to try it again, from still
more elevated point, on the 18th of No
vember. This was his '.last jump" as
the Advertiser announced. The grave of
the man who ''amused'' four or five thou
sand persons by thus risking his lite, with
'.skin full of whisky" was for long
time marked on the west bank of the river.
Perhaps some "Old Mortality OF this day
may recover it from obscurity and retrieve
the neglect of recent times.
Most men who have lived fifty or sixty
years of busy life have come in contact
with persons deemed, in one sense or an
other, remarkable, of whom they would
like to speak to contemporaries. At all
events, we have met with many such and
perhaps the parsonage whose name graces
this paragraph is the least worthy of all
to whom we might allude. Notwithstand-
ing, he was the author of an adage. an
impressive axiom, which has grown into
a common proverb, and is not without
point when characterizlng unusual UNDER
takings ''Some things can be done as
we'll as others
Patch was of low origin, and was heard
Of first in Paterson, n. j. He was of that
hybrid species called wharf rat" and
spent his days licking sugar hogsheads.
pifering from water craft, and disporting
in the limpid Passaic, and his nights in
some snug corner or beneath the shelter
of some friendly sail. He became very
active and venturous acrobat, turning
sommersaults from yard arms and bow
spirits, and diving to the depths of the riv-
er from dizzy heights of the topmast. His
fame in this regard got into the newspa-
pers, and after the age of early manhood,
and contracted such habits as vicions and
ignorant associates would naturally pro-
duce, he set out on his travels.
The writer first saw him in Rochester in
the autumn of 1889. Sam had spent
the preceding month in the vicinity of the
falls of Niagara, and had made two success
ful attempts to ''leap the cataract as the
fact was styled. A stage was erected
some eighty feet above the surface of the
river at the foot of the precipice, and from
that Patch jumped, alighted in the foam
at the edge of the American fall. Sam
maintained large black bear as pet.
and he always took his animal on the stage
and threw him off before adventuring to
Jump himself. The bear always alighted
and swan out safely. Not so, however,
with his master.
Soon after showing that ''some things
could be done as well as others,'' at Niaga-
IA, Patch and his bear came to Rochester.
He was Hospitality received by that por-
ton of society called ''sportsmen," who
maintained a delegation then, as now, in
every large town; who take under their
especial patronage professors of the p. R..
gymnasts, wrestlers, ETC., and who may
remain the latest promoters of tour ma
tional game These disinterested gentry
lodged Sam at fashionabl restaurant,
and kept him generously supplied with the
ardent A day was set for the leap, at
the Genesee Falls, the principal of which
then was copious cascade, ninety-five feet
in height, within the corporate limits of
Rochester-the fall of which now fur
nishes water-pOwer to many mills, facto-
ries, etc, to the exhaustion, almost, of the
usual stream. Patch came on the ground
about 10 a IN. in fine spirits. leading Bruin
by chain He was received tumultuous-
" by crowd estimated at 1000 people
lining the river banks on both sides just
below the Falls. "Ihe performance
was desionedly deferred until the after
noon-the interim being occupied by Sans
patrons in passing hats and collecting
large quantities of small coin ..for the
poor fellow
eyes'' stepped boldly to the edge ofa rock
unwilling hirsute companion. BY a sud-
whrling in the air, descending to the
misty depths. which he pierced in a mo-
ment, moment longer hid from view
and thence emerged and gained the bank
with a half-drowned aspect.
Bruin having been recaught by friend
lv hand. his master prepared to follow in
his footsteps. Arrayed simply in panta-
looms. shirt, and slippers, with kerchief
of gay colors, jauntily tied on his head,
Patch bowed to his admirng beholders on
either side, and then, gracefully leaping
out from the rock, spreading his arms as
he assumed position, holding his feet to-
gether. and leaning slightly backward. he
rapidly gravitated to the waters below.
As he always graduated his place so as to
strike the edge of the fall at the end of his
descent. he was fully in sight to all from
whom the river banks did not hide him,
until entering the river below. Thus he
was seen to strike the water feet foremost.
having suddenly thrown his arms down
close to his body. He reappeared some
rods down the stream; and in such ''fine
I