St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1885-07-25
COVINGTON ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. JULY 25, 1885.
FOLLOWERS OF SAM PATCH.

FOLLOWERS OF SAM PATCH.
The Exploits of Men who Have Desired
to Attain Celebrity by jumping From
High Places.
The event of Monday recalls the ex-
ploits of some other daring men who
sought to obtain celebrity by jumping
or diving from high places. The most
widely know feat OF this description is
probably tnat of Sam Patch. The
famous and fatal leap of that reckless
man occurred in Rochester, ON Friday,
November 13. 1929, at two o'clock in
the afternoon. Patch had previously
attracted much public attention in West
ern New York by jumping into the
Genesee river frcm height of one
hundred feet. His desire to create a
still greater sensation and also TO OBJ
tain such pecuniary contributions as a
large and enthusiastic crowd would be
likely to make, induced him to announce
in the Rochester papers that he would
jump over the Genesee falls into the
abyss below, q distance of 125 feet. He
caused a scaffold twenty-five feet high
to be built on the brink of the falls near
the railroad station in Rochester. His
invitation to the public to witness this
attempt to perform the feat was headed
"Sam Patch's Last Jump" coupled
with the assertion, "Some things can
be done as well as other"
The -4nti-lhdsonic Inquirer, OF Roch-
ester, gave a brief notice of Sam
Patch's fatal plunge, in which it said:
.The ominous expression contained in
the reckless Patch's advertisement has
been fearfully vindicated. 1t was. in
deed. his last jump. He jumped from
staging twenty-five feet above the
brink of the falls into the abyss be-
low, from whence the body has
not yet been recovered. A variety OF
reasons are given for the fatal termi-
nation of this presumptuous feat. All
however, concur in saying that Patch,
from some cause or other, did not re-
tain the position while descending or
strike the water as he did on the former
occasion. 1t was daring and useless
exposure of human life. which, having
resulted disastrously, creates a train
of painful recollections.
During the centennial year . young
| French rope walker entertained thou
sands of persons who visited Niagara
Falls by leaping into the river two OF
three times week, from rope
stretched from bank to bank 155 feet
| above the surface of the water. A
piece of stout and very elastic rubber
was fastened to the center of his heavy
rope. and after walking out on the rope
from the rivers bank the Young French.
man would take firm hold of the free
end of the rubber band and spring
downward. He retained his hold oil
| the band until it had reached perhaps
| twenty-five feet. and then letting go he
would shoot, feet foremost, like an ar.
row into the river. The feat was re-
peated more than a dozen times, and
| the performer was IN nowise injured.
The attempts of Prof" Robert Don.
aldson. young Scotchman. to jump
from the East River bridge in 1882, at.
tracted much attention. Mr.. Donald.
son first appeared on the unfinished
bridge on MAY IL of that year, attired
in ii ghts, and prepared to leap into the
river below. He gave up the idea on
that day in consequence of strong gale
which was blowing up the river He
publicly announced that he would try a
second time to make the leap, but the
custodians of the bridge kept careful
watch of the New York and Brooklyn
| approaches and allowed no one to &C
upon the structure. Donaldson at
tempted to ascend the spiral staircase al
the side of the great stone pier on the
Brooklyn side in the guise of work.
man, on Wednesday, May 81, 1882, but
he was recognized and stopped. A third
attempt to get on the bridge was made
by Donaldson on July 10, but had to be
abandoned because a portion of the
planking of the footpath had been tenn
porarily removed.
| John ID. Brumley, a painter. of No.
402 East Forty-eighth Street, this city,
while intoxicated. on Sunday morning,
June 4, 1882, made a wager for tht
drinks" with some of his companion:
that he would jump off High bridge
He walked to the central arch of the
bridge, and, after divesting himself O
his coat and shoes, he sprang from tht
structure. In his descent he turned
two somersaults, and struck the water
feet foremost. He was taken out of tn,
river unconscious, but subsequently re
covered. The distance from the top o
the bridge to the water where Brumley
jumped is 145 feet.
A young Englishman named T. P
Donaldson dived from the roof of shet
on the pier of the National STEAMSHIP
line. at the footiof West Houston Street
on September l, 1888. The distanc'
from the top of the shed to the rive
was thirty-five feet. The feat was wit
messed by large number of persons
The diver was not injured.-N !
Times.
| Sanitary Item