St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-10-13
JUMPING SAM PATCH.


rhe interesting Reminlscsasss q - o.
Patterson Farmer.
Agrizzled old farmer named Wilham
r. Brown was in AiddletOwn. N. II,
the other day. and fell to giving REM
iniscenscs Of Paterson rs he remem-
bered the place sixty years ago. Il
was born on Manhattan Island" he
said. '.when all the upper part was
nothing but farm lands, and went to
work in o co:ton-spinning factory In
Paterson as sweeper and errand boy
when ! was eleven years old. Pater-
son wo q small place then. and the
factory was small affair. too. but one
OF the owners was Sam Patch. who ATT
erward became famous as high jump
er. ! saw him make his first big jump
at Passaic falls. =
1.-The story Of the jump is this: Sam
Patch and q man named Brannigan
were partners In the factory and they
failed in business. Sam was . Capl
Cod man By birth. and had been q
sailor from boy up till he came 70
Paterson. He was . daring and reck-
less fellow and could swim 9ike duck.
II is said that while he was sailor he
often exhibited his skill and darsug 0y
jumping from the high masts OF shsps
into the sea. After the failure Sam
Patch hung around Paterson with
nothing to do until he got pretty hard
up. Then. i suppose. the thought 90
CURED TO him that he could make .
raise by jumping Oh the rocks ss
Passaic falls. So notice was given
that at a certain day and hour Sam
Patch would jump OF the chn
at the falls into the river below, . dis
lance OF about eighty feet. for > purss
of fifty dollars. made up by some OF the
sports Of the town. Hsw people b.
lieved that he would nal1o The jump.
but there was q big crowd On hand -
see 1t all the same.
''Sam came to the falls stripped -
his undershirt and drawers. He showe4
no fear or nervousness. but his lace
was flushed. as / thought. BY drink.
He took q couple Of small stones in his
hands and went to the brink OF the
cli6 and dropped them OF ons after
the other. and watched where they
struck the water down below. Then
he walked back few yard and turned
and took . little run to the brink OF
the cliff and jumped on. clearing the
rocks about ten feet He went down
feet first, but with his body inclining
considerably to one side, and in this
shape he struck the water and disap-
peared. A few seconds later his head
bobbed up ut . point down stream. and
he began padding for thSshore. Then
he crowd gave him . big cheer.
l1a<1n At the Passaic falls
was eo011red . marvellous feat in
those days. and made him famous the
country over. So he took to jump
ing for money from the masts Of ships
and from bridges and other high placess
and went about the country giving
exhibitions. Unfortunately for him.
too, he took up another practice that
soon cut his career short. didn't
see him make his last jump at the
Genessee falls at Rochester, Novem-
Der IS, 1929. but those who did see the
tragedy tell me that when he ap-
preached the brink to make the leap
Of 1s5 feet into the seething pool be-
low he was dazed and unsteady from
drink. He made the jump 90 bum
QlinQly that he struck the water fatwiso
instead OF feet first, tho concussiOn
crushing in his breast and sending his
dead body to the bottom like stone"
m 7. Times.