Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1879 — SAM PATCH. [ARTICLE]

SAM PATCH.

Bis Last Leap, as Described by an Eye Witness. [Rochester (N. Y.) Cor. Chicago Inter-Ocean.] Sam Patch, as he was familiarly called, was a native of Paterson, N. J., the son of “poor but honest parents,” and for some years lived there alone with his widowed mother. He is said by some persons to have been a lazy, shiftless and dissipated fellow, but I was assured by an old and reputable merchant of the place, a few years ago, who knew Sam well, that this was not so. The same gentleman kindly took me to the place where he made bis first leap into tile Passaic river, of some eighty or ninety feet, and which he repeated several times. During the summer of 1829 Patch went to Niagara falls and made one or two successful leaps into the seething waters below. In October of the same year he came to Rochester and gave out that he would leap from a small island above the upper falls. This was the last of October, and was an occasion that called together more people than Rochester ever saw before. Fully 50,000 were on hand to witness, for the first time, a daring feat that no other man had ever attempted in this country. On this occasion I took my stand below the falls, close to the water’s edge, and nearly under the projecting rock from which he was to jump. Promptly at the hour announced, Sam made his appearance on the spot and was greeted with cheers and a tiger such as any human might be proud of. After surveying the vast assemblage for a moment, he removed his outside garments and tied a red bandana arourfd his waist. Soon he waved a farewell to the people on all sides, which no doubt sent a chill through many a bosom, and, with arms extended, leaped into the waters below. I shall never forget the sensation as I looked up and saw him coming down. Just as he reached the water he brought his arms to his side, and went in without a ripple upon the surface. In an instant he reappeared and swam ashore, with no injury, save a slight bruise on his shin against a sunken tree. He was taken upon the shoulders of some present, and carried up the bank, where he received the hearty congratulations of all the vast, admiring crowd. On the 9th of November following lie madt? another and his last leap, this time from an elevated platform 25 feet high, making the whole distance of the leap 125 feet. It was a chilly, unpleasant day, with some ice in the river, and, to protect himself from the cold, he drank rather too freely of brandy, as we noticed in following him close on to the island, from which he was destined never to return. He ascended the place of leaping with apparent easo and coolness, and, after looking out upon the sea of heads for a moment, he as, before, removed all his garments except pants and shirt, and, tying the bandana again around his body, he motioned to all a last farewell, and walked off to almost instant death. He struck the water on his breast, and as it closed over him we felt sure that for him this was the “last of earth.” Diligent seai-ch was at once made for his body, but all in vain. Early the next spring, however, it was found floating at the mouth of the river at Charlotte, with the handkerchief still on. His remains were decently interred in the village cemetery.