On November 13th (Friday the Thirteenth) 1829, Sam Patch died. Sam Patch was a “Jumper”. He could easily jump over fences and piles of stuff when he was a kid. Later, he became famous for jumping off of things into water. He would do shows and jump off a mast of a ship, or off a bridge or waterfall. His highest jump was over 130 feet into a river. It is still hard to track down fact from fiction about Sam Patch.
I have several books with Sam Patch. The first time I heard of Sam Patch was in the book “Paul Bunyan and other Tales” by Irwin Shapero, published in 1958. I remember reading this when I was in grade school.
The book has four stories, the last one called “Sam Patch’s Last Leap. The book goes into the history of Sam Patch, and then his fateful last jump. Sam was the first person to jump off of the Horseshoe Falls at Niagara in 1929. Here is one illustration of Sam Patch jumping.
I have another interesting book called “Sam Patch” by Arna Bontemps and Jack Conroy, published 1958. The full title is “Sam Patch the High and Wide Hansome Jumper”.
This book while giving more facts about Sam Patch, the authors also admit to some “tall tales”.
There are plenty of great illustrations with the story. One was highlighting when Sam was six months old, and he jumped out of his mom’s arms into a wash tub full of suds.
Growing up, Sam would jump over everything.
Another great illustration is when the authors wanted to show how tall a ladder was that Sam Patch was climbing. The two pages were printed sideways, so you had to move the book over, and read down as Sam Patch was climbing up the ladder. Quite a dramatic look when you turn to those pages and have to read the book differently. A smooth and effective printing choice.
All good things come to an end. After Sam Patch jumped at Niagara Falls, he was offered to jump the Genesee Falls in Rochester, New York. He built a ladder at the top of the falls to make the jump about 125 feet. 7,000 to 8,000 people paid to see the event. It was a cold day that November Friday the 13th. Some say that he blacked out after he jumped, and that he fell to his death. It took days for his body to be found.
He is buried at the local cemetary in Rochester. For years there was a wooden marker that said “Here lies Sam Patch. Such is Fame”
Fame is fleeting when you fall. Thanks for flipping through this folktale of feasible yet fantastical facts.
*Sam Patch
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