On November 13, 1829, thousands of people stood by the falls that flow into the Genesee River. Excitement rushed through the crowd as they awaited America’s first daredevil, Sam Patch, who would attempt to jump High Falls for the second time. And it wasn’t any day in November — it was Friday the 13th.
For the superstitious, the day is already considered unlucky, but it was even unluckier for Sam Patch, who died at age 22 after that ‘final jump’ here in Rochester. After multiple times jumping falls from Hoboken to Niagara, Patch tempted his fate in the Genesee River at our very own High Falls not just once, but twice in less than a week’s time.
“All the reports I’ve seen is that he wobbled on his way down,” said Rochester Historical Society Librarian Bill Keeler. Patch’s wobble was theorized to be from overdrinking the night before.
According to volume two of “The Gem,” a Rochester journal from 1830, “he had perfect command of himself while in the air, and had he not been given to habits of intoxication, he might have astonished the world, perhaps for years, with the greatest feats ever performed by man.”
During a time when there was no social media, football games or even calling a friend on the phone, many resorted to entertainment such as watching daredevil acts. On November 13, 1829, just one week after his first jump in Rochester, Patch planned to jump one final time, increasing the height of the jump to 125 feet by building a 25-foot platform. (The first jump on November 6 hadn’t raised enough money; even after he pushed his pet bear into the falls before he jumped himself.) But this time was more than just an exit from his career.
“Sam apparently lost his balance — struck the water in a sideling manner — and disappeared to rise no more! Such a shocking result had a strong effect on the immense crowd. After waiting in breathless anxiety for sometime, the multitude dispersed with feelings, which can be better imagined than described. The corpse is not yet found,” reported the “Rochester Daily” the following day.
Because Patch took his final jump without returning to the top, some wondered whether he was still alive or not. The following spring, Patch’s frozen body was found, the black handkerchief he wore when he jumped High Falls still intact. He was buried in Charlotte Cemetery, with a long-gone plaque that read, “Here lies Sam Patch – Such is Fame.”
Today, Sam Patch’s legacy lives on through namesake boat tours on the Erie Canal through Corn Hill Navigation (no falls are attempted on these tours). One of the original founders, Ted Curtis, wanted to tie in Rochester history in the boat name.
“[Curtis] worked with a bunch of local philanthropists to raise the money to build the original Sam Patch in 1990 and he was set on calling it Sam Patch,” said Corn Hill Waterfront and Navigation Foundation Executive Director Patrick Russell-Walsh. “I think it was a particular quirk of Rochester’s history that he loved and wanted to see it live on in a boat.”
Michala Schram is a contributor to CITY.
This article appears in Oct 1-31, 2024.
