The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-05

must be made. at midnight. .Nocquet
had made only three asceDsions alone and
he determined TO qualify as soon as pos
sible. His balloon. too, was one of a freak
kind, and like freak automobiles it was no
good.
at had a parachute which was to be
opened when descending. This Is called
the cappaza attachment, and from what
we saw at Jones Beach this did not work.
He carried no Instruments OF any. kinu.
no barometer, no anchor and used such
Anticipated devices as pieces of newspaper
to tell whether he was going up or coming
down. He had a theory, too, that il the
wind was blowing of shore at shutdown
it woul change very soon and blow on
shore, and this theory he was anxious to
prove
"i'e proved his theory for n day. lie
YVES evidently blown out to sea and was
being sent into the shore again. He landed
about 200 feet from the surf on the sand.
According to Count de la VaulX, who GER
tainly knows all about ballooning, the
was not wet and dark earth scattered be-
tween the surf and where it landed showed
that it was coming in from the sea and that
Nocquet was throwing out ballast.
FEARED II It'd WOULD RISE On HIM.
"He had left in the balloon four bags of
ballast and If he had thrown them out
promptly he would have risen again to
lolld OlII' lIVlV III NiI Nlkilb oot vi
Amityville, the lights Of which place must
nave been plainly visible, because it was a
clear night. Just where the balloon
landed is a slight hollow caused by dunes.
These dunes screened the lights Of the life
saving station.
About u mile t o the other side are four
summer cottages and il he had only found
the Sc he would have been all right. For
that matter. he would have been all right II he
had remained Just where he was and waited
fn- la,lirht 80 x,rtil comm lie CO var N
trolling the beach found him. He evidently
thought that he was on some Sandbar that
would, perhaps, be covered by the sea
on an incoming tide and he got frantic.
He completely lost his head and ran
about in the sand. He tore up the sand
with his hand as he ran along. This Is
clearly shown, and he did that to find out
if it was wet or dry. Fora mile his foot
steps were traced and then lost in the marsh
where the body was found.
THE accident ia a most pitiful one but
Nocquet lost his life not through any ACCT
dent of ballooning. but through losing his
mead and being INEXPERIENCED. | do not
think that it will hurt bal!ooning at ALL"
Count de la Vaulx sad he, too, thought
that the accident was due to Nooquet's in
experience and that if he had been better
equipped and kept cool he would have
been alive to-day. He said:
The parachute did not work at all.
Such contrivances usually do fail when
wanted. L QDH I tlllnR Jub dCClUtIlt VII
hurt the pastime, but this part Of the coun-
try is not at all suitable for balloon as
tensions. 1t Is too neal the ocean. A
change of wind will send the balloon out
to sea at almost any time before a descent
can be made. In my ascension on Monday
go up again from New York unless there
is a steady wind blowing in from the sea.
Augustus Post secuted the idea of Noe
quet being incapable of taking care of him
self if he had kept cool. He was present
when Nocquet started out from the gas
works and says that Nocquet carried only
a small bottle of light wine and a few sand
witches.
Nooouet when he made his ascension on
Tuesday afternoon kissed his hands in the
French fashion to the friends he was leav-
ing, and said, according to some of them:
Il am going to cause a sensation. / am
going to give o a surprise
just what he meant by this was only
coniectured yesterday. Some of his friends
professei to believe during the day that
he would show, up and that he had made
this remark because it was his purpose
to disappear for a day or two.
Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor, who was
q friend of Nocquet's, however, gave him
closed his studio at So East F~tfty-ninth
street. He was sure, he said, that Nocquet
would never come back to it.
THE DEAL SCULPTOR.
Nocauet was born in Brussels in 1877
and studied painting first. He took up
sculpture, and at 20 carried of the grand
prize Of Belgium. He came to this country
and became a great admirer of President
Roosevelt. Not long ago he modelled a
statuette representing Mr.. Roosevelt, in
hunting costume, holding a dead bear by
the ear, while in his right hand he lifted
up the bears cub. Nocquet offered this
statuette last month for the exhibition
Of the Society of American Artists, but it
was rejected. Nocquet took this rejection
very much TO heart. according to his friends.
He was a member Of the Aero Club Of
Paris and had made several ascensions
in France. At one time he planned
to try to cross the atlantic in a balloon,
but friends persuaded him to give up this
fantastic idea.
Nocquet was one of the four Am erican
sculptors permitted to exhibit in the Paris
Salon without having their work passed
upon by the jury of selection. In this city
he en- countered unusual hardships, and it
has been printed that a few months after he
came here he was found unconscious in his
studio from sheer starvation.
He'd say that when anything worried him
he would take the first balloon, ascend 900
feet and forget all about it. What's the
use of worrying he would add, when you
can go sailing above the clouds?"
He had pictures of many of his friends
who had made disastrous ascensions.