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

The station is one-third OF the way
from the west end Of the stretch. Three
quarters of a mile east OF 1t he found the
balloon. Then he remembered having
heard a mans voice calling from that di-
reotiou not long before.
1t was shortly after 10 o'clock when
Baldwin came upon the balloon, whlcn
lay nearly 1attened out on the sands After
searching for some time, and finding no
one, he made his way back TO the station
and aroused Capt. Stephen Austin and the
other members of the crew.
SIGNS IN THE
All hands turned out with lanterns and
made a careful search. 1t was then that
they discovered footprints leading to
tho northeast of the balloon. Some Of the
tracks were apparently those OF a man
running. Deep boot marks that had
licked up the soft sand in great guam
tity and this claw marks OF a mans out
stretched hands led directly to the marshes
to the northeast. The tracks were lost
sight OF in the soggy grass near the inlet
dividing Jones Beach from Hemlock
4 Beach, which h on the westerly end OF OAK
leland There was no sign OF n boat nav
ing put of from where the tracks ended
and, in fact, "A boat could not have been
showed over the marshes to water deep
enough to float it. The crow shouted at
the top Of their voices at intervals in the
hope that they might be answered, but
there came no response.
All hands ramped back to the balloon
and examined it. There was yet gas in
the bag,
Ga The car had been detached from the
bag and was standing upright on the beach
Just Il few feet away from the throat OF the
envelope. In the car they found an empty
quart bottle that had contained white
wine and a copy of II New York newspaper
OF Tuesday morning: A tag marked r,
Nocuuet, 80 East 5gth street" was IN the
BY the time that the members of the
life saving crew had finished their search
for the missing aeronaut and returned TO
the station it was well on toward morning.
They communicated the news OF their find
to the Fire Island station, from which
point a telegraph line runs inland to Baby
Ion. il was in this way that the news Of
the finding Of Nocquet's balloon reached
New York.
The life savers thought it best not to dis
turb the balloon in the least and did not
do so. Before returning to their station
the crew searched the entire stretch thor
oughly. At the eastern end of the beach
are three summer cottages. Two of these
belong to residents Of Amityville and the
other, a large one, is the summer home OF a
I Philadelphia perfume manufacturer, Ihlnk-
ing that the missing balloonist might have
Crawled into or under these cottages to
u v ilISf ilOih 'hN 80" NN
life savers examined the buildings thor
ougbly.
What prompted Nocquet to make for
the northeast is a mystery to the life savers.
Capt. Stephen Austin is of the opinion
that Nocquet must have become suddenly
deranged with the excitement of his flight
through darkness.
That he had been out over tho ocean
there can be no doubt. although the balloon
basket was dry. The wind blowing at the
time that the balloon struck was from the
south southwest, as it had been holding
steadily all the afternoon. From marks of
the trailing rope and basket, it appears
that the balloon had headed in from over
the open sea.
The wind at the surface often blows
from a different quarter than the WING
aloft.
+ BALLOON HAD LANDED o LoNa BEFORE.
John Reitmeier. who has a small hotel at
Wreck Lead, just back Of Long Beach, says
he saw the balloon after 8 o'clock and that
it faded away in the darkness, going in the
direction Of Woodmere, which is inland.
Conductor John Weeks and a number Of
passengers Of the Long Island Railroad
train that left Long Island City at $50
o'clock on Tuesday evening watched the
balloon from Jamaica to Rockville Centre,
at wh place the train arrived at 6:31. These
folks gazed at the balloon from the large
eide 6por Of the baggage car. Conductor
Weeks said last night that he lost sight of
NitC NV W llVi - 40 biltNNiy W M
Willie Centre and apparently not moving
n way or the other, or at least moving
very SLOWLY.
1t is positive that the balloon hadn't landed
on Jones Beach up to s o'clock, for the mar
Baldwin relieved passed the point at this
time on his final round. Another of the
patrol had occasion to go a little distance to
the east of the station shortly after g o'clock,
and he thinks that he could not have missed
seeing the balloon had it landed while he was
out Of the station.
What makes it seem likely that Nocquet
struck just before 10 o'clock is the fact that
Baldwin heard a mans cries a short time
before he came upon the balloon, Henry
Purdy, a fisherman at New Point, the east
ern extremity Of Amityville, was coming
along the shore toward the latter point at
about 10 o'clock, he says, when he heard
q mans voice from across the bay shout-
ing loud and long "Ho, no, ho!" Purdy
didn't pay any attention to this, thinking
that it was merely one of the guards signal
ling to another. 1t is o two and a half
miles across the bay from where Purdy
was to the marshes at the eastern end Of
Jones Beach.
COUNT DE LA vAULx GoE DOWN TO SEE IT.
When the news OF the finding of the bal
loon reached this city there was a great
s~currying at the Aero Club. Cortlandt
Field Bishop, the president of the club,
i. Augustus Post, the secretary, and Count
de Ia VaulX, the French %aeronaut, got into
an automobile and started for Amityvill lie.
They made a record ruin. reaching Amitv-
Vile in an hour from Long Island
City. They seemed confident that no
harm had come to the %aeronaut, even
when they arrived at the Amitvville
Inlet at noon and got aboard a sloop yacht
at the yards of Oliver Weeks. Over on the
beach Count de la Vaulx made a careful
examination of the big bag and the manner
in which it had settled on the sends.
"Nocuuet must he all right said the
count. "for this is a perfect landing. He
has settled wall and the condition OF the
valve ropes shows that he landed grace
fully" 90.
Count de la Vauly said that the car of
the balloon had been detached and stood
up on the beach near the big silk envelope
In a way that showed the work had been
done only by a b~alloonist.
The life savers told the party that they
hadn't touched the balloon and that there
had been, as far as they knew, no. person
on the beach who could have detached the
car other than Nocpust.
After experimenting the task Of rolling
up the huge silk envelope and slowing 1t
ava In the storeroom OF the life saving
station, Count de la VauiX, Mr., Bishop n
Mr.. Post made a tour of the beach and then
returned to the shore at Amityviile, II was
Q O'Clock when they reached the shore.
Mr.. Post called ont 10 a group OF reporters
waiting on the shore and asked If Nocduet
IL k@-- - - A@- IA nnpan NENn