The sun., 1918-07-28
GUSTAV K0BBE
KILLED IN BOAT
BY NAVYPhANE
Art Critic Hit by Wing of
Machine While Sailing on
Great South Bay.
WIND CAUSES COLLISION
Student Aviator Says He Did
Not Feel Crash or Know
1t Happened.
WIND CAUSES COLLISION

staff. widely known throughout the
country for his art and music criticisms
md other writings. met death on Great
South Bay off Babylon, l.. l., yesterday
afternoon in a freak accident that was
partly of the air and partly of the
water and not entirely Of either-a
head on collision between a navy hydro
arplane and catboat.
Mr.. Kobbe was in the sailboat. For
q half hour he had had the bay to him
self when the hydroairplane. piloted by
a student aviator whose name is with
held pending a Coroner's investigation.
settled on the water within a hundred
feet of him.
The catboat was to the windward.
and Mr.. Kobbe, luffing her. abandoned
himself to an inspection Of his new
neishbor. It was plain the aviator had
not quit the air for the day. He was
busy about his engine for few min
utes. Then the propeller began to turn
again and the machine surged forward.
swerved by Wind.
When the plane started Mr.. Kobbe
and the catboat were we'll out OF its
course. There was a sudden swerve.
however, as the pilot headed into the
wind and the machine went skipping
over the surface Of the bay.
Lifting free finally the plane circled
UP to the clouds and the, pilot-did not
know until he had been signalled to
descend that he had left behind him
the wreck of small boat with a dead
man aboard. He had not seen the
crash coming. had not felt it and had
not known what happened. he said.
until he was told about it ashore.
But from the observation tower Of
the United States Naval Training Sta
ton at Brightwaters, between Baby
lon and Bay Shore. a watcher had
caught the whole swift tragedy through
his telescope. He had seen the hydro
airplane on turning upwind dash
straight toward the sail boat. He had
seen the single mast Of the boat
snapped short at the contact of the
body Of the plane. which was travel
ling sixty miles an hour. and had seen
Mr.. Kobbe struck down by one Of the
wings as he rose to dive overheard.
Kobbe Found Dead.
Tho observer sent a naval launch to
the rescue. Its crew found Mr.. Kobbe
dead in the bottom of his boat. The
wing OF the plane had struck him on
the forehead. fracturing his skull. and he
had died quickly. The body was taken
10 the naval station and was held there
until Coroner Edwin +. Moore came to
take charge OF it Moore questioned
the aviator and the observer. but he has
set no time for the inquest.
Mr.. Kobbe who was 62 years old.
had been spending the summer at
Brightwaters with his daughter Mrs.
J. H. Stevenson. His body, however,
was taken to the home Of another
daughter, Mrs. Gerald v. Hollins. A
third daughter, Mrs. Raymond D. Little
lives across the street from Mrs. Hollins
at Brightwaters. and there is a fourth
daughter. Miss Carolyn Kobbe, who is
connected with the census bureau Of the
Naval Reserve. One son also survives
George NJ w. Kobbe of Garden City.
Funeral services will be held to-mor-
roT al ST. Marks Church here.
William August Kobbe, Mr.. Kobbe's
father. was native of Idstein, near
Wiesbaden. in the Duchy Of Nassau.
and for many years represented the
Du'Ay here as Consul General.
Mr.. Kobbes mother was Miss Sarah
Lord Sistare of New London, Conn. Her
family was prominent in New England.
she being a descendant OF Gabriel Sis
tdre whose ship on voyage from Ha-
vana TO Cadz was wrecked on New
London in the eighteenth century.
sketch of His Career.
Gustav Kobbe studied at Weisbaden
after completing his elementary educa-
tion In this city, where he was born
on March 4, 1857. Upon his return to
this country he entered Columbia, re-
celvins his A. B. degree in 1877 and
A. NJ. In 1879. in which year also he
Teceiyed his Ill. B. from Columbia law
school. He already had embarked upon
a journalistic career when in 1882 he
married Miss Carolyn Wheeler. daugh-
ter Of George Minor Wheeler Of Scars
dale, N. Y. At that time he was one Of
the editors of the Musical Review, and
during 1881 and 1882 he also was a
member of the staff OF THE SUN.
In 1882 Mr. Kobbs was sent by the
World to Beyreuth TO record the pro-
duction of "Parsifal." It was at that
time that Mr. Kobbe gained the inti-
mate insight into the musical life OF
Germany that marked his subsequent
writings on the subject Just after his
return from Germany Mr.. Kobbe Joined
the staff Of the New York HeraId, writ
ing on music, art and the drama, not
only for that newspaper but for the
leading magazines
Frequently he swept out of the field
Contt,,ed IN, FtSfh paos