Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-03-21
A SPORTSMAN'S TROPHIES.
NIT. Vol. der Wcttern's Collection of Deer
 Horns, Guns, Etc.

Horns. Guns, Etc.
 MT. W. Von der Wettern. Sr.. who re- sides at No. 413 West s.sratoga street, IS one of the best posted #ports.nen ia Bal timorc. lie was cli in2llT a forester in Germany. The riile |; lis choice gun. and, while he is foad of small game shooting, large game has been his favor ita sport. That h., is 9 master hand at rifle shooting q case of twenty gold med als GttestS.
 Like al ardent sport$ncn AIr. Von der Ncttern has preserved many trophies of the chase. his collection of deer and other horns being one of the finest, if not the finest, in this country. The horns number over 3No pair, and are val ued at over 1000. They were all beau tifully mounted by Nr. Non der Wet tern, and, as he keeps them for his own pleasure, the immense amount of work which he has spent un then, has been q source of pleasure.
 On reaching the foEr..s floor of Mr. Won dcr Wettern's dwelling the visitor finds himself confronted by passage, the walls of which are studded with mounted horns, under which are a lot of ClStS l!Iitti W It'll biA 1iiC IlOIIiS are of ell kinds and 50 arranged above and about the cages as to remind the locker on Of a rose bush with it's thorns guarding the roses. h two rooms lead ing from the passage arc neatly and sys- temat;cally arranged nearly 300 pairs of horns The mounting is artistic. Each pair is a true pair being attached by the frontal bone of the animal to which they belonged. By the means of screws pass ing thrc;igh this bone the horns are at- tuchcd to the shield shaped wooden panels, the size of the panels being in conformity with the horns. The panels are attached to the walls by hooks, so that they may be easily handled.
 There are horns ti.;lt would have been tine pride of old hunters il the days when rifles were loaded from horns and pouches; horns that would adorn the halls of q mansion: horns that the dude would give up his last dollar for, so that his cane and umbrella handle might be the envy of his fellow chappies; horns, big and little. straight and crooked, of normal and abnormal growth, from for eign shores and different parts of Ameri- ca, some with and some without a his tory; some that would make corkscrews, some that would make gimlets, some that would make boat hooks and others that would make baseball bats and bat tie axes. In fact, it would be hard to find a moro varied or beautiful collection | Besides the horns the sanctum contains a collection of pipes and canes of rare | designs, gathered from different parts of | the world.
 Mir. Von der Wettern has not as yet catalogucd his collection of horns, but on each pair he has attached a ticket which bears the name of the animal from which the horns were taken. The most l striking of the horns are those of the elk. One pair of these came from an l Oregon elk, and attached to the horns is | a portion of the skull of the animal, neatly fitted into life sized head carved from wood. The horns are nearly as tall as a man. and ii takes a lengthy pair of arms to be able to span the distance be- tween the top pronGs. One horn contains nine and the other seven prongs Another pair from a Montana elk. though con- aiming but twelve pronSs. weighs thirty six pounds. The lightest pair weighs eighteen pounds. Deer horns from diff fCrcnt species of deer naturally form the larger part of the collection. The finest specimen is from a black tailed deer killed in Colorado. It has fifteen prongs. The others range down to one prong. Among the deer horns those of the Ger man noble deer are the most beautiful tho co!ors ranging from light brown to q seal brown and black, the tips of al being polished white. The largest of the collection has fourteen prongs.
 fIr. Von der Wettern's firearms are al ] adapted to the sport to which he is de , voted. Besides a regular target rifle, he has a case of guns of foreign and domes tic patterns, generally of smaller bores from 12 down to 16. Some of them arc combination guns for shot and ball. One fowling piece has two sets of barrels o1 different caliber which fit the same stock X handsome leather case sheathes a col
 lection of his hunting knives.-Baltimort Sun.