, 1889-04-03
a a~PoRTsmAN,e TscP4a ;,
Mr.. Won der wcttern's Collection of Deer
Horns, Guns, Etc

Mr.. Won der Wcttern's Collection of Deer
Horns, Guns, Etc
Mr.. w. Won der Wettern, Sr., who re-
sides at No. 413 West Saratoga street, is
one of the best posted sportsmen in Bal
timore. He was originally n forester in
Germany. The rifle is his choice gun,
and, while he is fond of small game
shooting, large game has been his favor
lite sport. That he is a master hand at
rifle shooting a case of twenty gold med
ais attests.
Like all ardent sportsmen Mr.. Won der
Wettern 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 800 pair, and are val
ued at over 1 10000. They were all beau
tifully mounted by Mr.. Won der Wet
tern, and, as he keeps them for his own
pleasure, the immense amount of work
which he has spent on them has been a
source of pleasure.
On reaching the fourth floor of Mr..
Won der Wettern's dwelling the visitor
finds himself confronted by n passage,
the walls of which are studded with
mounted horns, under which are a lot of
cages filed with song birds. The horns
are of all kinds and so arranged above
and about the cage as to remind the
locker on of n rose bush with its thorns
guarding the roses. In two rooms lead
ing from the passage are neatly and sys-
tematically arranged nearly 300 pairs of
horns. The mounting is artistic. Each
pair is a true pair, being attached by the
frontal hnna If tho animal 10 ~hfrh thn-
belonged. By the means of screws pass
ing through this bone the horns are at
tached 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, 30
that they may be easily handled.
There are horns that would have been
the pride of old hunters in the days when
rifles were loaded from horns and
pouches; horns that would adorn the
halls of a 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, 1t would be hard to
find n 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.
Mr.. Won der Wettern has not as yet
c~atalogued his collection Of horns, but
on each pair he has attached a ticket
which bears the name of the a~nimalfrom
which the horns were taken. The most
striking of the horns are those of the
elk. One pair of these came from an
Oregon elk, and attached to the horns is
n portion of the skull of the animal,
neatly fitted into a life sized head carved
from wood. The horns are nearly as tall
as a man, and it 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 q Montana elk, though con-
tanning but twelve prongs, weighs thirty
six pounds. The lightest pair weighs
eighteen pounds. Deer horns from diff
ferent species of deer naturally form the
larger part of the collection. The finest
specimen is from a black tailed deer
killed in Colorado. 1t 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,
the colors ranging from light brown to a
seal brown and black, the tips of all
being polished white. The largest of the
collection has fourteen prongs.
Mr.. Won der Wettern's firearms are all
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 10. Some of them are
combination guns for shot and ball. One
fowling piece has two sets of barrels of
different caliber which fit the same stock.
A handsome leather case sheathes a col
lection of his hunting knives.-Baltimore
Sun.