New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-06-02
" THE SMITER of FIELD MToE.v
KIDDING PARKS AND CEMETERIES OF PESTS
AN EXPERT WHO DESTROYS SMALL ANIMArs
BY THoUsANDs-HIs METHODS AND THE
RESULTS OF HIS WORK. S

AN EXPERT WHO DESTROYS SMALL ANIMALS
BY THoUsaNDs-HIs METHODS AND THE
RESULTS OF HIS WORK.
In these times when the cry goes up on every
hand that all callings overrrowded IL seems
likely that there should be a who hiss monopoly
OF particular occupation, yet Frederick wegner IL
such person His business Is the trapping Of
moies and other out-Ofdoor enemies to beautiful lawns
and gardens He was until two years ago employed
IN Greenwood Cemetery at his specially but having
rid the place Of tho pests does work for any
who Is willing to pay for his services He has within
the last two years been employed 10 clear woodlawn
Cemetery, part Of Central Park the estate of William
Rockefeller near TarrytOwn. and those Of A. Fl. King
and H. L. Hoyt Of the Victoria Hotel, at Great Mock
L. l., and cemetery Troy, OF moles and ethes
obnoxious burrowers and In every be has been
completely successful
In Central Park he was hired to work from Fifty
ninth TO Eightysocond sts and while not o mos can
be found below the latter street. above It they arc
numerous. A Tribune reporter called on this nine
teenth century Pied Piper Of Hamen. recently at ais
home. No. 30 East secohdst. Windsor Terrace. Brook
lyD, near Greenwood Cemetery and learned something
about his history and methods OF work He is Ger-
man by birth, rather small in STATURE somewhat bens
from age and much STOPPING at Ids work, and his
fare Is deeply bronzcd from the out-odoor life thas
he has led Apparently he Is over fortyv years
DID, although he is really sixty than forty five
When asked when be first went into the business Of
trapping, he said =" Why, I began when q boy When
about ten years old the country around Rocd- 4
land, Bavaria, where lived overrun with seid
mice that Il almost possible raise any crops.
Every remedy was tried. but the little pests seemed
TO increase until the farmers their wits endsf
Finally, the board OF aldermen, you would call "a
here, OF Roedland and several surrounding villages
passed laws compelling every farmer TO bring tho
bodies of forty dead mice to the council chamber evey
day, under penalty Of gilden 40 cents, for earh
failure to do The number afterward increased
to 100 and the fine TO dollar. Many did not know
how 10 catch them, and 70 paying the penalties
were glad 10 buy the mice. i got number OF Old
fashioned traps and set TO work, catching forty
fifty OF the creatures day first and gradually IN
creasinS the number TO nearly 1000 a day, made Q
good deal OF money for little fellow like myself. and
pretty tic neigbborhOod cleared Of the PESTS
Wegner came 10 this country some thirty nine years
ago. but did not engage In trapping During the was
be served four years in the l4th Infantry Regiment os
NowYork and after that went into the United states
revenue service. In 1875 he was made watchman
In Greenwood Cemetery. The place then simply
orerrun With chipmunks, molcs, field mice, snakes.
fnuskrais and skunks. The ground furrowod In
every direction By the industrious creatures, and tho
roots Of the plants eaten that Il dJcult
to keep any flowers shrubs growing about the
graves Efforts were made TO trap the beasts, but so
few caught thai thcIc was no abatement In thu
nuisance.
At this time the hero appears. Recalling bis
youthful fcsts trspper. Wegner set 10 work to
exterminate the harmful breeds It took two yearz
Of hard work but al the end of that time few
moIes field mice troubled the swsrd Of Greenwood
In this time 1852 moles fell victims TO his trap.
and nearly 1000 garden snakes cut into By
his spade. Not until 2s.OOO chipmunks had been
killed the place clear of these pests, and In the
first summer. wegner trapped $3.50 nefd mice. J
hind ~ "A lind nf Pm
Is used The mole trap is the invention of the trap
per himself n Is hollow block of wood with two
wire loops attached to q spring the inside. To-
the centre Of the block IS plug which Is tted to tho
spring IN such way that when the plug IS disturbed
tho spring dies up and In the animal eanght In tbs
wire The trap is buried exactly In the course
left by the mole, which invariably travels thgosgh
ms old hole again and Is lassoed Field nice, the traps
per said, require a quicker trap than moles-
They breed so rapidly, however, that Il seems Inn
possible 10 exteiminste them with traps, SO Wezner
ex perimented with various posOns until he learned
one that largely eaten by field mice and snakes,
but let alone by all other animals. This potion no
strewed with liberal hand, and In few months
every gone.
Chpmnnhs even more numerous than Held
mice and equally destructive to the work Of the
landscape gardeners. These little striped {,
creatures not only destroy the roots OF
plants. but honeycomb the soil with their
holes. Unlike the moleSi which ousruW luS6
beneath the surface, chipmunks dis straight down
for distance OF five sN Ieet and have a number
Of their holes connected IA year wegner trapped
"a 900 Of thesc rodents but they Continued %
multiply, h. tried various kinds OF poison untl a
which they relIsl,ed, In not many
months few Of them were lett to dspOrt themselves.
The banks OF the lakes OF GeenwOOd the
suOterancan castles Of few muSkrats, twenty four OF
n hch were captured In tho steel claws OF Wogner's
traps; seven shuuks met similar fate. Tho snakes
were dispatched either by poison or spade with q
blade a. sharp knife. Wegner has killed any
number Of snakes Ia this way, including some dan
,orous big black SNAKES, but he has never been
bitten yet.
After he had cleared Greenwood OF its colonies Of
varmints," Wogner was employed wa<rhmauy
but two years ago he Savo this up " become
a professional trapper LAS new caihns has been
ana as Is always tho case with man who has no
rivals In business, he has only TO ask his price and
Il is cheerfully paid. There are. OF course men
employed n every cemetery aud large park To uap
noios and other obnoxious animals but OF them
makes business Of Il and all Of them are so much
less successful than wegner that he does not even,
said, sneorIngly why, I caught more inol,s a.
" oodlawn in two days than all their men trapped
IN two years. | love the business. I would rather
DO out setting my traps or cutting snakes In two
There's lots OF men that would like 70 earn TO be
rappers and one of them offered me 800 last year
10 let him 90 with for fOnr months but said
no. / won't sell anybody ono OF my patent mole
poisons / use for field mice and chipmunks. Wheg
get TOO old to work he viii take all my traps and
20 into tho business. because / don't want 10 set
{ 90 out OF the family
nils each day and estimates that in the few yeaa
hat he has devoted TO trapping he has rid the worid
II nearly 100000 moleS, chipmunS, woodchuchz~
nalns, field mice and other pests.