The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-28 00:00:00

BULL LIGHT IN BAYONNE

BIARRITZ, MONDAY, Aug. 24.
The Etnpre3s proceeded on Sunday to Bivonne
at 3 o'clock to attend a bull-fight in the Faubourg
of St. Esprit, an the samo spot whore these spmt;
have been held for the last few yaars. •
The King of Wurtemburg, who was curious to
wi ness, for the iir>t time,. this humanising amuse-
ment so dear to Spaniards, took his seat in the bull-

ring at a quarter to 4, attended by his suite ; and
her M tjeAy the Empress, accompanied by her
sister ati:l the lades who are in ordinary
waiting upon her, was punctualto the moment, and
made her appearance in her lox precisely at 4. The
bullfiglitersonlyawaited the presence of her Maksty
to begin operations, The lillayor of St. E-prit, after
the usied preliminaries, gave the signal to the troop
(cuadrilla). Tne stall where the animals are kept
wa ting was t. trown open and the first, bell
boulder! into the arena. He gave sport the
usual time, and, after undergoing the usual pro-
cess of torture, secundum artem, to the apparent
satisfaction of tile amateurs high and low, he en-
countered the sword of the redoubtable Sdiaman-
quino, who gave him the quietus float which there
is no escape. The second animal afforded for the
satnersea .e of time a similar pleasure to the-upper
and lower hundreds, and met the same inevitable
fate as his predecessor.
The applause from the boxes, which testified to
the ability of the bullfighters, and of the matador
in particular, were scarcely hushed, when the sky
became overcast. The very moment when the
third bull was about to issue ft orn his stall a
flash of lightning shot from a pile of black cloud
which hung in the' sultry atmosphere, the distant
roar of thunder was heard, the heavy drops, an-
nouncing the presence of the storm, fell iu the
hreua, and in a few minutes the rain rushed down
with violence. The sport was at once interrupted;
but if that was the only casualty of the day there
would ucy, 133 much to lament. To escape the
" pelting of the pitiless storm,"—for thunder,
lightning, and rain threatening to come in full
career—numbers of the sp ctatora rushed to the
gil'ery or platform where tha musicians were
sta'ioned, awl which, except the reserved boxes,
was the only spot covered by an awning. The gallery
consisted merely of boards laid horizontally, with
their extreme ends resting for their only stay on
wooden posts, but with no support in the centre.
It might have borne all day w,thout accident
the 40 or 50 musicians who were st etioned there

to cheer the spirits of the spectators, but it creild not
resist the weight of the hundreds who rushed at
once .of it for shelter. It was the weakest part of
the whole stracture ; and it was, moreover, finale-
' diate'y over the spot where the mules and the
muleteers-usually employed in removing from the
arena the hoises that hive been torn and disem-
bowelled by the bulls, as well as the slaughtered
bulls themselves, are kept in atten lance. Amid the
storm and confusion, the fragile structure suddenly
give way, and the crowd that clung to it were pre-
cipitated to the ground. A cry arose from the mul-,
thud-. It was feared that several persons were
killed. The fear was exaggerated ; it is said that
one-man ()Ay was crulhed, if not to instant death, in
such A manner as to leave but little hopa of sur-
viving ; and eight or teu, according to on account,
five or six 'according to another, have either
hid limbs fractured or are severely bruised. One
of the animals underneath was killed, but he pro-
bably saved one or two human beings from the
same fate. The confusion was at its height. The
rain still rushed down, but, it did not seem to ,
ardour of the spe3tators for the bull'
fight. The manager, naturally enough thought that
the weather, not to speak of the, disaster which
just occurred and the sight of the victims, woull
dispense him from presenting the rest of the
bulls. He was never more mistaken. The con-
tinuance of the • sport" was called for as if nothing
had happenel, and enraged by the delay of the ma-
nager, the most enthusiastic of the spectators
shouted at the highest pitch of their voices, gesticu-
lated ang,-ily and swore, audstill nu bull making his
appearauv, they fell ti tearing up benches, bi e
jug down narrier.a, and breaking everything they
could lay hinds on into ple.ies. The disaster,
and the confusion which followed, was not a
spectacle of the most agreeable knd t i man
or woman. The Empress, doubtless, thought the
same. Accompanied by her ladies, site quitted her
box and re' urne I to Biarritz, not however, without
having made inquiries as to the state of the wounded,
and having received assurances that they should
be taken care of. All chance of centinuing the
"amusement," now that her Majesty honoured the
ring so longer with her presence, was, of course,
over, but the rioters still continues their uproar.
The troops i'aerfered, aud, after some delay and
difficulty, the place was cleared, and, by the joint
exertions of the civil authoriti-s and the soldiers,
tranquillity was rest red. The second bull fight,
which was to have taken place this day, has been
postponed until the Woken posts, b_nches, and
gall, ries have been restored.
Whether the Empress intends to appear again on
some future Sunday at these bull lights is not
tat ed.