The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-02-24
HAVANA IN CARNIVAL.
Brutal Bull.lghting and Wretehedly
Fantastic Balls.

The Carnival began on Sunday, the
Sth, and closed last night. Next Sunday
the same scenes will be enacted again, it
is said, with greater display and more
desperate gayety. A special feature of the
season has been the brutal bull-fghting.
Last Saturday the newspapers announced
that tlc great Mexican matador had at
last arrived, together with the lasso-
throwers, etc., and that they would pos
itively appear in the arena at Regia,
where eight bulls would be killed. Regia
is the Brooklyn of Havana, and ferry
crosses the bay every few minutes. In
order to finish in time for the procession,
the fight began at 2o'clock instead of 4,
as usual.
Several thousand people attended, and
the scenes of the previous Sunday were
re-enacted, except that they were
more hideous in brutality. The Mexi-
cans were very old men for such business.
Two of them must have been over fifty,
yet they were as wiry as boys and very
strong, though slight in build. Two of
the Mexicans before the fight were
mounted upon trained horses, brought
with them from their own country.
Their lariats were caught around the
horn of their saddles. In a little cub
board-like affair was youth busily cut
ting tissue paper into rOsettes to trim the
darts that are thrust into the bulls neck.
The horsemen were putting on heavy
leather overalls to protect their legs from
the horns of the bull, and were tighten
ing the saddle girths. On the other side
of heentrance to the arena were the
bull pens, where dozen fat and sleepy
fellows lay chewing their cuds.
BRUTAL SCENES AT THE BULL-FIGHT.
The fight was the same as on all occa-
sions here, except that there was less
bungling and more dextrous stabbing
and carving of the victims. Most of the
bulls had sharp horns, and gored the
poor jaded horses till the arena was
covered with pools of blood. Only one
of the bulls was killed outright by the
sword of the matador; the rest being
stabbed repeatedly till they quietly lai d
down from loss of blood, when blow at
the base OF the skull with dagger killed
them instantly. The performances of
these men we're greeted continually with
such applause as New York audience
bestows upon a favorlte prima donna.
The lassoing was scarcely less brutal than
the rest.
A rope would be thrown over the
animals horns or around his neck and
another around foot. Then the ropes
were given turn about the horns Of
the saddle, and the riders would dash
at gallop in opposite directions. Of
course the bull was thrown, and he
usually gave up and could scarcely be
made to rise. When tortured and
goaded, the animal would fight to the
last, but when once he felt himself Sc
curely roped he lost heart One or two
of them had to be released to save them
from dying at once from sheer vexation.
1 have been told by Californians that the
buffalo bull and the grizzly bear had fire.
quently been lassoed by Mexicans and
that they died, as the Indians called it, of
a broken heart, in consequence of being
thrown and dragged at will along the
ground by couple of skillful and power
full horsemen.
The procession started at Punta, op-
posite Moro Castle, proceeded along the
Prado, in the new part of the town,
through the Campo Marte, over the Pas
co Tacon to the Castle on the hill at the
outskirts of the city, and back again, a
distance of six miles. There was no reg
ular formation. Each vehicle fell in
where it happened. The only semblance
of order was that the teams in tandem,
with four or six-in-hand, were placed in
single file in the center. There were
about $500 vehicles, and the parade
lasted from 4:30 to o'clock. The days
ceremonies concluded with the ball at
the Tacon Theater. Most of those in
the procession were not masked, but
simply drove out, as on any other occa-
sion, in the best style they could COM
mand.
The carriages of the Captain General,
in which General Grant and the MEM
bers of his party rode, were extremely
elegant. While the great majority of
the carriages were rather shabby, the
number of fine imported horses was sur
prising. There was nothing imposing
about the costumes. Groups Of maskers
rode in express wagons, trimmed for the
occasion with the Spanish flag. A favor
| ite device was to cover the wagon with
dropping palm branches and then label
it "Moses in the bullrushes." All were
very decorous, and most of the mask
ers sat in their places as still as scare
crows in corn field.
THREE CARNIVAL BALLS.
The ball at the TacOn was crowded.
Few of the masqueraders attempted any.
thing artistic or symbolical. There was
dreary tameness of pink and black
dominoes, of men in cheap female attire
! and Of questionable women dressed al
fops. The same great uninteresting
parade has been repeated for three days
: without variation, except to grow smaller
and more insipid at each repetition. AT
the ball last night there was novel per-
. formance in the dance "Kill the snake
by society Of young men disguised a:
, negroes, and who acted an African
n