The Osceola times., 1880-08-14
BULL FIGHTERS IN NEW YORK.
Arrangements Being Made for the Great
spanish sport.
New York Star

sharp-shooting, polo, lacosse, swimming |
matches, cockiights, horse races, bogus |
prize fights, and other equally exciting !
amusements have been enjoyed at con- |
siderable expense by confiding New |
Workers for many years, but it seems |
that the list has been exhausted and |
something novel and still more exciting |
is required to satisfy the desires of the |
public-at least so thinks Senior Fernan-
dez, who proposes introducing bull |
fighting for the amusement of the people |
and also for his own benefit. Bull-fghts |
are something that the average Ameri- |
can citizen has read of but has never
witnessed, SO there must be an amazing
number Of people anxious to see such
rare sport. This is the argument by
which Mr.. Fernandez expects to extract
S2 per capita from every person who en-
tiers his ampitheater at One Hundred
and Sixteenth street and st. Nicholas
avenue.
Mr.. Fernandez has imported from
| Spain ten renowned Spanish bull fight
ers, and he hopes to procure the neces-
| sary number of vicious, fierce and fight
| ing bulls from the stock yards of this
city TO enable him to give series of ex-
| hibitlons in his amphitheater. The
! toreros, as they are called in Spain, ar
rived on Thursday by the steamer st.
Laurent, and put up at the Stu-tevant
House. They are of fine physique, and
their muscles are largely developed, and
indicate that they are both strong of arm
and fleet of foot. They are reckoned
among the most skillful and daring OF
the bull fighters of Spain. Their dress
is attractive and very striking, and is
made up of close-iitting dark velvet
trunks and velvet jackets embroidered
with gold trimmings. A sombrero. "A
dark red sash around the waist and silk
stockings complete the outfit. This cos
tune is worn by the matadors while in
the arena and during the fight, the only
change being that black silk bonnet is
worn instead of the sombrero. They
wear their hair somewhat after the man
ner OF the Chinese, and each man sports
a short queue. bound at the end with
piece of gay-colored ribbon. They are
the possessors of many badges and med
ais and ribbons. which they were pre-
sented with by the distinguished people
before whom they performed. Angelo
Naldemore is the chief of the troupe,
and he is almost covered with Jewels,
ribbons and medals, among them being
some presented to him on account of
his skill and bravery by King Amadeus
and King Alfonso.
The performance which is to be given
here will not be a regular old fashioned
bull fight, in which the matador attacks
with swords or spears, and sometimes
kills the infuriated bull, while often the
condition of things is reversed and the
bull kills the man. No weapons are,
under the law. allowed to be used in
this country, and the bull is not to be
tormented or irritated, for this would
come under the head of cruelty TO ami
mails, and Mr.. Bergh would quickly in
terfere and stop the performance. The
toreros have brought all their swords
and spears with them, however, as if in
hopes that there might be some possi-
bility of evading the law and giving
the publ a touch of "the genuine
thing" Wooden swords with blunt
points are intended to be used here,
and when the bull does not show fight
he is TO be stirred up, not with the
, steel-barbed darts used in Spain, but
with arrows bearing small flags, which
will stick to the bulls hide in place of
penetrating it.
A Star reporter visited the ampithea
ter in One hundred and Sixteenth street.
1t is compact wooden structure, 625
feet in circumference and some POO
feet in diameter. 1t will hold 10000
people and this number the managers
of the enterprise expect will amply re-
pay them TOR their outlay, even though
they only give three performances in
this city. The structure looks frail
enough for one supposed to support so
large number, and the uprights which
support the benches are stuck in soft
and made ground.
Mr.. Fernandez's agent says 1t is all
right, and that the structure is perfect
" safe and solid. at is the first exni-
bition of the kind ever given in this
country" he remarked, "and there is
no doubt that it will be n great success"
After exhibiting in New York the troupe
and bulls will 90 to other States and
cities The matadors will not be armed
with any weapons, and there will be no
men on horseback in the arena. The
only danger will be in the man escap-
ing from the bull, A wooden fence
five feet high separates tse spectators
from the arena, and within this fence
is vacant space ten feet wide and then
comes another f:nce five feet high.
This vacant space Is where the matador
or torero Jumps in, and there is no possi-
blity of the bull getting at the specta-
tors and gcring them, for even should
be bound over the first fence, he will
never be able to rise to the second one.
Supposing the bull should catch the
torero before he scales the fence. what
then? asked the reporter.
"Well, that is not likely to occur" re-
piled the agent, and of course the man
has TO look out for himself. There is no
danger; our men can easily scale the
fence, and can outrun the bulls for so
short a distance. The performances will
take place in the afternoon, and will last
about three hours"
The Star reporter next visited Mr.
Henry Bergh, President of the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
and was received with Bergh's usual
courtesy. When informed of the object
of the visit, he said: "l am utterly OPP
posed TO this whole business, and be-
lieve that it is the opening wedge to
introduce base and brutal pastime into
this country. Here is Spaniard and
bull fighter who comes TO this country
utterly unacquainted with our ideas and
institutions, and he proposes to intro
duce the noble pastime of bull fighting
to our people The Consul-Generai of
Spain and Mr.. Fernandez called on me
a short time since, and | was glad to see
that the Consul apologized for coming
on such a business, but he felt that the
commercial interests of one of his coun-
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