The Russellville Democrat., 1880-08-12
BULL FIGHTERS IN NEW YORK.
Arrangements Being Made for the Great
 Spanish Sport.

Arrangements Being Made for the Great
 Spanish Sport.
 New York Star s
 Walking matches, dog fights, boat races, sharp-shooting, polo, lacosse, swimming matches, cockfghts, horse races, bogus prize fights, and other equally exciting amusements have been enjoyed at con siderable expense by confding New Workers for many years, but 1t 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 Senor Fernan- dez, who proposes introducing bull fighting for the amusement of the people and also for his own benefit Bull-ights 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 Mir. Hernandez expects to extract $2 per capita from every person who en- ters his ampitheater at One Hundred and Sixteenth street and St. Nicholas avenue.
 MT. Fernandez has imported from Spain ten renowned Spanish bull fight CTS, and lie 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 a series of ex hibitions 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-ftting 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 a 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 ot gay-colored ribbon. They are the possessors of many badges and med als and ribbons. which they were pre- sented with by the distinguished people before whom they performed. Angelo Valdemore is the chiet 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. w Ft
 The performance which is to be given here will not be 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 mals, and Mir. Bergh would quickly in terfere and stop the performance. The toreros have brought all their swords and spears with them, however, as if iii hopes that there might be some possi- bility of evading the law and giving the publi touch of "the genuine thing.p 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 1t. hra a
 A Star reporter visited the ampithea- ter in One hundred and Sixteenth street. It is compact wooden structure, 625 feet in circumference and some POO feet in diameter. It will hold 10000 people and this number the managers of the enterprise expect will amply re- pay them for their outlay, even though they only give three performances in this city. The structure looks frail enough fer one supposed to support so large number, and the uprights which support the benches are stuck in soft and made ground, .f-.-... ...-- MT. Fernandez's agent says 1t is all right, and that the structure is perfect ly safe and solid. "It is the first exni- bition of the kind ever given in this country" he remarked, land there is no doubt that it will be great success" Alter exhibiting in New York the troupe and bulls will go 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 the spectators from the arena, and within this fence is vacant space ten feet wide and then comes another f:nce i've feet high. This vacant space IS where the matador or torero jumps in, and there is no possi- bility of the bull getting at the specta- tors and gcring them, for even should he 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 distance. The performances will about three hours" N grHa
 The Star reporter next visited Mir. 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: q am utterly op- posed to this whole busiress, and I 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 thls 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 General of Snaina and -Mr EaruaDcaz calIad m mo