Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-07-28
A MEXICAN BULL FIGHT,
AS SEEN BY A VERMONT BOY

late Conductor Sturtevant of ST. AlUans,
il in the employ of the Mexican Cen
trail railroad as manager of its store de-
partment He has headquarters in the
city of Mexico. In recent letter home
Mr.. SturtevaIt tells of going out 100
miles from the city to Pachieca, with a
party of Americans, to see bull fight
This is what he saw:
81 cannot adequately describe a bull
fight, but will try and convey to you
some idea of it. Imagine yourself in a
circular amphitheater with 1000 low
down Mcxicans, who give vent to the
most unearthly cries imaginable, which
are kept up necessarily; "a band eXecu
ting the most exquisite music possible,
but which cannot be heard above the
clamOr of the audience unless YOU are
very near it, and our party was. AT the
call of the bugle out come three horses
mounted by picadores, so called, each
armed with pole about 10 feet long,
one end of which is a steel prong. His
business Is to keep the bull from goring
his horse by holding it off with the afore-
said pole, but for all that three horses
were actually disembOweled, although
the riders escaped. At the second bugle
call out comes the matadOres, or bull
fighters, who fight on foot. At the third
bugle call in jumps an Infatuated bull,
which Immediately charges the first
thing that it sets It's eyes on, be it either
man or horse. Now the fun has fairly
commenced, and the audience is SEEM
ingly as crazy as the bull. The men on
foot are equipped with red blankets,
,th hof a liz hDl
which, of course, Immediately charges,
only to get left, as the nimble mqtadore
steps to one side and Mr.. Bull simply
plows the air. But the man on horse
back is different. If the bull charges
him, he faces his horse to the bull, and
receives him on the prong of the afore-
said pole, but, as | said before, he some
times misses, and when lie does the
poor horse is a gone goose, being in al
most every instance instantly killed,
which is the most cruel part of the
whole business.
After the above performance goes on
about ten minutes, at the bugle sound
the horses that are not killed are taken
from the ring, and the matadores pro-
coed to torture the bull as follows
Three of them are provided with ban
derillos, or gaily-decorated shafts, each
with steel prong in one end the shape
of spear, the shafts being about one
foot long. With one of these instru-
ments of torture in each hand he attracts
the bulls attention, and when the bull
charges him he plunges the shafts into
his shoulders, having to lift his hands
oyer the bulls horns and plunge the
shafts before he jumps aside. This i:
really very dangerous, for if he slips il
is probable death. BE a. 4 =
After six of these shafts are stuck
into Mr.. Bull you can imagine how
crazy he is. At the next bugle call the
chief matadore proceeds to kill the bul
in this wise: In one hand he holds !
stick on which is flying red cloth
in the other hand sword. With til,
red cloth he attracts the bull, whicl
instantly charges him. This is don,
three times. The first time he charge
the matadore drops his red cloth anC
stands Immediately in front of tn
charging bull, and, when the RICH
second comes, thrusts his sword through
the shoulder of the bull to the heart
If this is well done, the bull drops deaf
in his tracks. OF the five bulls kille
yesterday, three were killed instantly
the other two being fairly butchered
which made the crowd so angry tina
they Missed and threw anything tina
they could get at the now disgrace
matadOre.
The feature of Yesterdays sport was
young woman on horseback, who, wit
her horse at mad gallop, suck tn
banderillos into bull. As she wa
just to thrust the last one, the bul
turned on her quickly and came nea
killing her horse. if not herself. |
some miraculous manner she whirled he
horse from the attack of the bull, eS
Gaping by hairs breadth. AT this tn
enthusiasm of the audience knew n
bounds. Hats, flowers and money wen
flying into the ring, which was to sign
fly that her really splendid performance
was appreciated
Take it all in all, it is brutal, barbar
Gus sport, but the most fascinating on
| have ever seen. 1t was impossible TO
me to keep my eyes off the ring, or t
keep from yelling when bull or mata
dores made good point. In fact, | wa
entranced during the whole performance
my nerves being strung to the hlghes
point possible, which, of course, did no
realize until after it was all over. Afte
| got into the street my nerves relaxed
and was as tired as tired could be, an
as nervous. Three of the ladies in tn
party tainted when one of the horses wa
horribly gored and It's rider thrown yer
hard. trust | have given you an ide
of bull fight, the national sport O
Mexico