The herald., 1895-09-17
MAN VS.. BEAST
And the Beast Seemed to Have the Best
of 1t

lt was o CLOCK IN the afternoon before
sightseers began to fill the amphitheater
provided for tho bull fight, hut by A
o'clock, the hour appointed for the open
ing OF the games, fully 1000 people were
in attendance. The structure is built
with eighteen rows of seats, rising tier
on tier, one above the other, in circular
form 10 feet in diameter, With the pit
or arena in the center, 1870 feet IN diam
eter, where toreadors show their agility
in getting out of the way of the bulls.
Around this field today was a black cloud
OF PEOPLE shouting and cheering and
screaming with delight at the new and
novel spectacle presented. Bands OF
mu sic added softer strains to the general
din and the frequent roars of ferocious
bulls occasionally overcame all other
sounds.
Bravo toro; bravo toreador." These
were the shouts that were incessant at
the big amphitheater arena sports with
the live toreudors from Sonora as the
star attraction. s tx thousand people
were seated around the arena at O'clock
when the sports were promised to begin
and rs the evenin1 sun sunk toward the
western hills it witnessed q scens not
often seen in California. The arena, in
the form of perfect circle, Mexican and
American flags tutterlng in the breeze,
Mexican bands playing national airs,
and to make the scene thoroughly COM
pete five toreadors, in their CANDY cos
tunes, each with his immense red
blanket, tormentng the bull, fresh from
the ranges of the desert, until the animal
was thoroughly eXasperated and charged
bindly hither and thither, now with a
red blanket completely binding Lin,
sometimes tossing it.in the air, and anon
chasing a toreador behind one of tho
'burladros,' the shields behind which
the pursued toreadof may hide if too
closely pressed. There was no cruelty in
the contest today.
If there had been, it is doubtful if they
would have been permitted to proceed.
for special officers of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals we're
everywhere, and anything that looked
like actual cruelty to the bull would have
met with their prompt disapproval. Con-
sequently the majority OF the spectators
expected to see a rather tame affair at
best. They were disappointed, for the
most captious critic found all the excite
ment that could pe wished fol. The only
weapon of the toreadors was the red
blanket, which is probably responsible
for the fact that the toreadors were on
the run most OF the time. and two of
them got very much the worst of it, one
of them being severely gored. The irst
bull brought into the ring needed goo1
deal of urging TO induce him to fight.
Though the red blankets were Haunted
in his tace, he did nothing but paw the
ground and make an occasional charge,
and tho crowd, more than half of whom
were Mex cans. were not slow in calling
foi ''nuevo toro,' and another animal
was led into the ring, quickly proving
himself tighter. If it had been full
tledaed fight instead Of merely playful
exhibition, the Joreadors would have mad
4 .l~# f,.l1 Hl.z hall
one side of the arena to tire other, and o
score of times the thousands of spectators
held their breath, fearing that a luckless
toreador would be impaled on his horns.
This five toreaiors were dressed two in
flaming red and one each in blue, violet
ana green, and by the time the bull had
bsen blinded several times with the red
blankets and worried by his tormentUrs,
he charged at the clown. the sixth per-
sonage i'll the arena, and succeeded in
knocking him down near the fence, roll
ing the unfortunate fun maker against
the side of the arena. The bull was a
short horn. and to this fact the clown
probably owes his life. Lying in the an
gle between the ground and the wall the
bulls horns could not reach him, and
though be buttcd and scooped at the
prostrats toreador. no real injury was in
tiicted. In an instant the bull was sur
rounded by toreadors, blinde and roped
and the clown rescued. The crowd WAS
thoroughly aroused ny this display and
a moment later the bull caught toreador
before he reached the burladeros, picked
him from the ground with his horns and
threw him against the wall. Following
his advantage, the bull rushed upon the
toreador and gored him in the leg before
assistance could come. The wound, al
though sufficient to disable the bullight-
er was not serious The bul. was then
roped by several vaqueros on horseback,
and the bulltight was over.
This ended the sports for the day. and
the crowd dispersed for the grand ball in
the evening. Today will be held the FL
es,a bicycle meet and the best riders of
Southern California will contest on the
new track. Upright. Burke. Rudri-
guez and many others will take part, and
the two-mile lap race and the five lie
handicap are attracting good deal of
attention.