The sun., 1897-05-09
BULL FIGHTING AS IT Is.
AN AMERICANS DESCRIPTION OF
THE MEXICAN sPoET.
ne Saw six Buiis KILLED In One Afternoon. ana
His Oniy Regret Was That None OF the
Fighters WAS Gored-Thnts the way tho
sport Grows ON Ono n re is.


you would do what forty.nne out of every nifty
American visitors do see a bull fight That is
| what tho writer did few Sundays ago in the
City or Mexico. And you would come away VOW
ing that McXicans are the most bloodthirsty
people you ever saw. It. is feast for the do
PRAYED, relic OF harbarism. but vcry popular
| with tho Mexican masses. Often many as
10000 people sit through the spectacle. and
the more blood spilled the louder they cheer.
! Compared to a bull fight prize fight or hang
ing bee is tame. You might well compare an
Indian medicine show to thrce.ring railroad
| circus with string OF eleven clephantS
Every Mexican city has one or two bull rings.
| and in at least two cities there double rings
where two fights can DO seen at the same time
| for one admission fee. on tho plan OF the big
| American circuscs Troupes OF bull fighters
| travel from one city to another, just the same
as circuscs playing engagements Of several
| weeks in each city and receiving a stipulated
| sum for each performance
Bull fights are held on Sundays and feast daye.
! 1t was to tho Plaza de Toros bull ring that the
| writer made his way. This ring is shaped like
! an amphitheatre, open to tho sky. The arena Is
| inclosed by plank fence four feet high, with
| rail foot wide eighteen inches from the ground
| on tho inside, on which performers step and
| vault over the fence when too hotly pursued by
| an angry BULL landing in narrow alley that
separates the fence from tho first row of seats.
| The arena is 200 feet in diameter. and
the floor is OF sand. packed hard. Back Of the
alley twenty tiers OF plank seats rise up.
| Above these are the boxes, furnished with
/ chairs crowded closely together. Facing tho
arena on the first tier of seats Is the private box
| of the referee and his bugler and near by is the
band stand. The amphitheatrc will seat 10000
! people. The admission ranges from % cents to
g.. seats on the sunny side of the ring costing
| just onehalt much as those in the shade. \
box costs from 80 to $50 and will hold from four
| to ten people.
| The fights begin at 3 o clock and end Mt 6. but
the crowd begins to arrive an hour before the
| sport begins Mexican poems are poor. but none
OF them is so poor that he cannot dig up money
enough at least every other SUNDAY to buy
ticket for the bull fight. They sit so close to-
| gether on the sunny side that their broad-brim,
| high.crown straw hats resemble circles Of toad
stools. The we'll to do and fashionables occupy
| the boxes, and there is always liberal sprink
| ling Of foreigners in the crowd.
| Twenty minutes before 3 o'clock the band ar
| rived and was welcomed with prolonged cheer
| from the bleachers. The leader arose and bowed
| his Acknowledgements, and then the band
| struck up quickstep. Then came the referee,
and he was cheered. too. The referee is n Gov.
ernment or State official. and has charge OF the
performance. 1t is his duty TO that the bulls
have a fair show. to impose fines II members of
| the troupe do not put up good fight. and to act
as master OF ceremonies. The sport is governed
| by stringent rules as prize fighting. One rule
| is that the bull must always be attacked from
! the front, never from the rear or side. To v.o-
| late this rule means fine and an unmercifu
| scoring from the bleachers, who are as sharp
critics as those who sit in opera house gallery
| The referee no sooner taks his seat than in
bleachers. The referee mods to his bugler. who
blows the sigual blast The band strikes up
and the troupe OF bull fighters enters the arena
advancing TO the referees stand and bowling low.
%ho naP fs the
stdered the most exciting and perilous feat per
formed He is fSomed by the heaPeTdors PEA who
| him; Then come the banderilleros who when
bull is ri stirred up thrust sharp
wild with rage. The .picadors follow on horse
6ass s,; and % the procession winds up p With three
Strings Of tiny bells iknsiHs The mnies draw n
Your 6rst thought is that a bull light is a tame
affair. The little procession is pleasing to the
when You sat down has worn away. The men
are pictpresqucly dressed in knee breeches.
and silver braid. and silk hose They might be
French playactors, and they step about and how
bl.achers applaud the paraders long and loudly.
The horse, Sd are gaiiS csRarsoned and III the trap
ed
killing The mules are driven out. and the
troupe arrange themselves; about the arena;
| The music Of the band ceases and hush
comes over the 5000 people who have, gathered
to see the sport The referee mods to his baser
poste the band stand fly open and the bull en-
! ters the aEene from the dark pen where he has
tached the colors Of his breeder, is thrust
| He comes believing to the centre ot the arena
and the bright sunshine blinds him for an In
slant. he stops and stareS at the bowling mob
above and around him and wonders what it all
The sspeGTs quickly Fqh him up PA SPd nd
bull slips and falls to his knees In an instant
When hot pressed the capeador leaps over the
| fence. Sometimes the bull follows after him.
and sometimes he Kills the capeador 49,, ,.r
horseback. The horses, with the right eye blind.
folded. go forward to almost certain death. The
aud gra-ps the rcins il his ieft The point Of the
not sharp enough TO infict injury. The time 10
| injure the bull has not arrived The picador ad
vances to the centre OF the arena and awaits the
| charge. As the believing black mass ru-hes
forward with head lowered the picador tries TO
S e te hs
repuise The bull II he follows the rules. But he
Is with the bull. and often at the drst charge he
! knocks down the horse and throws the rider to
the ground; Instantly the capeadors surround the
| extrcaies himself from under the fallen horse.
/ The blindfoldod horse IS whipped TO his feet and
staggers about the arena, sometimes desperate
| ly wounded; Perhaps the bull will charge him
again and literally gore him to shrcds. II the
! wound is not too severe the horse is hurried out
| OF the inclosure, thrown on its back. and the
wound sewed up. Then the animal Is doped and
ready to reenter the arena when the next bull Is
| let in. Sometimes the sharp horns OF the mad
! dened bull mercifully pierce the horses heart
| and end its sufferings at once. When the horse
| Is gored and stumbling about the arena the
! bleachers are on their feet and yelling at the
top OF their voices. They love TO soc blood run.
The horses now removed from tho arena.
| the bugle sounds again, and the banderilleros
| are introduced There are three OF them and
| each carries two banderillas. a stout stick
| the size OF a broom handle and trife less than
| three feet long There is a barb in one end as
sharp as trout hook, and the sticks are wound
| with bright-colored tissue paper. The banderil.
lero takes his place In the centre OF the ring and
| assumes n defiant attitude. He does not retain
| Il long. The bull charges him with lowered head.
The handerillero does not move. and you fancy,
| for an instant, that he will be gOrcd 10 death.
| AS the horns almost touch him, he drives
| the banderillas into the bulls shoulders;