St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-06-02
bacoyINGTeN, SATURDAY,
BAN ON PARIS BULLFICHrS.
Suceessful War Against Brutal sport
Has Been WaKed by the
Civil Authorities.

II
Has Been WnKed by the
Civil Authorities.
Visitors to Paris during the expo
sition will not be able to witness
bullfight this year Of grace. 1t i
probable that it the question ha.
been settled by popular vote tn,
bullfight would have. won the day
It was greeted with great enthusiast
the past year in the south of France
then toward the center. then at Eng
helm. within hailing distance of tn,
capital. and finally actually inside I'll;
| very Notifications. Step hy step j,
was, however. bitterly fought by
few vigorous opponents. who at last
got the government :. interested in
checking the invader on the plea that
bullfights always created the widest
disorder in French towns and were
| easily made the excuse for turbulent
gatherings of all kinds. At Engheir
last September the mayor. his brother
officials and a few score residents
joined against the rest of the town
in fighting the innovations posted
placards calling on "all good and
peaceablc citizens to stay indoors on
the Sunday when the first bullfght
was advertised to take place and
called down from Paris an extra force
of policemen. 4 law had hastily been
got through the municipal council
forbidding all spectacles of the kind
which were anything but mere Sex
hibitions" of the toreador's skill. This
was so vague as to mean nothing,
and the advocates of the sport tram
pied down all obstacles. The crowd
gathered. 1000 strong. in the arena;
:he matadors appeared on the scene,
and the torture had gone on for
some half hour when the bull finally
took things into his own control.
jumped the railing, stampeded the
public, threw the concourse into
screaming confusion and went madly
careering through the town. He evi-
IDENTIFY agreed with the minority. He
was dispatched with a bullet, and
since this little incident no bullfight
has been given within the borders of
France.
Sig. Mazzantini, an Italian. made the
next effort to introduce the national
sport of Spain into France. He want.
ed to get up a splendid '.corrida" for
the exposition. and had got his prep
arations fully under way when the
government sent out fat to the ef-
feet that under no circumstances
would bullfights be allowed, fven in
connection with the exposition. IL
Spain could not send something. bet
ter than that to Paris she might keep
away altogether seemed the implica-
tion, for no less person than the
premier himself took the matter in
hand and laid it before the cabinet.
He is said to have declared that
brutal sport was trying To- fasten it-s
self on France and that the occasion
called for an emphatic action on the
part before it was too
late. This shows how seriously the
affair was regarded Mazzantini grew
furious. 1T js,"' he said. the other
.'the object Of an exposition
to show different national habits and
customs. This is part .Dfa its ,educa-
Lional mission. Now. bullfighfs are
Lhe Spanish passion. Spanish children
draw in love for tiIemswi mothers
milk. and yet we. are not to be al
lowed to give the world representa-
lion of them. J. TOO. am against some
II the features of the sport-fhe rip
ping open OF horses. for example--hut
LII these gross possibilities of the cor
ida would have been guarded against.
The action Of the premier is not only
in insult to Spain. but a display of
on the part OF the French
Mazzantini used to be the station |
naster at the main depot in Madrid,
,ut on an impulse he threw up his mo-
lotoncus duties for the adventure
cme life of the arena. and has actu-
lily of late gone into the fight him |
elf as a toreador. He. is of superb |
tature and looks like the ideal mata-
lor of comic opera.
He grows SO extremely excited when
n a bullfight that he contemplates
laving to give up the sport on ac-
cunt of its injury to his nerves. His
ast essay in public was to be in =
'laze of glory in the exposition side
how known as "Andalusia in the
'ime of the Moors." The greatest cor
ida Of modern times was to have
AIKEN place there. and remarked
e. sadly, '.just think how pany thou
ands Of Americans and English would
ave come! 1t would have been their
mine-of lifetime"
Regrets. however. are vain. The bill
the sport has already been
u fifi..d l,r the chamber |