Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-31
A DRUTAL|z|NG SPORT
Bull Fighting Has Degraded
the Spanish.
MASSES FOND OF IT
NOT LIKELY IT WILL EVER BE
ABOLISHED.
The New King, However, Does Not
Approve of the Practice
at All.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

kings coming of age the great bull fight is
the event of events to the Madrileno. 1t is
the chief topic of conversation in cafes, in
the streets, in trains, where one sees all
classes of Spaniards, and in private houses,
too, where the better class of Spaniard asks
you if you have secured your seat for the
corrida real
The hold the ring has on Spain is enor-
nous. There are four weekly journals In
Madrid devoted solely to the interests and
literature of the bull ring. There are dozens
of books written on the subject and on
every day of a fight Madrid Is simply
painted green with copies of the "Programa
de EXpectaculos,' four-page sheet sold
for a penny by the hundreds. perhaps thou
sands, of hawkers. This gives pictures of
the bulls to be slaughtered on the day in
question. their pedigrees and owners. and
short histories of the animals, together
with the names of all the performers in
the days spectacle. About an hour before
the time for the show to begin the peca-
dores. dressed in their clumsy but pictu-
rescue costumes, set out from their hotel in
| the Puerta del Sol for the Plaza de Toros,
about mile away.
Worshipped by the Crowds.
These gentry are mounted on fine horses,
not tie sorry hacks they use in the ring.
and are followed by immense crowds Of ad-
miring men, women and children, who con-
| slider it an honor to be near their heroes.
At this time of the year the spectacle be-
! gins about 4, earlier or later. according to
the number of animals to be killed. The
scene for a couple OF hours before this time
| beggars description. scene of furious
| struggle, wild desire, fierce eagerness hangs
over the city, comes pouring down with the
rays of the hot sun, rises with the dust
| from the suffocating streets, gets into the
| blood of every Madrileno, and compols him
! or her. for women go to bull fights in thou
| sands-to make a mad rush for the place Of
slaughter.
| Even if he cannot afford to enter the
| show, and it is an old saying that Span
| lard will sell his shirt to go to a bull fight,
| to be near the ring is something. Perhaps
| he may hear a wounded bull below with
rage, or a dying horse scream in his agony
and he is certain to see the chief actor
come or go.
Private carriages, with well-dressed men
| and daintiy clad women; electric trains.
succeeding each other with amazing rapid
| ity, each laden to the full with sweltering
humanity Tor inhumanity); horses and
mule trains, that use no rails. but clatter
madly over the cobbles: extra omnibuSes
and open cars, drawn by five. six or eight
red-tasseled mules all dash at full gallop
for to Plaza de Toro to turn out their loads,
and tear back for more.
AS the time grows short they come only
part way back and turn at the halfway
mark to hurry on belated stragglers. 1t
it not gay; it is feverish. exciting, bewi!d-
ering. Mems faces are set and keen There
is no badinage or merriment, even II 1t We're
possible, while laundering over the III
paved streets The one idea is to get to the
fight quickly. Anger is swift to the sur
face; drivers are urged and sworn at. Woe
be to the wretched horse or mule that
stumbles He is greeted with shower of
curses from roof and window of the We
hcle. and flogged numerically by the
driver.
A Brutalizing Sport.
If any one is of opinion that bull fighting
does not brutalize these people. let him
watch the crowd that goes to the Plaza de
Toro any Sunday in Madrid He need not
go inside the ampitheater; he will see
enough outside to change his mind.
We are having fights nearly every day at
present | went to Thursdays contest and
saw six bulls and fifteen horses slaughtered.
I was disguised and bored and came away
simply worn out, not with excitement, but
with a sinking stomach and huttering
heart My first feeling was that of anger
at the men in the ring for brutally sacri-
ficing the poor horses.
/ do not intend to describe the fight: the
details are too sickening for publication
Finally the hull. his forepart a crimson
flood spent, exhausted, an easy victim for
the towards who were torturing him, was
put out of his misery by the matador. For
three hours this went on, until the six bulls
had been dragged out dead by mules.
1 came away. pitying a people whose
amusement is brutality and whose sport is
found in the national shambles. The ele-
ment Of sport is nearly eliminated from the
national pastime, and the whole game re-
solves itself into feast of blood with lin
gering torture added to give it zest.
Effect on Spectators.
Bull fighting is a cruel. soul-debasing
sight. Men. women and children must be-
come brutalized. made callous to suffering
| and pain. 1t must and does stamp the char
acter Of the people who love It and degrade
them. Many Spaniards say they do not
care for 1t, and never go. They wish to
have the sport" stopped. but they are few
compared to the millions here who would
cause civil war rather than their favorite
pastime should be abolished. In some parts
Of the United States the law does not per-
NIT a butcher to sit on jury trying per-
son for capital crime because he is supposed
to be accustomed to the sight of blood II
such a law were in force here it would be
hard to obtain a jury in Madrid. where
nearly every one is a butcher by proxy, at
least.
After Witnessing bull fight # f. easy to
understand Spanish cruelty i'm Cuba and
elsewhere. and to realize that II was in this
Spain that the inquisitfon originated One
may today in Madrid the square
Plaza Mayor, where thousands of persons
| were tortured and burned to death to the
great delight ef the spectators crowdin~
the balconies about the four sides of tho
square. 1t has changed but little in appear
ance, except that the instruments of tor
! ture have been removed a little further
away to the Plaza de Toros.
| There are many laws in Spain reguIatin-
| bull fighting mostly in favor of the institu-
| ton AS an example of its legality, I may
merely point out that should one of tho
| horses available be killed at a corrida. the
| law allows the manager of the ring to go
| into the public street and commander tn.
| first horses at hand, paying for them. of
course There are more than go brIl
| rings in Spain About 500 fights are held
every year. i'm which 800 bulls and 6 ooO
horses are killed. These are average fi--
| ures. 1t is impossible to get any reliable
! figures of the expense of this national in
| stitutfon, but 1t must be very large. Ma'a~
doris of first rank make sometimes fr1-,7
| 10000 to f15000 year. and everybody
| finds money for the bull fight. thnurr
schools suffer in this country. where about
| so per cent of the people are iuterate
A Case in Point.
ct leard true story which Illustrates tn,
situation exactly. In a southern town N
Spain whose mayor was not an enthusiast
| of the sport the school teacher had not
| been paid for some time, though the bull
ring was crowded every Sunday The
schoolmaster. a lean and cadaverous indi-