The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-28
BIG BULL-FIGHT
PROMOTER HERE
Ben" Dstmsr Pays Visit to
Salt Lake.
TELLS OF UNIQUE CARNIVAL
RECoUNTs STORY OF THE GRIP
PIE CREEK AFFAIR.
tLD EN- DETMAR is in Salt Lake

CID EN- DETMAR is I'm Salt Lake
I } Detmar, the promoter Of the
only bull fight that MAS ever
pulled off in the United States where
the bulls were actually killed by ma
tadors
Detmar has been one OF the lights OF
the western frontier for thirty years.
I'm every new mining camp that has
sprung up in the west from the time
that gold was first discovered at Grip
ple Creek until the strike" was made
at TouOpah not long ago. the face of
Ben Detmar has been a familiar one
Resides his mining experience in which
he has made and lost many thousands
or dollars Detmar has been shotgun
messenger for the Wells-FargO COM
pany sheriff when that term meant
dead shot and "A nerve Of iron. and bull
hEht promoter. At present he has
charge OF the ranch at Los Vegas
New, for the san Pedro, Los Angeles
q Salt Lake railroad company. He
is in this city on business and yester-
day related the story of the celebrated
bull fight
How Fight Was Planned.
Il first conceived the idea of having
bull fight while I was visiting in
Mexico" ne said. while there 1 wit
messed several fights as guest of
President Diaz and the thought struck
me one day that a bun fight i'm the
United states ought TO make a big hit.
I returned 90 Cripple Creek, Colo, a
few months later and told Arizona
charlie Meadows OF my PLAN He was
heartily i'm favor of the idea. and from
then on we worked To arrange for the
fight
81 had little difficulty i'm obtaining
backing. as l was pretty well known
throughout Colorado. and although the
scheme looked rather wild at first, L
soon had enough money at my com
mand Co make 10 so. We selected the
race track at Gillette. which is about
four miles from Cripple Greek. as the
place for holding the fight The larg
est arena ever constructed in the
United states was built with seat
ing capacity of $4,000 The estimated
cost of the enclosure was $1,000. The
next step was to secure the matador,
picadors, bandarillas and bulls for the
contest. / secured the services Of Car
cha. the most famous bull fighter in
spain, for the event. He was brought
to this country at an enormous ex-
pense. We paid him $500 per fight and
the contract was that he should fight
twice a day for three days, or a total
OF six fights Besides this we had to
pay the travelling expenses of himself
and Wife, which amounted to several
hundred dollars. The picadors and
baudariilas we imported from Mexico,
giving them $500 per fight and paying
all expenses. Seven trained bulls were
brought from Mexico for the event
that cost MS about $500 each. The tour
naWent began on Aug. %, 1925, and
lasted three days.
Opposition is Overcome.
"Of course we were bitterly opposed, /
and for awhile things looked pretty
bad for us. but we finally came out
on top The bull fight was widely ad-
Vertised throughout the United States
and excursions were run by the rail- /
roads from as far east as Kansas City. |
Several newspapers attacked us. but |
by diplomatic means we stlenced them. |
William Thompson, a humane society I
man from Denver. came to Gillette ]
few days before the fight and de- /
clared that the tournament would I
meyer be pulled off. BY going to /
Washington we fixed him and ne lcf- [
suddenly 'on account of illness Then /
Governor Mcintyre called out the mi (
litia to stop the fight and thirty /
Euardsmeu came to Gillette. armed 20 !
the teeth. When they saw the con-
dition of things they very wisely re- (
Trained fTOmGtaking any action 1 had /
Seventy-hVe Of the best marksmen in I
the west scattered about the ringside. /
and if a shot had been fired the mi /
litia would have been annihlated.
ION Saturday, the opening day of /
the fight. we had an attendance Of /
1900. Men came from all parts Of /
the country from New York to san I
Francisco. TO attend the tournaments. !
The cheapest ticket was s. and the /
others SO and S.. We had sixty boxes 7
constructed around the arena that sold /
for So each
Everything went Off nicely. Garcia, /
2r~aycd I'm "a suit hrocaded in gold tha- J
aH Fri4 81 f.
cninC cheers from the assembled thou /
sands when ne first entered the ring
and calmly awaited the charge of the /
maddcned bull. After few moments
NE dispatched the animal with one we'll \
directed thrust. and the roar that went 4
mp from the throng could be heard for
miles.
Bits of Carcas Seized.
AS soon as the bull had BEEN killed ]
the crowd burst into the arena and
began carrying away small pieces OF /
the bulls carcass for souvenirs IN
less than half an hour there was not /
tho slightest vestiEe Of the animal left.
Some man from Denver obtained the
horns and told me afterward that ne |
had refused an offer of 5000 for them !
Even the ticket coupons were kept as
souvenirs and sold FOR from s. 90 S25
each
ION Sunday the second day of the
Uenl- we ndd AN attendance or $500
people. The third day we turned over
the proceeds of the fight a S a benefit
TO the Denver newspapers and the
bands that we had in attendance. on
the third day two OF our imported bulls
refused TO fight and we had to sub
sttute n pair from the Laramie plains.
After the fights on the third day
we were all arrested and taken to Dem !
vcr. The matador was fined $500. the
picadors and handarillos $500 each and /
Arizona Charlie and myself We're held
FOR trial under $1,000 bonds our trial
never came orr. however as we finally
settled the matter on the outside.
Although our expenses were very
heavy. We made considcra bic money
from thc fight and were well satisfied
with tho result of the enterprise That
bun fight was the first and probably
the last one that was ever held in the
United States where the bulls were