Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-22
THE BULL FIGHT.
In a Way It is Great but It is Always
Cruel,

In a Way It is Great but It is Always
Cruel.
Across the wide arena there Is heard
the blaring Of trumpets. And then
comes a magnificent procession of tor
eros. And the thousands upon thous-
ands applaud the bull fighters.
This immense arena! 1t is made to
hold some $4,000 people. They are here
applauding the .toreros-those fighters
Of the bulls. From all classes they
come. You have the people who work
with their hands, and the people who
keep the shops, and the people who do
the trading, and the spendid people
who do nothing. The desire to see the
bull fight links them all together.
A glorious spectacle under the strong
shining Of the sun of Spain. Some
$4,000 applauding people, and the pro-
cession around the arena Of the bull
fighters. and stirring march from the
band. Matadors and picadors and
banderilleros and chulos step out to-
gether around the immense arena. CAL
liant, sturdy looking, fine gladiators.
And the arena Is now just a bare
stretch Of sand, half in the burning
sun and half in the shade. The people
who possess most money sit in the
shade. But all are eager and excited
whether sitting in the shade or sun.
For bull fight stirs the blood. It is a
spectacle at once glorious and cruel
Just bare stretch Of sand, this
| arena The bull fighters are waiting
outside the actual ring in the space
between 1t and the first row Of seats
where sit the spectators.
There is hush, tense silence, and
| suddenly something apears afar off.
A door has opened and shut quickly,
| and behold the chief actor in the trag-
edy has appeared. The player that
plays but once in the scene has begun
| his part.
This black bull!
He Is confused with the intense
ness. For he has been suddenly forced
into the arena from out of the dark
| ness. And now he is here to fight for
his life. And perhaps it Is that he
knows it, for he suddenly gives forth
a below Of rage.
How splendid an animal-this fine
black bull! In him is embodied the
fighting instinct. Before him would
fly lion or tiger.
And suddenly rage has full posses
sion Of him. For the bull fighters have
come up swiftly, and he is charging
and bellowing-now here, now there.
He goes forth after his foes, roaring
| with greap leaps and bounds. That
this great, black, fighting thing can
move so swiftly seems strange.
But his foes are swift-and cunning.
They mislead him by their cloaks and
cloths, they delude him, he is upon
them, but they elude him as a flash of
light, they shout at him, and now a
barb is suddenly stuck into him. He is
galloping here and galloping there, and
bounding here and bounding there
roaring with rage. But always he Is
outwitted. Always he has to fight
| flashes Of light.
No, not always. For now he has got
man. He was just the shade of a
second too quick for this human flash
of light. And the bull fighter is up in
the air. And II you are a spectator,
and you have the sporting instinct,
you feel pleased. I felt very pleased
when I saw it. My sympathies were
with the bull.
The bull fighter is lying prone where
the great, black bull pitched him. And
the surrounding thousands Of specta-
tors are shouting. Something that is
living is being done to death. The pri-
NAL desire to see killing is awakened
and fiaring.
The bull is bounding toward the
prone figure. Death is near to the bull
fighter. But the cunning Of man is too
much for the bull. He is misled and
deluded. A red cloth flashes across his
face. He follows it, and now comes a
cloak. He follows that. And here is q
man whom he follows. New RACES
come upon him. He has forgotten the
enemy he tossed a moment ago-the
enemy he was going to kill-the enemy
that has since been carried out of the
arena. They are everywhere. They
hover around him. He feels again the
stab of barb in his neck. And he
pectedly that he is on one of them and
all but pins him to the ground. The
fight is beginning to clear the brain Of
the bull He has suddenly become cum
ming. Were he to fight again in this
arena he would know better what to
do. But he is never to fight again. He
is doomed, it matters not how bravely
or valiantly he fights.
The bull fighters now approach him
more warily. They are not 80 ready
to take chances as they were at first.
This bull has become intelligent.
Horses are brought in and there is a
scene not to be described. It Is as bad
as the scene that occurs when fox Is
given to the hounds or when a rabbit
is torn living to death by dogs. A
shameful, odious scene that has not in
it an ounce Of the element Of sport.
When men are hurt or killed in the bull
ring one feels that it Is according to the
stern logic Of the game. They come to
hurt and kill, and If they are hurt or
killed they must abide by it.
The brave, black bull Is now becom-
ing exhausted. He has not the power
he had when he first entered the arena.
He has been made in a sense to defeat
himself There are times when he
stands and waits.
And a bull fighter approaches him
with a sword. The bull looks at him,
but does not move. And the man stands
directly in front Of him. He is off but
four or five PAGES. And he waves q
red cloth.
The bull charges at the cloth, and as