Show THE CUB GREEK BULLFIGHT BULL FIGHT BY EDSON KEMP KEIP the great potato picnic will never be forgotten by the people of cub crek creek valley this district wasat first the scene of a brief mining excitement after that there was a blaze of disorderly glory this subsided into a tame career of cattle ranching which aich finally developed an unexpected resource it was found that the light and powdery soll soil of the valley when pro properly perly irrigated produced potatoes in great quantity and of excellent quality from this moment the prosperity of the cub creek valley was assured potato ranches were opened in every direction irrigating were under tal en on a large scale and land rose rapidly in value cub creek city soon had a population of souls wll wit an opera house a dally daily paper a mayor and a city council my aly father was the first in major of the city ile he is a very enterprising man and had contributed many schemes to boom cub creek one of his schemes was tile alic areat potato picnic a kind of grand graid potato barbecue which was advertised verti sed far and wide which attracted many thou thousands bands of people and which served to increase the fame and announce the resources of the district committees were appointed to devise attractive features for the occasion caslon cc I 1 was put on the committee on sports of which my friend toni tom Nar crosb was chairman we were told bv kiy father that no ordinary program pro gramme aub of sports would do and that we must t get up something picturesque novel and 1 startling it if it is to be picturesque I 1 said in one of the committee meetings meeting r it must be borrowed from one of tile the bygone times limes of the te valley we all remained silent arid and reflected a moment and then tom jumped up in some excitement 1 I have it he exclaimed well give them bliem a bullfight bull fight fichtl we were struck almost dumb by the brilliancy of the suggestion and adopted it by a unan anani vote but it was one thin thing to decide to have a bull figlia arid and another to get one up my father told us that we must t put it through ouro ourselves elves he had no time lime to superintend it but we must guarantee that ahat no one should be hurt in it and that the atil animals mali should neither be killed nor cruelly treated we e gave tile the guarantee and set about organizing the fight of 09 course we knew absolutely nothing about bull fights we had come to the valley during the potato period and knew nothing except from books and hearsay about the wild life in tile llie mountains arid and the plains nor could we find anyone who had experience in bull rights fights so much time pasted passed weilu we were vainly cor responding with various people in ift tile the territory hoping to find someone av who h 0 could direct a bullfight bull fight that when we at laal baht gave gave up searching and resolved to trust to our own resources we had but three weeks if hit t in which to prepare lor for the event we read all we could find in the books inthe in the cub creek public library about bullfighting bull fighting and then I 1 went down to cheyenne Clie yenne and studied up the subject in the public library there my itly first proceeding on reaching home was to organize all the buys buy I 1 knew into c corps D aps of tor tore doret edores picadores picado pic adores rec chulos b a nde and mat matador adores cs most alost of the boys wanted to be tor edores or mata anata dores dorce but tom and I 1 exercised our authority seconded by that of my father to such an extent that we filled up the ranks then we appointed a sub on costumes and called in the assist ance of my sister blanche and of toms mother who had a gift for getting up all sorts of fancy dresses dres I 1 gave them my notes on the subject of bullfight bullfighters bull fighters ert costumes and they set at work everything seemed to be going on swimming now one further important requirement ina in a bull buil however to be met we must have some bullet this va the most difficult task of the whole enterprise enter price but at last we e borrowed five handsome texas steers belonging toa to a ranchman at the head of the creek for our arena we proposed to have an inclosure of barbed wire at one tide side of the grounds where the potato picnic was to be held in such a situation that the grandstand grand stand put up for other spectacles would command an excellent view of it A an n entrance way from outside the grounds through a gate at one side of the grandstand and flanked on one side by that structure and on the other by an ordinary board fence was to be constructed ted it seemed to us that a barbed wire ire inclosure was wag much better than the ordinary arena of the spanish and mexican hull bull lights fights because it would enable every one to see plainly what was going on at the same time it provided security for the audience we brought the texas steers tee rs to the town and put them on mirt short rations to make them ferocious we did not intend to hurt them neither did we mean they should hurt us the costumes were to be the principal part of four our corrida coreida de toros we were to have a sort of dress parade around the corral ot of handsome boys on handsome horses and on foot the steers were to be driven about actively for some time and a good deal of dust kicked up and finally the attention of the people was to be diverted by a baloon ascension we relied upon the novelty of the spectacle le to please the people and we knew that they would not be pleated pleased by any exhibition I 1 of cru cruelty elte to animals anim alb the potato picnic was certainly an im at least people were present on the grounds eloquent and stirring speeches had been made tons of roasted potatoes had been eaten the bands were playing and the enthusiasm ran high when the time ap pointed tor for the bullfight bull fight arrived we had been all excitement for hours our half starved steers were in a barn yard near the grounds five minutes before tire the time the gate of this enclosure was opened and the five cattle were started by the tore adores and pica dotes dores for the picnic grounds by reason of my intimate study of the subject I 1 had been made chief tore adore and mister master of ceremonies I 1 was mounted on my fathers black mare marc we had other toreadors tore torea adors dorb tom norcross and three pic picadores picado adores and our castu costumes in es though made chiefly of cheap fla flannel anel and cambric were in gaudiness of color at least a close imitation of those worn by spanish bull fighters the cattle proved to be un unexpectedly expect edly wild one or two of thern them touched up by one of the pic picadores picado adores plunged about fiery eyed and snorting after a good deal of trouble they were re driven into the arena where here they leaped and bellowed and we rive five boys went careening madly in after them amid intense excitement the chulos bande rillor arid and matamores mat adores on tuot foot of cours stood on a large dry goods box just outside the barb wire fence exactly opposite bhe entrance from this point they could leap over the fence into the arena we saw my the grand bland looking decidedly nervous I 1 coffed doffed my sombrero ina in a grand manner to the people in the stand bland as w ws rode by and then coming to a halt fainted lut edthe the cro crowd croad ad with a harr haT angue Tangue in spanish not a word of which a span lard could have understood announcing the beginning of the sport then we began to chase the steers madly around the ring with wild shouts all in carefully selected spanish the steers with eyes on fire and tills tails aloft ran magnificently Aft after ersome some tenor a dozen of these cir circuits cults I 1 gave the signal to the chulos and who the moment we wd had passed them leaped over into the ring and ran for the inside dry goods boxes boxen began to wave in the air large sheets of red cambrick lck now came the thrilling mordent mor moment lent when the steers came around so that the red sheets confronted bon fronted them we ex pecked them to t be furI furious and to rush madly at them whereupon the boys were to I 1 ap on the boxes and over the fence to a place of safety this was to be continued until the steers or the patience of at the audience gave out or the balloon went up but unfortunately the steers instead of being filled with fury at the sight of the sheets were scared almost to death they turned about so swiftly that we w who ho were on horseback ali albort nuitt rode u upon pon them but they dodged us raced across the enclosure huddled to together ethar with their tails to the fence anacon and confronted us with their long horns though I 1 rode my mare toward them as near as she would go and she va vas disposed to give them a wide berth they refused to budge this was unexpected and mortifying the crowd began to laugh and jeer send the other hoys boys around in back of item em and getem punch em out some one shouted this was evidently the thing to do I 1 ordered in plain english this time two of the baude to go around und punch the steers from behind through the barbed wire two of the picadores pic adores handed the baude their lances As soon as the steers were assaulted in the rear they sprang forward with so wild a leap and such frightful bellowing that our five horses turned tall tail and ran frantically around the ring they were simply uncontrollable the steers were bellowing and gunnine in every direction the remaining boys in the ring pale with fright plunged almost headlong over the fence to a place of safety our horses ran and the cattle ran each trying madly to get away from the other the audience shouted with laughter I 1 screamed to my men and they screamed back again but the mad panic continued there was real really y danger thit that a tragedy might follow in the midst of it I 1 saw one of the boys rushing on his horse horbe out through the lane which led to the gate arid and thus out of the In cloture some one had prudently opened the gate arid and th the e brave pl pi cadore was taking to flight afterward I 1 learned that my father had ordered the gate opened in less time than it takes to tell it it every toreador and pi cadore had charged down that lane and out of the file inclosure and as we went out the whole herd of steers came belf bellowing owing after us out into the open space surrounding the grounds we rushed with the now maddened toros at our heels we could hear bear great shouts of laughter from within rows of faces appeared at the top of the grand stand grinning at us tom said 1 I gasping as tily my horse plunged I 1 was entirely out of breath and so frightfully jolted by the riding that I 1 could hardly speak tom itjin where are you going im going out of town said he huskily and I 1 aint coming back till this great potato picnic Is over 1 I soni som I 1 II 11 I 1 I 1 gasped we rode on all five of us tore adores and ores and did not slacken our sp speed eed until we were well out aln oil tire the road toward the neighboring town of Slaters slatersville ville where we put up for the nigh tafter sending a telephone message to my father the last we saw of the steers they were going down toward the ranch where they belonged at the clumsy trot ca cattle Cs sometimes om C tm I 1 cf take the great corrida coreida te re toros wab wa over it ended very ingloriously for us for weeks we were the laughing stock of the town but the potato picnic was au all immense buc success cess I 1 have been told a thousand since that the bullfight bull fight was waif the befit thing that day on the pro gramme but this was always emphasized with a grin youths companion |