TERRIBLE SCENE AT A BULL FIGHT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1731, 1 May 1888, Page 3

TERRIBLE SCENE AT A BULL FIGHT.

San Fbancisco, April 8. A special message from the City of Mexico gives the following advices from CelayaOn Sunday afternoon about 4.45 o’clock the bull ring o Celaya w*s crowded with spectators. The Company from Leon were playing with the first bull, when a fire suddenly broke out on the side of the amphitheatre. A panic seised the assemblage, and a frightful catastrophe was the result. The amphitheatre was constructed of wooden masts, reeds, etc,, and it was due to this fact that the majority escaped without injury', they being able to force an opening to permit an exit at different points, but many women and children jumped from the top, a distance of 201) to 300 feet, and over 100 persons were seriously injured, and eighteen lives were lost. The inside of the amphitheatre being lined with matting as dry as tinder, and there being a slight wind blowing, the amphitheatre was in a blaze in a few seconds. Nine bodies, in some cases so charred as to be almost unrecognisable, were taken from the ruins. Nine persons were so badly burned that they died in a few hours. Sixty-eigbt persons were badly burned, and at least ten of them will die this week. Fifty persons- in escaping were knocked down and trampled upon by the panicstricken throng, and are very seriously but . not fatally injured; The bulls, maddened by the roaring flames, broke loose from their stalls, and' rushed wildly through the surging masses of humanity, tossing aloft and knocking over all who stood in their way. Among the eighteen dead were two women who were gored to death by the bulls and their bodies afterwards burned. The scenes in the neighborhood of the bull-ring were sickening beyond description. Women and children, divested of their clothing, and crazed with suffering from their burns, ran aimlessly through the streets,and could scarcely be overtaken or collected by friends. Several persons lost their reason from the severe mental shock to which they were subjected. The fire was incendiary. In Celaya gaol were numbers of prisoners and army deserters, who had obtained permission from the authorities to attend the bull-fight. They were accompanied by a strong guard of soldiers to prevent their escape, but one of the deserters' surreptitiously struck a match and lighted one of the dry palm mats. In an instant the soli, or sunny side of 1 the ring, was ablaze! In the confusion and excitement the prisoners succeeded in making good their escape. The bestsociety in Celeya was in attendance and as it was Easter Sunday, the, return of the season of gaiety after Lent, there was an unusually large number of ladies and little children present, and these were the sufferers. No man lost his life; the helpless little ones and their mothers, who would not desert their offspring; were the victims of the appalling catastrophe. Celaya is in mourning, and on every side is heard the sound of wailing for loved ones dead, dying, or suffering. It is the saddest tragedy that has occurred in the three centuries of the city’s history.