WORSHIP OF THE TOREADOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11544, 1 December 1900, Page 2 (Supplement)

WORSHIP OF THE TOREADOR.

EXTRAORDINARY SCENE AT A MADRID INTERMENT.

Madrid, October 13.—Madrid has just been the scene of one of the most extraordinary funerals that has taken place there for many a day. It was the funeral of a bullfighter, and thousands of people wept over the grave. At Barcelona, Dominguin, one of the rising toreadors, met his death at the horns of an infuriated Miura bull. A week before he narrowly escaped death while playing Escamillo in the realistic performance of " Carmen" at Bayonne, in which a real bull was introduced in the bullfighting scene. On his next entrance in {he arena he fell, and while the great audience was thundering applause at his rival, Deminguin died in the background. His remains were embalmed, and carried in triumph from Barcelona to Madrid. The newspapers devoted several columns daily to descriptions of the hero-worship of the dead toreador. Then came the burial. The bier, accompanied by thousands of people, many of them women from the poorer quarters of the city, arrived at the cemetery, where an immense crowd was waiting. The mourners, mostly toreadors, were separated from the bier by the rush of people, and when the coffin at last reached the graveside there was a dreadful incident. The pressing crowd forced coffin, priest, and several mourners forward, and they fell together into the open grave. There was a scene of horror and wild excitement, and with drawn swords the police charged the mob and cleared a space. While the thousands looked on, the last rites were performed over the body of the dead hero. But that was not all. While the police were clearing the crowd out of the cemetery after the ceremony, two beautiful women, dressed in black, drove up and made their way to the grave. Th*" younger and more beautiful placed a wreath on the coffin, and after gazing through the glass pane fitted above the face of the dead Dominguin fell swooning to the ground. She was a lady from Paris, who fell in love with the toreador at Biarritz. Now that the funeral is over the Madrid papers are pouring scorn on the popular toreador-worship.