Madrid bull-fighting fans have a better opinion of Yankee toreadors today. In their own words, Sydney Franklin, Brooklyn Jewish bull fighter, is “que hombre !” (“what a mans”), an Associated Press despatch from Madrid states.
Franklin, on Thursday, making his debut in a Madrid bull ring with Premier Primo de Rivera, his two daughters, and other notables, looking on, dispatched two ferocious beasts in really skillful manner, although barely escaping a dangerous goring at the horns of one brindle animal.
The fans, numbering 13,000, many of whom had come out of curiosity to see just what sort of a matador a “Yanqui” might make, gave Franklin an ovation after each bull. The Brooklyn man rebuffed their efforts to carry him from the ring when he had killed his second animal, with the plea he was tired and bruised and needed to rest.
In the course of the afternoon, Franklin was on the ground three times, once with the first beast, a spotted black bull, and twice with the second one. The last time was a very close call, the bull’s lunging horns catching in his sash and throwing him face down on the sand. The cavorting brindle then dragged-him a full thirty feet while the audience gasped and groaned. The general impression was the bull had his horn in Franklin’s body and was dragging him to his death.
Other cape men diverted the bull’s attention, however, and the great animal shook his head from the sash and started toward them. Franklin arose rubbed the dirt from his eyes and limped to where an assistant proffered a wet towel. He rinsed his face and hands, and taking up his sword again, resumed the combat, killing the bull in short order.
Franklin dedicated the first of his bulls to a group of American tourists throwing his cloak to the box of his countrymen in accordance with the custom of the arena. The second bull he dedicated to the Spanish nation by saluting the royal box, which was not occupied, before the fight.
He was much pleased with the reception accorded him, and with the criticism of the experts, who said he displayed considerable skill in the fine points of the Spanish game.
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