Bears as Predators ~

[brotherbear]

Continued from post #128... At first, the commercialized fights, advertised by garish posters, attracted great crowds. They were held on Sundays in most of the mining towns as well as in the booming pioneer cities of Sacramento and San Francisco. It is said that Horace Greeley was so impressed by the fights that he coined the terminology which is still used by Wall Street ( Potter, 1945 ). 
Preparations for the first fights held in Sacramento in the summer of 1851 were noted by the German traveler Carl Meyer ( 1938 ): "A long grandstand was built at the mile-long race track in Brighton, six miles from the city. The entrance price was $2.50 and enormous placards on every street corner announced for weeks ahead the glorious fight between the American gray bear 'General Scott' and the Mexican bull 'Sant Anna.' " The bear was valued at $1,500. 
 
The Bear will be chained with a twenty-foot chain in the middle of the arena. The Bull will be perfectly wild, young, of the Spanish breed, and the best that can be found in the country. The Bull's horns will be of their natural length, and "not sawed off to prevent accidents." The Bull will be quite free in the arena, and not hampered in any way whatever. Reply