Arizona Charlie and America's only bullfight.
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June 22nd, 2025 at 11:27:30 AM
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While Arizona Charlie Meadows isn't well known today, he was known as the King Of The Cowboys in the 1890s and toured with his own Wild West show. A giant of a man, he was billed as seven feet, with leading-man looks and blazing eyes.
After years of constant touring, including three nine-month world tours, he and his partner Joe Wolf were looking for change. They settled in the small town of Gillet, Colorado. The town had 2,000 residents and two dozen saloons. They bought a minor league baseball team, but after ten games, with attendance not reaching triple digits, they disbanded it.
After a long discussion, fueled by tequila, they built a bull-fighting arena. Flyers were distributed, advertising 20 bulls and a gathering of the best matadors from Mexico and Spain, although only one name was listed.
Controversy quickly followed, and it turned out Colorado had no law against bullfighting. To keep the bulls from being harmed, the promoters agreed to wrap the bulls' horns in rubber, keep all blades sheathed but covered with glue so they stick to the bull, and agreed to have a specialist train the bulls to come to a halt on command. The state signed off on those terms, ridiculous and impossible as they were.
Fifty thousand people were expected, and hotels and tent camps were built in anticipation. As the date approached, the promotion was in turmoil. The Governor said his representatives would shut it down as soon as a bull was harmed, which made people reluctant to make the long trip if there would be no fight. A chartered railroad from NYC arrived, with all 300 people holding counterfeit tickets. A printer was arrested and charged with selling 10,000 fake tickets. The fighting bulls were turned back at the border so Arizona Charley bought twenty Hereford bulls from the local meat factory.
On the Thursday before the fight, US Marshals showed up to arrest Meadows and Wolf, only to find they'd been arrested on local charges. A hundred locals had been deputized and formed a human chain around the jail, denying the Marshals access to the two.
Saturday arrives, and it is the hottest day in Memory. Dozens collapse, marching or watching the parade. The show starts nearly two hours later, before a crowd of 15,000. Several acts are canceled, and Arizona Charlie's act of trick riding and shooting is cut from ninety minutes to under twenty. Even with the small crowd, they ran out of beer and most concessions. The crowd is bored and turning angry. An ornate presentation had been planned for the matadors, but instead, one appears in the ring, with two assistants.
The bull is released, and most people recognize it as a Hereford, not a fighting bull. The bull looks at the three men and scampers off, looking for shade and food. For several minutes, the matador chases the bull, and finally manages to slash him. The bull appears shocked and stands there as two more swords are inserted into his shoulders. Finally the matador killed the bull and no one knew what to do. There was a spattering of applause, and an equal amount of boos. Although five fights are scheduled, the show ends after just two.
Wolfe had financed the show and needed to average 25,000 tickets a day to break even, so when Saturday's ticket sales were just slightly better, they knew they were screwed. Noting the crowds indifference to the fights, Meadows stretched his act to over four hours and Joe Wolf took nearly twenty minutes introducing the world's greatest female bullfighter, who wasn't even there. The best thing about this show was that the beer flowed all night. It rained on Sunday and some 5000 people sat through an abbreviated show as many performers left when they found out they weren't getting paid.
Arizona Charlie was born Abram Meadows, but his father changed his name to Charlie when Abraham Lincoln was elected.
He was born in a snowstorm and feared he would die in one. He moved to Yuma, Arizona, where it snows every hundred years or so. Six years later, he died on the day Yuma got a record-breaking snowfall.
Colorado now bans bullfighting, as do most states. Gillett was the only town in America to host one, and the fates were not kind. The population steadily declined, and a 1965 flood washed away the road and most of the town's buildings. Scavengers and souvenir hunters have picked the ruins clean.
After years of constant touring, including three nine-month world tours, he and his partner Joe Wolf were looking for change. They settled in the small town of Gillet, Colorado. The town had 2,000 residents and two dozen saloons. They bought a minor league baseball team, but after ten games, with attendance not reaching triple digits, they disbanded it.
After a long discussion, fueled by tequila, they built a bull-fighting arena. Flyers were distributed, advertising 20 bulls and a gathering of the best matadors from Mexico and Spain, although only one name was listed.
Controversy quickly followed, and it turned out Colorado had no law against bullfighting. To keep the bulls from being harmed, the promoters agreed to wrap the bulls' horns in rubber, keep all blades sheathed but covered with glue so they stick to the bull, and agreed to have a specialist train the bulls to come to a halt on command. The state signed off on those terms, ridiculous and impossible as they were.
Fifty thousand people were expected, and hotels and tent camps were built in anticipation. As the date approached, the promotion was in turmoil. The Governor said his representatives would shut it down as soon as a bull was harmed, which made people reluctant to make the long trip if there would be no fight. A chartered railroad from NYC arrived, with all 300 people holding counterfeit tickets. A printer was arrested and charged with selling 10,000 fake tickets. The fighting bulls were turned back at the border so Arizona Charley bought twenty Hereford bulls from the local meat factory.
On the Thursday before the fight, US Marshals showed up to arrest Meadows and Wolf, only to find they'd been arrested on local charges. A hundred locals had been deputized and formed a human chain around the jail, denying the Marshals access to the two.
Saturday arrives, and it is the hottest day in Memory. Dozens collapse, marching or watching the parade. The show starts nearly two hours later, before a crowd of 15,000. Several acts are canceled, and Arizona Charlie's act of trick riding and shooting is cut from ninety minutes to under twenty. Even with the small crowd, they ran out of beer and most concessions. The crowd is bored and turning angry. An ornate presentation had been planned for the matadors, but instead, one appears in the ring, with two assistants.
The bull is released, and most people recognize it as a Hereford, not a fighting bull. The bull looks at the three men and scampers off, looking for shade and food. For several minutes, the matador chases the bull, and finally manages to slash him. The bull appears shocked and stands there as two more swords are inserted into his shoulders. Finally the matador killed the bull and no one knew what to do. There was a spattering of applause, and an equal amount of boos. Although five fights are scheduled, the show ends after just two.
Wolfe had financed the show and needed to average 25,000 tickets a day to break even, so when Saturday's ticket sales were just slightly better, they knew they were screwed. Noting the crowds indifference to the fights, Meadows stretched his act to over four hours and Joe Wolf took nearly twenty minutes introducing the world's greatest female bullfighter, who wasn't even there. The best thing about this show was that the beer flowed all night. It rained on Sunday and some 5000 people sat through an abbreviated show as many performers left when they found out they weren't getting paid.
Arizona Charlie was born Abram Meadows, but his father changed his name to Charlie when Abraham Lincoln was elected.
He was born in a snowstorm and feared he would die in one. He moved to Yuma, Arizona, where it snows every hundred years or so. Six years later, he died on the day Yuma got a record-breaking snowfall.
Colorado now bans bullfighting, as do most states. Gillett was the only town in America to host one, and the fates were not kind. The population steadily declined, and a 1965 flood washed away the road and most of the town's buildings. Scavengers and souvenir hunters have picked the ruins clean.
Last edited by: billryan on Jun 22, 2025
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
June 29th, 2025 at 7:31:14 AM
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California still has bullfights, but "Portugese style" where the matadors are on horseback and the bulls are not killed.
"Bullfighter" is also a rodeo term; I think it refers to someone who is usually referred to as a "rodeo clown" but doesn't dress up or use things like giant barrels - their job is just to distract a bull that throws its rider.
"Bullfighter" is also a rodeo term; I think it refers to someone who is usually referred to as a "rodeo clown" but doesn't dress up or use things like giant barrels - their job is just to distract a bull that throws its rider.
