Pepete (José Gallego Mateo)

José Gallego Mateo (19 March 1883 – 7 September 1910),[1][2] known as Pepete III, was a Spanish matador.

José Gallego Mateo
José Gallego Mateo in 1909
Personal information
NicknamePepete
NationalitySpanish
Born19 March 1883
Seville, Spain
Died7 September 1910(1910-09-07) (aged 27)
Murcia, Spain
OccupationMatador
Years active1905–1910
Sport
SportBullfighting

Career

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The Seville-born matador José Gallego Mateo appeared on carteles taurinos [es], or promotional posters, as José Claro "Pepete," likely because his patronym Gallego seemed ill-suited for a bullfighter. (Gallego means "Galician," and there were no bullrings in Galicia at the time.)

After taking the alternativa in 1905,[3] the right-hander appeared as a bullfighter in Spain and especially in Mexico.[4] According to his contemporaries, he was brave and had a good technique, but he was seriously injured frequently—seven times throughout his five-year career as a matador.[3]

 
A report of one of Pepete's injuries in 1909.

On 7 September 1910, at the Murcia bullring during a mano a mano with the bullfighter Machaquito [es], the first bull of the afternoon, "Estudiante" from the Parladé [es] ranch, knocked down a picador. Pepete rushed to help the picador, but the bull sank his horn into the matador's right thigh, rupturing his femoral artery. Pepete died only a few minutes later at the bullring's infirmary.[2][3][4]

References

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  1. ^ "Hilario González Delgado "Serranito" (1883 - 1908)". Los toros dan y quitan (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-11-19.
  2. ^ a b Maldonado, Antonio Hita (2002). El flamenco en la discografía antigua: la International Zonophone Company : historia y discografía flamenca (1905-1912) : un estudio para aficionados y coleccionistas (in Spanish). Universidad de Sevilla. ISBN 978-84-472-0725-1.
  3. ^ a b c Cebrián, José Antonio Ayuste (2017-03-21). Los carteles malditos y otros misterios taurinos. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial España. ISBN 978-84-9112-876-2.
  4. ^ a b "Efemérides Taurinas del 7 de Septiembre de 2009". Suerte Matador (in Spanish). 2009-09-07. Archived from the original on 2015-06-10.