At the turn of the twentieth century, the bulls were creating plenty of mayhem in the bullring. The bullfighters fought up close to the bull as times were hard and they were pretty desperate. And of course, at that time the horses had no padding or protection of any kind. As such the gorings were frequent and bloody and did not seem to scandalize the spectators much. For example, at the bullfight on the 7th of July 1902, Antonio de Dios, “Conejito”, suffered a serious goring (a bull from the Condesa de Espoz y Mina breed was the culprit) that almost killed him. He survived, but in a bad way for a long time after. The horses had worse luck. The same bull killed eight of them that day. The previous year there were a total of 39 horses killed during the six days of bullfighting. And the following year there was one day when a total of 14 horses were killed in the ring.

The uninterrupted noise day and night of the present-day Sanfermin is something which is of relatively recent origin, perhaps some 40 or 50 years ago. However, in the early decades of the XX century, noise was already becoming a cause of some concern to a certain part of the citizenry of Pamplona, who cast a cold eye on any raucous activities. The Mayor, in 1917, a man by the name of Demetrio Martínez de Azagra, felt it was time to put the rowdy sector in their place and he published an edict of “prohibition” to put things in order. Among other things which he banned were “any singing, shouting or playing of music instruments, or any other noise in the public streets between the time of 12.00 midnight and 5 0’clock in the morning that might aggravate the fitting repose of the neighbors.” What the edict does not state is what things were allowed to take place.

The act of thieving and robbing from others was already a thriving business in 1907. That year 90 pickpockets were captured during the Sanfermines, which gives us some idea of how well that business was thriving in that age. The imagination of the thieves, rogues and swindlers did not end there. During those same fiestas the authorities had to issue a warning that some trickster had put false two-peseta coins into circulation in the town. And on another day that same year, a police raid at the Fair Market produced the confiscation of nine pistols, three revolvers, twenty-nine knives, three lances, a pruning shears, twelve flick knives, a picklock and two shaving knives. It would seem that the Fair Market was a place where one would go well prepared for the worst to happen. In any case, no explanation is given as to the utility of the pruning shears in this place

It is no easy thing to suffer two mishaps in the same year in the running of the bulls. But some have managed it. In 1975 the veteran runner, Jerónimo Echagúe, did not exactly have his best ever fiestas. He had been taking part in the running of the bulls every year for the past 61 years. He was a well-respected runner who was often asked for advice by other runners. However, on the 7th of that year he was knocked to the ground by a charging bull and taken off to the hospital to have his arm put in a sling. Without more ado, the following morning he escaped from the hospital in which he had been admitted and he managed to run again on the 9th. His luck was out that year for once again a bull charged him and sent him sprawling for a second time. There is no indication that he made any further attempts to run, at least not that year

The running of the bulls on the 11th July, 1968 had a French runner who inadvertently became the protagonist of one of the most torrid scenes ever beheld in the history of the run. He just simply wanted to have his muted run, reach the bullring, take a quick look at the bulls close up, and get out. Then he could go back to Strasburg and tell his friends what this running of the bulls was all about. But a mean looking bull had other plans for the poor chap. The bull stared at him from afar, liked what he saw and made a charge. However, instead of goring the fellow or knocking him up in the air, the bull decided to strip the man down. Off came - not only his trousers but also his underwear - and the poor man was exposed to the sight of 20,000 spectators looking at him in his birthday suit. I guess we could say he came off lightly given the circumstances

Just a few days before the outbreak of The Spanish Civil War and the social unrest was obvious, even in the streets of Pamplona. Because, with just two days to go before the start of the fiestas, the bearers of The Giants and their entourage threatened to go on strike if their wages were not increased that year. In the end, the threat never materialized although we don’t know if the demands of the Kings of America, Europe Asia and Africa were met or not. Obviously, for the following two years the official celebrations were suspended because of the war, although it seems that the nationalist movement did make some attempt at some informal celebration of the Sanfermines. For example, there was apparently some kind of running of the bulls organized where some soldiers took the part of the runners and others the part of the bulls. There is no evidence that any gorings took place

During most part of the XX century a dim view was taken of the idea of women taking part in the running of the bulls. In fact, it was just the idea, because in reality, the authorities were there to make sure that no women attempted to enter the course. The actress, Olga Omar, managed to overcome the ruling, but only because she was going to shoot a scene for a movie, and she had the acquiescence of the authorities to do so. Her task was to enter the course when the bulls had already passed that point, but she must have miscalculated her numbers because when she started running there were still two bulls coming up behind. She got quite a scare but nothing more than that. Eleven years later and the newspapers continued to report on how the municipal police sifted among the runners and had found three women who were ordered to exit the course. However, one of them slipped back in and managed to accomplish her ambition. The following year, at least another three were counted. And little by little it began to become less infrequent to see some women in among the runners as they raced in front of the bulls

The fireworks were already a regular event of the fiestas by the middle of the last century. They were set off in the main square – La Plaza del Castillo. There was always a big attendance for this show although at that time the security measures were not nearly as tight as they are now. So, it is no surprise to find that mishaps would occur. Such as the one on the 11th of July, 1948 when the show started a bit too early for the good of the public. It happened that as the workmen were unloading the material in the early afternoon some fireworks went off and this set off a chain of explosions which spread like wildfire – and that is the apt expression in the circumstances – and caused many slight abrasions among the public in the busy square. Many would have gone home that evening well scorched. Needless to say, there was no fireworks show that night

At the beginning of the last century the running of the bulls was still very much a home-grown affair and it seems that the bulls still had the chance to say no thanks to an early-morning run. Or rather it would seem they could decide on when to run when they felt like it. The fact is that one the 9th of July, 1908 a spot of three different runs were seen. First of all, in the morning three of the six bulls decided that they did not want to leave their pen, so that there was a running of the bulls with just the three bulls which did exit the pens. When they were already in the bullring the other three who had been reluctant to leave were coaxed out of the pen and these were raced up to the bullring. To crown it all, in the afternoon a heifer somehow escaped and ran around charging and frightening the general public who were out strolling in the streets. The press of the day states that various ladies were assailed by the animal in Estafeta Street. The municipal police finally managed to shoot the poor animal dead, - for being so cheeky and brazen we can only suppose