The year the Tank was built there were numerous incidents between gangs of underclassmen. Many of these occurred under the Tank due to repeated attempts to paint and guard it. The next year the Upperclassmen decided to have one big fight to decide what class had the right to paint their numerals on the Tank that remain for the rest of the school year. From the first day of the school year however gangs of freshmen at times numbering over one hundred would roam on and off campus looking for sophomores. A favorite tactic was stopping street cars and pulling their victims out and pouring various colors of paint over them. The freshmen at times set up road blocks; stopping cars and collecting victims. At times the Sophomores were also tied up, or forced to dance and yell the freshmen yell. This was done to taunt the sophomores into a preliminary scrap. In some years the freshmen also practiced their knot tying on each other preparing for the upcoming events.
Group of freshmen pour paint over the head of one victim while another awaits his fate.
Source: "Looking Backward," 1899 Debris (Lafayette: The Senior Class of Purdue University, 1899): 102.
