The whispers began on the afternoon of April 17th. "At eleven, we fill the hole." A small crowd had gathered at the site by 10:55 p.m. By 11:15 p.m., over 400 people had surrounded the hole. Originally 15 feet deep, it had quickly diminished to only 12 feet. An upright flaming cross appeared on the grass, a hi-fi system blasted "Onward Christian Soldiers" and fireworks shot into the sky. "Do we want Chapel?" yelled the students. "No!" came the reply. "What are we going to do about it?" "Fill in the hole!" Other students chanted, "Go Amherst, Beat Chapel!" Most of the assembled students were "anti-Chapelites," and leaflets advertising a meeting to protest obligatory chapel attendence were distributed. Despite the strong feelings of the majority, several students simply attended "for the hell of it."
Some men made an attempt to raid Johnson Chapel and steal the hymnals. They were mostly unsuccessful, but witnesses said they saw a policeman carrying an armful of hymnals back to the chapel the next morning. In the morning, all that remained of the previous evening's mayhem were a burnt cross and crushed grass. Acting President Willard L. Thorp '20 declared, "Last night's substitution of manpower for bulldozers has the meaningless character of most disorderly demonstrations, especially when they occur in the spring." He added, "I do regret that Amherst men, who have steadfastly demonstrated their abhorrence of religious and racial discrimination should thoughtlessly have permitted the appearance on the Amherst campus of a symbol associated with bigotry and intolerance."
Meanwhile, a contractor began working on filling the other two holes at the site and, according to The Amherst Student, wondered wryly "whom he should thank for the assistance he received last night."