No further business will be done until its affairs are compromised;" the sheriff's deputy would announce, in a loud voice, as he endeavored to keep the crowd back.

"There's only an empty safe, gentlemen, and some handsome office furniture," he would ejaculate.

"You can't have them, you know." Extravagance had indeed swallowed up all the substance and left only these insignificant things for the crowd of anxious creditors to feast their eyes on.
Rumor after rumor rang through Wall Street, each in turn increasing the amount of Topman's forgeries, and adding new names to the list of his victims.

Bank ledgers were examined to see if the name of the firm appeared on them, and portly old directors put on their spectacles and congratulated themselves that the concern did not owe them a shilling.
Groups of excited men stood at street corners discussing in animated tones the great event of the street.

Everybody knew it must come.