Two days before the sheriff of the county had seriously disturbed the
peace of Hanz's little house by walking in and making service of a legal
document of immense length--Topman and Gusher vs. Hanz Toodleburg--and
in which the names were recapitulated so many times, and in so many
different ways, as to bewilder Hanz's mind and send him into a state of
deep distress. In short, Topman and Gusher, (Chapman's name was not
mentioned, and for reasons which any sharp gentleman of the legal
profession will understand,) had entered suit against Hanz, charging him
with having made certain contracts he had not fulfilled, of procuring
money and certain other property for the sale of secrets he did not
possess, and indeed of having deceived and defrauded the plaintiffs, and
of committing crimes enough to have sent at least a dozen men to the
penitentiary. And all this to the serious damage, as well in reputation
as pocket, of the highly enterprising and rapidly advancing firm of
Topman and Gusher. And the plaintiffs prayed, as virtuous gentlemen are
known to pray in such cases, that the defendant's property might be
attached, and such damages decreed as in the discretion of the court
justice demanded.
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