By TheStreet What Was the Panic of 1907?Over three weeks in October, 1907, theNew York Stock Exchange witnessed a sharp, 50% decline that wreaked havoc throughout America’s banking system, second only in severity to the Great Crash of 1929. Wealthy, self-interested financiers would personally bail out the markets—and grow more even powerful in the process. Eventually, the crisis would lead to sweeping reforms of the financial system as well as the formation of the United States’ first central bank, the Federal Reserve. What Caused the Panic of 1907? The panic of 1907 was also known as the Knic…