Back in those days a man could be legally hanged within weeks of murdering someone.
The Whipping Post was still in use some places for small crimes. Wife Beaters got to feel the whip!
Then the do-gooders came along, bawled and bellowed about “injustice” and got these vermin released on the public.
Bring back the noose and whipping post! Some people just need to feel rope burns before they expire and others a taste of the lash for minor crimes and misdemeanors.
True, if you killed someone you were in big trouble.
But what modern people would find surprising is how much physical damage you could do short of murder, and get what we would consider today a very light sentence. The process was even faster than murder; you could be tried, convicted, and hauled off to the pokey within a few days of the crime.
The good old days!?