Surprise! Part 2

The Visitor’s Center in Calumet, MI, was also a National Historic Park filled with exhibits detailing the era when Calumet was a boom mining town. This would have been around the time of the Wild West, only it was the Wild Midwest. One of the displays listed crimes committed back in the late 1800s to early 1900s and the punishments that criminals received for them. For example, killing a baby was punishable by a certain number of days or months in jail. I don’t remember the number, but let’s say it was 68 days. [I’ve wanted to contact the museum for specifics, but it has been closed since the coronavirus lockdown in early 2020.] Whatever the number was, it was shocking- but also understandable. It’s interesting to see how crimes were ranked and dealt with when there simply wasn’t space to hold criminals or law enforcement officers to look after them.