Considering the unpleasant reactions to things like "borrowing" other folks' livestock back in those times, I'd guess that messin' with a tax collector was going to result in considerably more than "having his arm twisted or something".
I'm particularly concerned about the scope/quantity of bad things covered by that "or something" since every time I go to Helena (Montana State Capitol + home of some of our vast clan) I pass near the railroad trestle that's been reported as the site of the last public hanging in the state.
Just things make you go "Hummm".
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 President Trump says “we’re getting close” to the US government shutdown ending.
“You’ll know very soon.” 21 sec
https://truthsocial.com/@ronaldspeaks/115523191102968488
Oh gosh, when you said that, it made me recall a newspaper account from 1881 that I found. I was not sure where my great-great grandparents lived until I found this account that a man was found hanging from the train trestle that bridged the nearby creek. The men who found him went to my ancestor's house, which was apparently closest to the trestle (they called it a "trellis"), to get help to get the man down. This led to me searching for what happened to this man, who had last been seen, by multiple witnesses, begging for a quarter at the train station so he could ride the train home, and was thought to be drunk. The man, who was black, was still alive when they got him down, but was nonsensical, and died in a wagon on the way to town. They weren't sure if he had attempted to jump onto the train and then fell off, or if he had been attacked and thrown from the train.
Horrible story, but let me know exactly where my ancestor's house was located.