There was an episode where Andy kept mediating an ongoing fight between a husband and wife. The husband was played by Jesse White (The Maytag Repairman). Anyway, he kept making references to "belting his wife right in the mouth." It was played for laughs, this husband and wife beating each other up, but can you imagine if it was today?
There was also an episode when a temporary deputy made up some charts predicting crime in Mayberry and one of them was wife-beating. In the 60s apparently, such abuse was still being treated with a certain alacrity.
