FWIW, the infection was not caused by the bullet itself, which was usually pretty sterile, but by the dirt and crud from the victim's skin and clothing being dragged into the wound. And people were surrounded by horse manure, dirt from unpaved streets, and a general level of filth that would kill a modern person in a few hours just from breathing the air. Since dry cleaning was unknown, and many men bathed on a "once a year, whether needed or not" basis, even a minor wound could become deadly pretty quickly.
But no one considered, even then, that a .32 was a real manstopper. What those old cops had going for them was brute force and a justice system that considered killing a cop cause for a swift encounter with a rope.
Jim