hitch, pistol-whipping, etc.

[constantinusphilo]

A couple of years later he did a short hitch in Juliet for pistol-whipping another twist that had given him the needle...
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
I understand this way: a few years later he was briefly arrested in Juliet for shooting at another girlfriend for having denounced him.

 

[probus]

I'm not familiar with that slang usage of twist and suspect it has gone out of fashion. But I am sure that "did a short hitch" means served a short term of imprisonment. Joliet is a small town in Illinois that has a penitentiary. To give someone the needle is to taunt, tease or insult them. To pistol-whip someone is to use a pistol like a club to hit them.