Maybe, but it's... how the Ringmaster ran things back then. If you broke something, hurt an employee... anything that could be said to leave you indebted to the Carnival would be turned into a contract.

Things weren't as dangerous back then, so it was more inconvenient than anything.

[Yep, 'inconvenient' is what he'd call being pulled into indentured servitude for a year and a day. But, listen, it's not like he had much else going on.]