After a failed escape attempt, Wagner became the fourth to last person to be executed by the State of Maine.

[3] In 1875, poet Celia Thaxter wrote and published an account of the Smuttynose murders in Atlantic Monthly.

It was titled A Memorable Murder and remains a classic of American true crime writing.

Author Anita Shreve fictionalized the crime in her bestselling 1996 novel The Weight of Water, which claims that Wagner was falsely convicted.

In the 2000 film adaptation, Wagner was portrayed onscreen by Irish actor Ciaran Hinds.