[1] Paraphernalia associated with the murder, including a jar containing three of Bach’s severed fingers, are currently on display at the Wood County Museum in Bowling Green, Ohio, where they have become a point of interest for regional tourism.
[2] In recent years, scholars have cited the murder as a case of historic domestic violence and femicide, and the display of Bach’s fingers and other objects associated with her killing have prompted conversations surrounding museum ethics.
He was held in custody for eighteen days, and upon his release, Mary filed a peace warrant, or restraining order, against her husband, effectively banishing him from their farm.
However, following the execution, media coverage shifted much of the blame onto Mary, pointing to her refusal to fulfill traditional spousal duties as justification for her murder.
In an article published in the periodical The Public Historian, Dr. Rebecca Mancuso wrote “The collection of documents generated by the crime provide a deeper view into nineteenth-century domestic spaces and intimate relationships, realms that did not always bring to women the fulfillment and protection that prevailing rhetoric would suggest.
[3] In the United States, laws such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act limit the display of Indigenous remains and funerary objects.
[13] However, because Mary Bach was a German immigrant with no tribal affiliations, her fingers are not protected by any existing legislation, despite current museum ethics advising against the display of remains in most circumstances.
[3] In 2015, the museum temporarily removed the jar from display for conservation efforts, including replacing the original alcohol that had been preserving Bach’s fingers since 1881.
The goals of the redesign included humanizing Mary Bach, and bringing attention to the issue of domestic violence in Wood County.