Kaffee und Kuchen: Murder and Mayhem in 1881 Ohio

A newspaper’s three words: slatternly, virago, and termagant built the murder story of German Ohio immigrant Mary Bach by her husband Carl Bach in 1881 as one where a dirty, domineering, and overbearing woman was to blame for her own murder. Ondrus re-examines the story with the case’s artifacts-- the noose, fingers, knife, stories from the local newspaper of 1881-1883, the Bachs’ homesickness for Germany, and the townspeople. She shows how Mary Bach resisted, not only the night of her brutal murder, but by legal means too. While Carl Bach goes down in history as the last man hung in Wood County, Ohio, in this book the whole story of the murder comes forth.

Content warning: This program discusses themes of domestic violence, which may include emotional, physical, and psychological abuse which may be upsetting for viewers. Discretion advised.

This program is both in-person and virtual and will be recorded. Our speaker will join us virtually on the 4th floor and will be projected through Zoom. Virtual attendees will receive a Zoom link via email prior to the program. A recording of the session will be sent to attendees after the program.

1:30 refreshments
2:00 program

Included with regular admission ($8)

Free for Members

☕️ BYOM!
Guests are welcome to bring their own mugs if they wish. Disposable cups are provided, but help us reduce waste and bring a favorite mug!

Bio:

Dr. Suzanne Ondrus’ poetry books Passion Seeds and Death of an Unvirtuous Woman deal with history, foreign cultures, women’s sexuality, racism, identity, and domestic violence serve as platforms for discussion of these taboo topics. She was the 2013 Reed Magazine Markham Poetry Prize winner, a 2017 featured UNESCO World Book Capital poet in Guinea, Conakry, and a 2018-2020 Fulbright Scholar to Burkina Faso. She has worked in Rostock, Bonn, and Heidelberg and was a Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft Stipendiatin and a Robert Bosch Fellow. She speaks German. She is from Ohio, USA and presently lives in Bogota. Hear her read her poems on her YouTube channel Suzanne Ondrus and find her updates and links to her poems on suzanneondrus.com.

Mary and Carl Bach Image courtesy of The Wood County Historical Society