8 Chilling Reports About Insane Fathers

There are numerous reports about insane fathers murdering their families in the newspaper archives. For this blog post, I am going to focus on several cases of father’s attempting to murder their entire families.

Not to worry, though. I will also be covering insane mothers, daughters, and sons in upcoming posts.

1. Insane Man Blows Self and Daughter to Pieces

In 1913, an Indiana father, 55, strapped dynamite to his waist and crawled into bed with his two daughters.

According to a newspaper report:

“[He] had been adjudged insane and was awaiting commitment to a hospital. His actions have been so erratic and wild for two days that his wife lived in terror of him.

“This morning at 2 o’clock he tied dynamite around his waist and crawled into bed between his two daughters. It is believed that he meant to enter his wife’s bed, but she was sleeping in another room with her two young sons.

“The striking of a match awoke the sleeping girls, but that was all that one of them ever knew. [The father] was practically blown to pieces and [his 16-year-old daughter] was instantly killed. The six-year-old daughter was taken to a hospital and placed immediately upon the operating table. A leg had to be amputated and her recovery is doubtful.” [Source]

2. Not the Same After Car Accident

From out of Seattle, 1915:

“George Roberts, a plumber, who is believed to have become insane as a result of an injury which he recently sustained, killed his wife and a daughter who was blind, and severely wounded another daughter and son with an axe, last night. He then committed suicide by shooting himself through the head.

“Roberts was injured in an automobile accident some time ago and has but recently been discharged from the care of physicians. He had been injured in the head and it is believed that he became insane during the night.

“The son and daughter who escaped the insane father tell of the heroic efforts of their mother to defend their blind sister and the attacks made upon them by their father with an axe.” [Source]

3. Believed God was Talking to Him, Made Threats to Kill Daughter

A Columbus, Ohio father believed that God was continuously talking to him and later threatened to murder one of his daughters. He was committed to an asylum in 1912.

“Andrew Peterson, aged 41 years and residing in the village of Columbus, was arrested Wednesday by City Marshal James B. Rohla, and brought to Bowbells where he stood examination as to his sanity before the insanity board, and was committed to the hospital at Jamestown.

“Mr. Peterson was a common laborer at Columbus and has lived there for several years. He had been drinking quite heavily and it is believed that alcohol was responsible for his condition. His illusion was that God was continually talking to him and telling him to pray and read the bible.

“He was arrested after making threats to kill one of his daughters, but was harmless when in custody and gave the officers no trouble whatever. The unfortunate man is married and is the father of eight children, all of whom are living, the youngest one being ten months old.” [Source]

4. Insane Father Slashes Babies With Razor

The following terrifying news report is from 1912:

“The quick wit of 7-year-old Ethel Schwarz saved the lives of her two baby brothers, Hans, aged 8 months, and Joseph, 20 months old, when their little bodies were slashed with a razor in the hands of their insane father, Joseph Schwarz, a cabinet maker who committed suicide by cutting his throat after an attempt to suffocate his entire family with gas.

“The little girl was found, the dead body of her father lying on the floor beside her, frantically trying to stop the flow of blood from cuts on the bodies of her infant brothers. Ethel, herself, was slashed across the breast and was weak from loss of blood when William Ford, a neighbor, arrived in answer to the screams of Mrs. Maria Schwarz, mother of the children.

“The fact that Mrs. Schwarz, suspicious of her husband’s actions, lay awake through the night to watch him, thwarted his first despondent attempt to kill himself and his children. According to Mrs. Schwarz, her husband arose from his bed about 5 o’clock in the morning, placed the children in bed with him, and turned on the gas jets. He also attached a rubber tube to one of the jets and placed the other end in his mouth.

“When she realized what he had done, Mrs. Schwarz ran screaming to the window and attracted the attention of Ford, and the two forced their way into the room occupied by Schwarz just in time to see him fall to the floor, dead.

“The three children were rushed to the central emergency hospital in the automobile ambulance. Dr. P.A. Miller, who attended them, said that the lives of the two infants had undoubtedly been saved by the prompt work of their sister.

“Hans was cut several times on the arms and body and Joseph was slashed across the throat, a fraction of an inch away from the jugular vein. He was weak from loss of blood and lay in a condition of stupor for several hours.

“The heartbroken young mother of the babies remained at the bedside of the children during the entire day and refused to leave them for a moment until assured that they were out of danger.

“When told that her husband was dead she burst into tears and said that since he had lost his reason and had made life miserable for her, she was glad.

“According to his wife, Schwarz has been acting strangely during the two years they have been in this country. She said that they were happy for the few months of their married life in Germany, but that Schwarz was insanely jealous of her first husband, the father of Ethel, and talked constantly about him.

“Mrs. Schwartz said that her husband began to affiliate with various radical political organization when they came to America and brooded continually about socialistic problems. She said that he often came home and in fits of anger knocked her down and beat her.” [Source]

5. Attacked Wife and Kids With Hatchet

A North Dakota father attacked his family with a hatchet before shooting himself in 1911.

“A.A. Peters, a farmer 40 years old, residing near Epping, at an early hour this morning attacked his wife and five children with a hatchet.

“All were horribly mutilated, each receiving a dozen wounds or more about the head. All still live, but the wife and one girl are likely to die.

“The oldest, a boy of 15, and the sixth child, an infant, were unharmed. Peters placed the muzzle of a shotgun in his mouth and blew off the right side of his head. He was undoubtedly insane when he committed the act, but appeared rational the day before. The wounded children and Peter’s body were brought here today, and the wife will be brought tonight on the train.

“The family had a prolonged struggle with the insane father. The oldest boy succeeded in telephoning for help, but it was too late.” [Source]

6. Quadruple Crime

The following happened in Maryland, 1897:

“Edgar Harris, 32, a letter carrier, today shot and killed his 12-year-old son, George, and his young daughter, Ada, wounded his daughter, Ella, 14, and then turned the pistol on himself. He is now lying at the point of death in the John Hopkins Hospital.

“Little Edgar Harris Jr., 9, was the only member of the family who escaped uninjured. He was lying in bed beside his brother George, in the front second-story room. His father fired at him, but the bullet missed his head by half an inch and buried itself in the pillow. The insane father then rushed into the room to kill the girls, and the little fellow fled down the stairs and escaped.

“Harris is thought to have been mentally unbalanced by the recent death of his wife, to whom he was deeply devoted.” [Source]

7. Stopped Before the Blade Struck His Son

A father was stopped from butchering his four little children, 1910, Connecticut.

“An insane father was prevented from butchering his four little children on the banks of the Connecticut River today by the timely arrival of the police. When located at the back of some bushes, his four boys were partly undressed and were lined in a row, the maniac father standing over them with the uplifted axe. A boy of 4 was to have been the first victim. The poor child was standing beneath the shining blade with a crucifix in one hand, calmly awaiting its fate. The others under orders of the madman, were terrified spectators.” [Source]

8. Maniac Runs Amuck

A long, albeit horrifying, report of a 1905 incident involving family annihilation.

“In a fit of insanity brought on by despair, Edwin B. Stephens murdered his wife and five young children and committed suicide at Mount View, near Ross Valley Station, yesterday morning.

“The wife and children were shot as they lay sleeping, each through the head. Two of them, Josephine, aged 12, and Herbert, aged 4, lived several hours, but died at the Gruettner Sanitarium, San Rafael.

“After he had exterminated the family the insane father rushed bare-headed and barefooted into the road and fired a shot at Linden Butterfield, a passing milkman. Then he placed the pistol against his left breast and pulled the trigger. The wound was not fatal, but the insane man used the weapon again and sent a bullet into his brains.

“Stephens’ murderous madness came upon him just as the prospects of his family began to brighten. A college graduate, married at an early age to a refined and educated woman, he had been a failure at everything he had undertaken. Children came to the couple, and the husband seemed to become more helpless every day.

“When the entire family was on the verge of starvation, the wife’s father sent them some money. The couple invested it in a little chicken ranch.

“They had a pretty cottage nestling in a green canyon, all the hills for the children to roam over, and, they believed, everything they wanted. The husband bought patent incubators and began to study scientific poultry raising, to the scorn of his neighbors. But he succeeded at last. The chickens hatched out by the hundreds, and moderate comfort seemed to be assured to the Stephens family.

“Of course the chickens had to be fed, and the expense left very little with which to buy food for the family. ‘But wait till the chickens grow,’ said the patient mother. ‘Wait till the chickens get big,’ echoed the children.

“But the father became moody. He was not satisfied with his lot.

“Weakling and failure though he was, he felt that he was destined for bigger things. He felt that he was crushed by circumstances, and brooded over his condition.

“The wife never lost courage, nor in the hour of her direst poverty did she lose her pride. At times, when there was barely enough to keep herself and her babies alive, she wrote to her friends and her mother telling of her ‘country villa,’ her pretty children, and her happiness. This when gaunt hunger threatened and when husband whined and wanted to give up. His despondency had been pronounced of late, so much so that the eldest child, Josephine, was heard to say, ‘I am afraid of my papa.’

“Stephens lay on a cot on the veranda of the little cottage on Tuesday night, thinking over what he considered a misspent and wasted life. A paroxysm of despair came over him and his mind gave way. He became a maniac with murder in his heart.

“Stealthily, toward morning, he crept into the house and picked up a 32-caliber revolver. Gently he opened the door of the room where his wife slept. The light of dawn streaking in through the window lighted her pale, patient face.

“The maniac held the muzzle of the pistol close to her temple and pressed the trigger. Before the report died away he sent a bullet into the head of his little son, Herbert, who lay beside his mother.

“Near the bed where the light fell upon her placid baby face was the infant, Phosa, fast asleep in her cradle. Her tiny arms were outstretched as if she wanted to be lifted up. The insane father fired a shot into the face of the sleeping baby.

“Into the other bedroom he stole. Maude and Josephine were in one bed. The father must have proceeded with the work with swiftness and the cunning of a maniac. Both children were shot through the head. At this point he must have reloaded the revolver, for it only contained five chambers. Then he dispatched Edwin, his namesake, the eldest son.

“Hatless and shoeless, the murderer rushed into the road, still fired by the lust to kill. Linden Butterfield, a dairyman, and John Lutz, who were passing in a wagon, heard him shouting. They stopped the horses and waited for him to approach. Suddenly Stephens lifted his revolver and fired at them. They drove rapidly to Ross Valley and notified Sheriff W.P. Taylor.

“Stephens ran after the men for about 300 yards, then halted. He stepped under an oak tree and fired a bullet into his breast. As he lay writhing on the grass, he fired another into his brain, thus finishing his work of extermination.

“Sheriff Taylor hurried to the place and on the way met Joseph La Chance, a ‘divine healer,’ who had found the body of Stephens. No one in the neighborhood had heard the shots in the cottage.

“La Chance went to the house, thinking he would break the news of her husband’s suicide to the wife. He knocked several times, then finally entered through the open door. A number of young chickens followed him.

“When he got one glance at the interior of the slaughter pen he called the Sheriff. Josephine and Herbert were still alive, and Taylor hurried to the nearest telephone and notified [the doctor] who arrived in a short time. The two dying children were taken to the Gruettner Sanitarium, where they expired within a few hours of each other.” [Source]