DASTARDLY DADS FROM THE ARCHIVES (Melbourne, Australia - 1896)

Reading this article, I can't help but wonder what motivated the 14-year-old daughter to leave the home of her widower dad, WILLIAM ALFRED DALES, and "reside with a relative" instead. She obviously sensed on some level that Dad was pretty volatile and at least potentially violent, and that's why she refused to come back--a predilection that was proven true when Dad murdered the youngest children.

http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/3619285

From the Brisbane Courier, Monday 17 February 1896

TRAGEDIES IN MELBOURNE.

A FATHER MURDERS TWO CHILDREN.

(By Telegraph from our Correspondent.)

Melbourne, February 16.

William Alfred Dales, painter and wallhanger, residing at Windsor, last night cut the throats of his children, a boy aged 5 and a girl aged 3. Dales is a widower, and the father of three children. About a month ago his eldest child, a girl aged 14 1/2 years, left her home and went to reside with a relative. Yesterday, her father urged her to return, but she refused. Dales's mind became unhinged and on his return home he killed his little ones.