While all of this explains where most of the men in La Belle went before the events of the Netflix limited series, it doesn’t tell us how Alice’s husband died, which has nothing to do with mining catastrophes. That tragedy, as we learn in episode 2, “The Ladies Of La Belle,” was no natural disaster, and was instead an actual murder. As Whitey explains to gunslinger heartthrob Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), Alice’s first husband died in a flash flood years ago and she disappeared at the same time. When Alice returned about six years later, she claimed the land was still rightfully hers, despite the fact Asa and his sons were squatting on the property and claimed they paid a $200 fee for the land. When the sheriff tried to force the Leopolds off the land, they attacked Bill and he shot the sons dead. So, Alice’s family moved into their rightful home. Then, sometime after, Alice’s husband wound up dead in the street, shot in the back. And that’s how Alice Fletcher became two-times-a-widow before the age of 21.