On the 17th of March 1912, Lida Southart married her first husband. His name was Robert Dooley.

A couple moved in together living in an Idaho ranch with Robert's brother. By all accounts, they seem to be a pretty

happy couple. And before long, Lida gave birth to a daughter, Lorraine. And tragedy struck

when Lorraine suddenly died. According to Lida, her one-year-old daughter had gotten sick from drinking contaminated well water,

and had quickly passed away.

It was 1915 at the time, and tragic stories like these were not uncommon.

Nobody thought anything of it other than feeling sorry for the young mother who had lost her child.

At the same year, Lida had bad luck doubled, and then tripled.

Her brother-in-law, Edward, passed away within months of Lorraine's death.

His cause of death was determined to be bacterial poisoning, which would now be called food poisoning.

Again, this turn of events didn't raise any eyebrows.

Antibiotics were still more than 10 years away from being discovered,

so something that would be as mild as an illness today could even kill a healthy adult man in 1915. For a few months, all Robert and Lida had left

was each other. Then on the 12th of October 1915, Robert caught typhoid fever and never recovered.

For the first time in her life, but not the last time, Lida was a widow. The struggles of being a widowed woman in the early

1900s were easily cushioned by money, and Lida now had a lot of it, after cashing in on the life

insurance policies of three dead family members. Less than two years after Robert's death,

Lida met William G. McHaffell, and in June 1917,

she got married for the second time. Lida sold Robert's property and used the funds to move

herself and her new husband to Montana. Once again, tragedy struck. They had been married for

less than a year when William suddenly became seriously

ill, complaining of diarrhea and fatigue. He never recovered from his illness, and on the first day of

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