ELDORADO 249 



CHAPTER XXV. 



THE DARING ADVENTURES OF BILL BENT 



AND OTHER HISTORIC CHARACTERS IN 



NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 



William Bent, or as he was generally known on the 

 plains, "Bill Bent," was the most famous of this 

 family of men, several of whom were somewhat cele- 

 brated. Charles Bent, an older brother, was also a 

 plainsman, and a noted one, but never attracted the at- 

 tention that Bill did. Both of them had had innumer- 

 able battles with the Indians, and in these conflicts 

 there was usually the courage of the demi-god on one 

 side, and over-powering numbers on the other. 

 Charles, who was the eldest of the brothers, was a 

 man of some talent for statecraft, and of undoubted 

 military capacity. He became Governor of New 

 Mexico, and fell, with other Americans, in a native 

 conspiracy at Santa Fe. 



Among those who perished at the same time were 

 Lawrence Waldo (father of Henry L. Waldo, late 

 Chief Justice of New Mexico), who first located on 

 the American river in 1832, where the town of Folsom 

 now stands, and Stephen Lee of St. Louis, a brother- 

 in-law of the Lindells, celebrated hotel men. who were 



