The New International Encyclopædia/Webber, Charles Wilkins

WEB'BER, Charles Wilkins (1819-56). An American journalist and explorer, born in Russellville, Ky. He was one of the Texan Rangers and saw much of the wild frontier life. Afterwards he studied medicine and then theology, but abandoned both professions and became connected with the New World, the Democratic Review, and the Sunday Despatch in New York City. He organized an expedition to the Colorado and Gila Rivers in 1849. In 1855 he went to Central America. He was killed in Nicaragua, while a member of Walker's filibustering party. He wrote Old Hicks, the Guide, or Adventures in the Comanche Country in Search of a Gold Mine (1848), The Gold Mines of the Gila (1849), Tales of the Southern Border (1852), and Shot in the Eye and Adventures with the Texan Rifle Rangers (1853).