Bob Bidwell

At first blush, Bob Bidwell seemed to be the stereotypical down-on-his-luck sad sack so commonly found in boomtowns throughout the maze. Bidwell's luck is so bad that Charlie Landers once commented that there must be three people with good luck to make up for all of Bob's bad luck.

Making Bidwell's life even more miserable, Clell Miller has taken a special dislike to him for reasons unknown and has been known to harass and bully the man.

Bidwell lost his left eye to Timmy Derrick's slingshot.

For most of his kind, that is all that would be said about Bidwell, and he would be another unremarkable loser, but there are a few stories floating about that indicates that he could be more than he appears (though no less unlucky).

First, it was rumored that despite the fact that most people believed that Bidwell had simply hid like a coward during the Kingdom Come riots, Bidwell had actually been at the orphanage helping Meredith Singleton protect the children.

Second and even more remarkable, according to Charlie Landers, Bob Bidwell came from a wealthy Union family who insisted that he enlist in the army to fight. Bidwill did so to avoid being cut out of his inheritence.

During a battle in a Tennessee swamp, Lieutenant Robert Bidwell 's unit lost about two-thirds of its men, including its commanding officer, leaving Bidwell in charge. Bidwell pulled his men out of the fight and tried to escape the Confederates in the swamp and the fog. It was during that retreat that he and his men came upon a marshy road where he came across a carriage under attack by, shockingly, walking dead. It was the cry of a baby within that carriage that spurred Bidwell to action. He ordered his men to attack to save the civilians. Despite heavy casualties during the fight, they managed break a hole in the undead circle and the carriage and most of Bidwell's men pulled back while Bidwell and two of his men bought the others time. When the two men with him fell to the walking dead, Bidwell finally fell back to. Not knowing where the carriage and his other soldiers went, and having had a belly full of war and killing, Bidwell deserted and headed west.

Of course, Clell Miller doesn't believe that story for a second.