DON WILLIAMS & GEORGE BLEND

Don Williams and George Blend had secured jobs together in Alaska and were excited to start paving their new paths into the future. Little did they know that their paths would take an unexpected turn.

With seeing as having no other way to get to Alaska, George and Don showed up at the Harlowton Airport in the hopes of stealing one of the aircrafts and at least making it as far as Spokane.

On January 28, 1931, loaded with 5 gallons of gasoline and a can of paint to cover identifying numbers on the aircraft, George and Don did steal that plane they were looking for. It was turning out to be a great plan until they were up in the air and realized that neither one of them had any clue as to how to fly a plane and they crashed just 300 yards from the hanger that they had taken off from. After the crash the two walked twelve miles to Two Dot and then managed to stow away on a train that got them as far as Lennep before they were discovered and kicked off by the crew who then notified the authorities.

Both were arrested the next day in Lennep to become two of the many faces behind a stone wall in Deer Lodge, Montana.