Looking Back
An Unusual Visit to Thurmont
by James Rada, Jr.
On June 20, 1923, a young Prince Georges County man had a visit to Thurmont that he didn’t enjoy.
W. E. Trego was a salesman for the Isaac A. Sheppard Co. in Baltimore, but he lived in Thurmont. While traveling from Roanoke, Virginia, to Washington, D.C., for work, he met Allan Immich, a 16-year-old from Takoma Park.
The two started talking, and when Allan heard Trego was from Thurmont, Allan told the older man of his recent visit to the town.
Allan had been heading home earlier in the day. He had gotten off a streetcar near his Montgomery County home and was walking home when two men in a car stopped and asked him if he knew where Mr. Thomas lived. Allan knew Mr. Thomas and got in the car to direct the men to the house.
It was a bad decision.
“After going a short distance, the men in the car gagged and bound Immich while the car was traveling at a lively pace,” the Frederick News reported.
Allan didn’t know where they were going, but he heard the name “Frederick City” mentioned. They then stopped in Thurmont in front of a meat shop.
“One man entered a nearby store to get something to eat while the other guarded the boy,” the newspaper reported.
They then drove from Thurmont, hours away to Roanoke. Before entering the city, they men stripped Allan of nearly all his clothing and left him alone on the side of the road in his underwear.
Someone passing him on the road reported him to the police, and they came out to see what was going on. He explained what had happened, and they took him to the police station where he called his father.
Besides the story of his unusual trip, Allan told the police he had also seen burglar tools, blackjacks, guns, and liquor in the car.
His father wired money for a train ticket back to Washington. Allan was returning home when he met Trego on the train.
Thurmont Police tried to assist the investigation by questioning citizens if anyone had seen anything. Some people remembered seeing the car in town, but no one could remember.
It’s not known whether the men were ever captured, but nothing more was noted of the incident in the newspapers.
East Main Street in Thurmont around the time of the kidnapping.
Photo Courtesy of Thurmontimages.com
