Omar Westell and the Case of the Stolen Spirits

A whiskey thief is a tool that master distillers use to extract small portions of whiskey from an aging barrel for sampling or quality control.

Whiskey thief

Whiskey thief is also the term that could be used to describe Omar Westell.
 

Omar Westell

Omar Westell was born 30 June 1865. On 26 November 1890, he married Susan Dagg of Kincardine, Ontario, Canada; the daughter of Richard Dagg and Eliza Culbert.

Susan (Dagg) Westell, born 1 April 1860 in Biddulph Township near Lucan, Ontario. Susan was the wife of Omar Westell, the daughter of Eliza CULBERT & Richard Dagg, and the granddaughter of John CULBERT & Mary Ward.

Omar and Susan raised their five children in Kincardine: Oran Westell, Lorena (Westell) Casemore, Lillie Mae (Westell) Tout, John Earl Westell, and Lila (Westell) Wright.
 

The Omar Westell - Susan Dagg Family. Photo taken late 1914 or early 1915.

Omar Westell worked for the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) in Kincardine.

Omar's wife, Susan (Dagg) Westell died on 5 October 1916, age 56. Her death certificate says she'd had a cerebral tumor for six months.

On the very day that his wife died, Omar Westell made the papers. 
 

Source: The Wingham Advance, 5 October 1916, page 5

Omar Westell, an employee of the G.T.R., was last week arrested by a warrant sworn out by Kincardine, charging him with theft. One morning last week he was discovered rifling a case of whiskey which he had taken out of the express office of the G T.R. station. He was taken before J. A. McKenzie, J. P., and Mayor Miller, who sentenced him to six months in Walkerton jail.

A week before his wife's death, Omar stole the case of whiskey. Why? There were no further reports about this incident and there's no record of Omar getting into trouble with the law ever again. 

It's most likely that he was immediately placed behind bars. Did this hasten his wife's demise? She died within a week of his sentencing. 

Most of Omar and Susan's children had left home by the time their mother died and their father went to prison. However, their youngest child, Lila Westell was only 13 at the time. 

Lila Westell

In the course of just one week, Lila's mother died, and her father went to prison. I don't know who cared for Lila during the six months of her father's incarceration but it must have been a confusing and trying time for the young girl.

In 1924, several years after he was widowed and imprisoned, Omar Westell married Margaret Anderson "Maggie" McEwan Campbell, a widow. But just two weeks after the wedding, Omar's daughter, Lila died of smallpox. She was 24 years old.

Omar lived to the age of 83. 
 

Omar Westell's funeral service. Courtesy of Ian Westell.

 
Omar Westell died 22 November 1948 in the Kincardine Lighthouse; the home of his son, lighthouse keeper, Oran Westell.

The Kincardine Lighthouse, 1940s.

Omar Westell is buried with his wife, Susan (Dagg) Westell at Kincardine Cemetery, Section D1, Row 11, Stone 72.

We're left wondering why Omar stole the whiskey. It may be a secret he took to his grave. And am I the only one tempted to leave a bottle of whiskey by his headstone?

Did Omar have an insatiable taste for whiskey? Could that be why he stole an entire case of whiskey?...

Omar's grandson, John "Jack" Westell grew up in the same lighthouse in which Omar lived and died. When he was a kid, Jack recalled finding a trap door in the basement of the lighthouse, and much to his surprise it was full of whiskey bottles!