In Attic, Yeliches Discover

Enticing Clues To City’s Past

By LIBBY CUDMORE • Reprinted From Hometown Oneonta

 ONEONTA – It’s a history mystery – how did a leather wallet, with a subscription card dated April 4, 1903, end up in the attic eaves of the house at 38 Elm Street?

“We were rolling out insulation in the attic and something told me to look inside one of the little pockets under the eaves,” said Lisa Yelich, wife of Oneonta School Superintendent Joseph Yelich. “I shone my little headlamp in and there was this wallet!”

She fished it out, and although her husband wanted to continue with the project, she just couldn’t wait.  “I opened the pocket and there was what I thought was a $1 bill.”

She removed it and found instead a $5 “Silver Certificate,” a bill dating back to 1891, now worth several hundred dollars.

FOR SLIDE SHOW OF YELICHES DISCOVERY, CLICK HERE

In another pocket, she found a second $5 bill, this one an 1899 Indian Chief bill.  “That’s about $250 today,” she said.  “Whoever lost this wallet lost a lot of money.”

But there was more.

A slip in another pocket identified the wallet as belonging to Miss. Collum, who purchased a subscription to The Oneontan from assistant manager EJ Edgerton for one dollar.

Lisa took to Google to solve her mystery and came up with a name – Miss. Winchie Lee Collum, a teacher for ten years at The Normal School.

Also in the wallet was a key and a folded list for “five yards skirt lining, three yards taffeta, white China silk, a pretty belt and a launderable collar” with a scrap of dark purple taffeta and a delicate piece of lace tucked into the pocket.  “We figured she was dressing up for a party or a big event at the school,” Lisa said.  “This trim looks like it went around a collar.  You’d have to be pretty remarkable to sew this onto anything.”

But the mystery deepened when she spoke with the house’s former owner, Lucka Kratochvilova, and traced the owners back to when the house was built in 1902 – with no Collum on the deed. “How did this wallet get in my attic?”

One theory she has is that the wallet was stolen.  “I want to go back through old police reports, see if she reported her wallet missing,” said Lisa.

She’s also planning to access the New York State room at the library in hopes of finding more on Miss. Winchie Lee Collum.

But ultimately, she wants to make sure that if her family is out there, that they can have a piece of their history back.

“I’m fascinated by these kinds of mysteries,” she said.  “And now, I just need to get to the bottom of it.”