ROANOKE -- Not all artifacts are created equal. That's why a letter found in a dusty box in North Carolina that describes the notorious Roanoke Riot of 1893 is fetching only modest attention from eBay auction bidders and little interest from historians.

Todd Lavender, a real estate agent in Rutherford County, N.C., offered the letter for sale last week after finding it along with other apparently vintage documents that he bought from an estate sale for $100.

"It caught my eye," said Lavender, because the five-page letter, evidently written by a Virginia resident to someone with the first name "Dovie" in Ellensboro, N.C., gives a hearsay description of the riot. Eight people were killed and two dozen others wounded in the riot that preceded the lynching of a black man accused of the robbery and assault of a white woman at the Roanoke City Market.

The incidents are detailed in such books as Rand Dotson's "Magic City of the New South, Roanoke, Va. 1882-1912." Dotson, a history professor at Louisiana State University, wrote that Roanoke's city militia fired on a mob that "took control of the city, lynched an African-American in police custody and threatened to hang the mayor."

While the riot remains a high-profile chapter in Roanoke's history, the letter being auctioned by Lavender isn't commanding a premium price partly because it isn't signed with the last name of the writer and lacks proof of authenticity.

"I'm always a little bit skeptical of how you can be sure something like this wasn't written last week," said George Kegley, editor of the Journal of the Historical Society of Western Virginia. Further, the letter's lack of firsthand descriptions of the riot and lynching "dilutes it," Kegley said.

The letter, signed with the name "Harlen," is largely focused on personal news from the writer, who pauses to say, "Eastern Virginia is in excitement over the events in Roanoke yesterday." He added, "Wasn't it awful: they burned the negro and threw the ashes in the mayor's yard because he tried to keep the mob off with the militia."

It isn't clear that the writer had even been in Roanoke during the violence. The letter is on stationery of the now defunct Seaboard Air Line railroad. It was based in Portsmouth, but had operations in Roanoke.

Laura Wickstead, who supervises the Roanoke City Public Library's Virginia Room, said the letter's significance is eroded without documentation. "There are certain questions -- just a lack of information about it."

Lavender acknowledges the letter's flaws. He said its value is mainly to collectors with a special interest in Roanoke history.

As of this week, his eBay auction was proving to be something less than a financial windfall. He had 10 bids, the highest being $48.77.
Rob Johnson is a staff writer for The Roanoke Times.