The Erie Shops In Jersey City Burned

New YoitK, July 24. - About eight o'clook toight a fire broke out in the carpenter sbcp of the Erie llailway Company, near the ahore end of the long doek, Jersey City, whieh Bliop formud the eastern end of a parallelogram of shops covoring au ara of 300 by 250 feet, the western ond fronting on Prevost street "Within the spaco thus inolosod were the rejjair shopB, machine shops, blacksmith, carpenter and paint shops, and general storerooms of the company. Before the firemen could got word tho flamea extendail along the roof of the machine shops, And bursting out of overy wiudow for 800 fbut in less than au hour the whole blook of shops was in ruins. Within the repair shops wore thirty-three locomotives, about half a dozen aimost new. Most of them werefreightengines, but thore werescveral fine express locomotiveB in the repair shops. The machine ond blackamith shops were full of costly maohinery, boilers, trip hammere, furnaces, eto. One trip hammor alono oost $30,000 within a month. The buildings also contained eopper, tin and woodon patterns and a full supply of the bost tools for railway purposes. Tho shops, wera of briek, two stories high,' with Blate roofs, and wens only comploted night months ago at a cost of about $80,000. Some workmen etato that the fire was occasioned by fires loft unbanked in the blaoksmith shop when tho men loft at eix o'clock. Anothor account says a barrel of oil exploded, cause unknown. Htill another locatcs the origin in the carpenter ?hop, where its evidences were flrst .red. The store rooms of the company, three tories high, wero the last to yield to the flames. They contained afull assortment of miscellaneous stores, lamps, head liffhta, etc. The total Io9s is estimated at $600,000, ai follows: Maohinery, $175,000; locomotives, $345,000! buildings, $80,000. Insurance, about $400,000 ; oompanies not yet ascertained. The conflagration was witnessod by pTobably thirty thousand peraons.