Fire at Harper’s Ferry

From the Baltimore Patriot, May, 9.
Fire at Harper’s Ferry.– We have been favoured with the following extract of a letter dated Harper’s Ferry, May 8, 1824:

“A dreadful calamity happened at this place this morning before day. The workshop which contains a principal part of the machinery, and in which upwards of two hundred workmen were employed, was entirely consumed by fire. The building was about 150 feet long by 50 wide; it will be a loss to the United States of from 80 to 100,000 dollars, and to the workmen of from 10,000 to 20,000, in consequence of being thrown out of work. Seven hundred finished muskets, besides an immense quantity of materials, were entirely destroyed.

“There happened to be but little wind stirring at the time; bad it been otherwise, the whole of the place must inevitably have been destroyed. The fire is supposed to have been the work of an incendiary.”