The eagerness of the Board of Health that two miles of wreck be burned, whether it threatened to consume the other portion of the city or not, and the frantic haste of the police to get every woman and child out of the city, coupled with an order issued that no one be admitted to the island except for work, not even relatives of victims or anxious ones searching for relatives, and the seizure of the railroad running to Texas City to prevent people going to Galveston, all contributed to stamp the situation as beyond the control of the handful of inexperienced men in authority. The consensus of opinion of prominent Houston people who returned from the city was that the Federal Government owed it to the country to intervene at once. Otherwise, the danger of contagion to neighboring cities and States must continue to multiply each day. AUTHORITIES AT ODDS. Galveston, Texas, September 13.—(By Western Union despatch boat to Houston.)—General McKibben, commanding the Department of Texas, his aide, and Adjutant-General, Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts, arrived here last night. General Scurry, Adjutant-General of Texas, also came in from Austin. Two companies of regulars from Fort Sam Houston also arrived. Galveston is now under martial law, by whose orders has not been proclaimed, and friction has already arisen between the civil authorities and the military. The sentinels on the street corners do not recognize the passes issued by Mayor Jones, and ignore him and his police force. If a person cannot give a good excuse for being on the street after 9 P. M., he is marched off to jail. Mayor Jones is highly indignant because his authority is usurped, and law-abiding citizens are hot because they are held up when they are on an errand of relief to some stricken friend or family. This is a matter which will be brought to the attention of General McKibben and Adjutant-General Scurry, and Mayor Jones will demand that his authority as Chief Executive of the city be respected and recognized by the military. Houston is the haven of the unfortunate people of Galveston. Trains have already brought in between 500 and 1,000 of the survivors, and a motley crowd they are. Men bareheaded, barefooted, hatless and coatless, with swelled feet and bruised and blackened bodies and heads were numerous. Women of wealth and refinement, frequently hatless, shoeless, with gowns in shreds, were among the refugees. Sometimes there would be a man, wife and child or two, but such cases were rare, nearly all of those who came in having suffered the loss of one or more of their family. Never were there so many sad hearts. Men bereft of their wives and children, women who were widowed, children who were orphaned—it was enough to touch the heart of anyone. Never was there more heroism shown.