Show SIEGE COST 50000 LIVES Persian Town Beset by Arabs JU ducod in Population to That Extent Leland Buxton who has returned from a tour of several months In lie Persian gulf and in the Yemen visited Sana which was recently besieged by the rebel Arabs says the London Telegraph Tele-graph Ho states that he found Sana to be practically depopulated having been reduced from a population of 70000 to something like 20000 as a result of thai famine during the Arab siege The Jews suffered terribly during this period pe-riod and almost the whole town Is deserted de-serted Sana which so far as he knows has only been visited by a few Englishmen English-men has magnificent and large buildings build-ings covered with decorations and the town Is surrounded by mud walls On his way to the capital Mr Buxton found villages had been destroyed by the Turkish artillery and that a great portion por-tion of tho route to Sana was entirely depopulated Large numbers of skeletons skele-tons and skulls marked the route Tho siege of Sana was attended by I terrible suffering and starvation and cannibalism occurred both among the Arabs and tho Turks Tho peoplo worn reduced to terrible straits and one Turk himself admitted that ho had Killed and eaten three Arabs The dogs which ore a characteristic feature of most eastern towns had disappeared both they and the cats having been used as food The only European In Sana Is an Italian trader who was In tho plaoj throughout the siege and who has lived there for 20 years |