i 

SUBJECT: 

1'' 

REF ID:A4148905 

0 · r~ r j~ Printing Telce;;;Caph Cipher Arrangement. ~ 

, AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY 

TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH BUILDl':'G 

195 BROADWAY 

.JOHN .J CARTY 

CHIEF ENGINEER 

BANCROFT GHERARDI NEW YORK July 14, 1919 • ENGlNEER OF PL.ANT 

KARL W WATERSON 

ENGINEER OF TRAFFIC 

Lieutenant-Colonel J. o. Mauborgne, s.c., U.S.A., 

Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 

Washingt~n, D. c. 

My de~ Colonel Ma.u!Jorgne:. 

For your further information in connection with· our 

ciphering system, I am enclosing herewith copies of Colone+ 

Fabya.n's lett~rs to me of Maro~ 31, June 17, and June 26, end a 

copy of my reply of June 24 to his letter of June 17. 

not replied to his letters of March 31 ~d June 26. 

I have 

Enclosures: 

Copies of letters Colonel 

Fa byan to Mr. · Gherardi• 

March 31, June· 17, June 26; 

Copy of letter Mr. Gherardi 

to Colonel Fabyan, ·June 24. 

LF.M .. BMW. 

Yo'1Zos very 

~ief 

truly, 

~ Erig~nee~. ,('~~ 

@'pp roved for Release by NSA on 11-19-2014 pursuantto E .0. 1352a 
I 

·! 

J 

l 

•I 

i 

l 

! 

' 

·~ 

{ 

; 

1 

I 

I 

J 

i 

i 

' 

REF (1'D"J)A4148905 ,,---, 

._,----/ 3475 

128801 

BLISS, FABYAN & CO. A.pr. 1, 1919 

Acting Chief Engineer 

P.O.Box 435 CHICAGO March 31, 1919. 

My dear Mr. Gherardi; 

I have your letter and the facts are as stated. I 

did not intend you to construe 1.1.rJ first letter as a formal demand for a 

dinner for three, in fact, I am on a diet and could not indulge in a dinner if I had the opportunity. 

I am of the opinion that any cipher is decipherable 

provided there is enough of it and one has enough time, enough brains and 

incentive to work on it. The use. of the 26 characters is enough. The 32 

characters complicate it just that much more. ~ repeat, I have profound 

respect for the C~pher Printing·Machine and the brains which conceived it. 

Sincerely yours, 

Mr. Bancroft Gherardi, 

Engineer of Plant, 

American Telephone and Telegraph Co., 

195 Broadway, 

New York, N.Y. 

A true copy - MER 

FABYAN (Sd.) 
Ans. 6/24/19 

P.OoBox 435 

Mro Bancroft Gherardi, 

REF Ifb~)148905 -, 

'> j 

BLISS, FABYAl~ & COo '~· 

CHICAGO 

A. To & To Co., 195 Broad~ay, 

New York City. 

1JY dear Mr. Gherardi: 

June 17, 1919. 

The fact that we demonstrated to our own 

satisfaction that the machine cipher could be successfully attacked, 

and so reported to the Signal Corps, seems to have raised the ire 

of some _of t:tie experts in Washingfon, and they are desirous that we 

prove our statements by. the deciphering :of messages Nos. 1, 5, 6 and 

7; which you sent, us unde~ date of June 11, 1918, ahd of which you u)idoubtedly have copies. 

Knowing the ~amifications of your great machine, I hesitate 

to tackl~ this job on account of the time and the number of operatives nec;::e~~ary,. and the expense, but consistent with the proposition as 

it 'is now put up to me through,~he Adjutant General's office, it may 

be my duty to .:Pro9eed, but before dQing so, I would like to ask a 

favor, and that i~, that you will furnish me, from wherever these 

messages left off on the camouflage tapes with messages Nos. 8, 9 and 

10, of say, 500 to 700 letters each, for th~ reason that we feel that 

it would ma~erially lessen the necessary amount of labor and consequent ~xpense. 

I think I have made it plain that we want three additional 

messages beginning where p~esumably No. ? left off on the double key 

tapes. 

I take it !or granted that you are as much interested as the , Government in knowing any weakness in this system, and while I think 

you ar~ sceptical as they are about it, l think you would prefer the 

information in order to make the necessary changes rather than have 

the work of this machine decipher~d by an enemy~ 

I w.ill say for your information that ; am on a strict diet 

and I co\11 d not avail myself of the gooq dinner you promised in the · event of our decipher~ng these me_ssageso · 

I desire to express my personal regret that we find ourselves 

on opposite sid~s of the fence, ·both sure of our ground, but the issue 

at stake is ~he good of the se~vice. Trusting to hear from your promp~ly, 

and thanking you in adirance, I remain, Sincerely yo~rs, 

GEO. FABYAN (Sd.), 

A true copy - :MER 
·~ .O.BOX 435 

(COPY) 

REF 1D :A4148905 <--"-

GEORGE FABYAN 

CHICAGO 

June 26,1919. 

1 :A,!t i;l~ar Mr. Gherardi: 

In reference to your letter of J~ne ?4th. I think 

·.:~in· your place that I might feel just the same as you express yourself and 

if that machine cipher was Ml/ baby, I might feel some antagonism towards 

you if you had queationeci its vil'!tue •. I think we are all more or less human 

and under tho circtμOstnnces, f appreciate the tone of your letter. 

Personaliy; I cannot e,ee any objection to my having the 

three additional mesa·ages re91.i'ested, enciphered on the same key tapes as the 

ones + have but if you feel that it might conplicate matters, I have nothing 

iriore to say. I am not looking for work; I'm not interested in any particular 

cipher with the exception of its underlying, fundamental principles. When the 

method of solution has once been found, our work is finished. It wa~ my duty 

to ·so' report it to the Dep~tment. That p~ticular branch of the Department 

is sadly demoralized and I addressed rey letter to the office of t

1

he Secretary. 

The results of my doing so are rather incomprehensible and would appear to 

·\ 1 need some explanation which I pro po s.e• to have, but that has nothing to do with 

you·. When the tim!;l comes that it is d_esired to make certain changes in the machine, it is possible that we may be of assistance. 

I ~:think that you, naving only met me once, know that I am 

not a cipher crank and when I say :that the cipher is not safe under ·ordinary conditions that you would be glad to be informed and take the necessary steps to 

make it so.· ~urther, you are aware that I have no possible interest at stake 

or ax to grind, except to uphold the reputation of Riverbank and my own opinion 
> -, 

REF ID :A4148905/-~ 

as expressed ~o the Department. Why this opinion is now questioned at 

Washington, it is beyond my comprehension but I reckon even that can be 

deciphered. 

Here is something for your information that may be of value and 

it may not. I h~ve a peculiar lot of people out at Riverbank. Among others, 

electricians, theqretical and practical. One evening, so~etime ago, I found 

one of them studying a blueprint which I recognized as being the Multiplex 

~..-~' ' - '-- i ..., - ; ~ . . -- Printing Machine Telegraph of the western Electrico f asked how it came into 

his possession and how many of them were scattered around. He assured me that 

most of the electricians had them who were interested. The blueprint in ques• 

tion is the wiring diagram. If you would like to see it, I will mail it to 

you. it probably is not important. Sometimes, blueprints are dangerous. 

With assurances of my warm personal regard and esteem, 

To Mr. Bancroft Gherardi, 

Engineer of Plant, 

American Telephone and Telegraph Co., 

l9S Broadway, 

New York, N. Y. 

A true copy • MER 

Sincerely yours, 

Fabya.n (Sd.) 
REJ!"OFM} : A414 B 9 0 5 

Colonel George Fabyan, 

Bliss, Fabyan and Company, 

Chicago, Illo 

My dear PQlonel Fabyan: 

3?10 

June 24, 1919. 

i have y9ur letter of June 17 with reference to our 

machine ciphering system. As this matter has ~pparently now 

become the subject of an off~cial inv~stigation in Washington, 

I feel that it would be inappropriate, and might be embarrassing 

to us both, for me to furnish additionai information or data 

without instructions to do so from the proper authorities in 

W~shington. + ~ as anxious as you are to see the question 

definitely settled as to whether or not this cipher can be 

broken. I trust that you will fully appreciate the reasons 

why I cannot act upon your request. 

With best regards, + a.pi 

Yours sincerely, 

B. GHERA~I (Sd.) 

BG-GJ 

A true copy - MER