New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-10-07

IL Mathews
2 Holeomb
| would
Il on
9 Telegraph
8 me
IS by
IL same
10 name.
Now here is q message belonging to what we will
call for the moment, the second 15-word group;
/ More
9 select
have
whom
z SOME
s You
YOU
10 m
IL confidence
II one
- Winning
1t evidently
10 than.
And tine key to this group was found by the rcgu-
lar process to be: 8. T. II. 2. 6, s. A. l. IL, 10 .,
If. 8. TO- 10. SO that reading tie ID word Of the
cipher first the 7th word next the 10Th word next,
aud SO on, We have for the translation;
3 select
z some
II one
whom
have
/ more
IL confidence
II than
you
Ii evidently
have
10 IN
Is winning.
The keys to bcth these groupS-to al the groups
have been obtained, Il VIII b. observed by num0cr-
Ing the CIPHER MESSAGE. and then rIiHg dozen ihehim
bers Of the cipher ro~' in he orisr those corh must
take uke7, fhey are rdusposd 10 make The irHriaiion.
But now suppose We reverse sra process. AFTER
finding tho translation We number the words in that
cous.cutiv,ly aud tcrs dozen ne Eas,brs Of bs trans
Iaoa ioords IN the orfr they took IA a. cpso. Here Is
The first l5-word message. numbered IN the trans
lation:
If YOU want. Judge Mathews or Holeomb would
. 10 II II - Ii 10
come on Telegraph ms by same name.
Now arrange that message as the words stood in
the cipher but with the numbers Of the translation
attached to them.
want
Holcomb
IL me
you
q or
would
Judge
IL Warsaw
II
81 come
Il same
Mathews
10 by
BAieh gipes erGcy The sequence Of The second group.
Reuumber the TRANSLATION of the second group III
the same way and il gives the sequence already
found for the first group. The law holds good with
all the other sets of Keys. Tho transla
ton of one cipher always gives Sc
quence for the construction OF second
cipher OF the same numerical group; 50 that per
haps we might say that instead OF thT3 boing ~
for some time We supposed ten independent keys,
namely, two of 10 numbers, two of 10, two OF
90 two of % and two of 30, there are really only
FIVE keys each of which can be turned in two ways.
IL this remarkable arrangement had been discovered
earlier it would have saved half the labor OF trans
lation. Coming AS it does lo viewer, at tho end of
the work it Is most convincing proof OF thn accu-
racy of tho Keys wo have arranged; since tho slight
est mistake would have destroyed tie operation the
rule. We are not yet prepared to say that as the
process of writing out the TRANSACTIONS on other
KEYS may not DO found but far the collection
appears TO be complete. 4 35-word key was made,
but il proved upon further examination 10 be only
the union Of Is and 20; and 4O-word key was
nearly finished. early in the investigation when 1t
WAS seen TO be this Same sequence OF 20 taken
twice. 49,. ~, ,.,,.
The work was performed at first with short dis
patches only. Whom tho longer ones were under
taken they were found TO be- all formed upon COM
bnaton of two or more OF tho ten sequences already
discovered, or upon the repetition OF some one OF
them. Messages OF sixty words, for instance,
we're instantly dooiphered by applying 30
word key twice. message of 70 words was
I. Hr.i auf
using a 3o-word key twice. A telegram of 135
words yielded 10 tho following rather complicated
formula 15+25+25- t20t 25+25. The precise
combination that had been used was OF course not
always apparent to tho receiver, but few trials
with tho bunch Of keys would generally
suffice Occasionally the message itself gave
the necessary directions for its interpretation
A telegram apparently from Mr. Marble) addressed
to Colonel Pelton. begins "To TIlden. Repeating
20 cipher only = and several repetitors Of q Do
word sequence do interpret it. Another from
the persona message of 200 words
begins Use four times five cipher" and yields
to a 2O-word key. Occasionally, however, tho
receiver was perpleIcd, and telegraphed back for
an explanation. Often it happened in these COM
pound dispatches that a word was dropped. either
by blunder of the telegraph operator, or by pre-
concerted arrangement In that of course the
subsequent words were thrown out of place; but by
shifting all the numbers Of the sequence one step
the broken flow OF the Interpretation at once
restored. And it is also to be noticed that where
this dropping of n word occurs, the DIS
patch falls short, by one, OF the number
Of words necessary to make it a multiple
of five. The is often complete without the
missing word. but by following the key 1t
is easy to see just where tho omission has oc-
Cured. These Irregularities, therefore, far
from inyalidatin0 the DrinciDle of the kew are on