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

| arranged in proper order. Many were interpreted
by the helpOf the newspaper files Of the dates to
which they belonged. Some few still under iuve
tigation. Chosen arbitrarily these words were, it
might have been opposed that 1T would bcnecessary
for us tOreiy amo at wholly upon for their
Interpretation. This is so far from beng the
case that there is perhaps part OF the
detiDhering process IN which the proof of
the meaning is clear when it deals
with these ARBITRARY substituIons We have men
tiored an instance in which the history of
a day to which q certain dispatch refers guided
to an Inference as TO the Specification % the cipher
word 4" London" We dill not rely upon inference,
however, Tor cur knowledge Of this important word.
To ray nothing Of the OF instances which the
Interpretation Canvsssing Board as a substitute
for " London makes sense, where no other definition
that can think of viii make il, there is dis
patch from New-Oreans, dated November 81 which
settles the question beyond cavil. That dispatch
reads IN cipher:
Committees none London cub with but met Mo-
s-l.r cInyas~cd our Thames admitted count tally
couitic-.
y ing translated by Key ~ it yields the follow
ing:
London met admitted none but Moselle sub
committees. Thames counties Canyassed tally with
our count.
Now. we know ~ n matter of history. that on the
Goth Of November there was great anxiety to the
probable action II the Louisiana Recurring Board IN
regard TO holding secret sessions The visiting polIt
clans of both National parties asked to be amltted;s
did the friends and representatives of various local
candidates aud score OF other persons. when
il met the morning OF the 2lst the Board
decided to admit only Il certain small num-
Der Of the visiting Democrats and an
cqu.l number of the visiting Republicans
II tncn took up the returns. and three of the county
| rcturas ah.ch il canyassed were admitted by the
Democrats to he correct. Here then have al
absoiut, denomination Of the meaning Of ~ Lon
don - Returning Board o. Moselle = two; t3l
Thames three Wa set these down IN our vo-
cabnlarv, and look for light elsewhere. Russia
appears to deuote some important parsonage TX
Governor Egrr who was one OF the Tden visitors az
New-O Orleans, wIsael to communicate with Rnssia III
New-York and he ntrusted his message TO somebody
T. nut into CIPHER. II begins therefore in this form
"B;Qlor 70 Russia" But about that time we find
Colonel Pel.on asking Smith VI. Weed at Columbia
TO "'Trl, graph what ~ the majority on kus
sla." Who was there IN Ncw-fOrk who had been
running for any hing IN Sonth Caroiinaf Nobody
but Mr. Tilden himself And that he was Russia.
there are hundred things 70 show. Another South
CAROLYN. dispatch mentions "a report that America
party are trading of Russia :" and ~ q matter OF
fact we know that the papers were full Just at
that time IF a schrme 81 the SOuth Caro-
Ina Conservatives TO trade of Tilden for
Hampton By somewhat similar course OF
observation, which will lac apparent later
when We print thu dispatches. Greece" ia ascer-
tanned to he Hayes Ithaca" is shown to stand
for Democrats and Havana" for Republicans.
&" Rochester" Is very often used. and here Ia
telegram which proves its meaging conclusiveiy.
Returning Board attempted 70 count electoral
PochssLer this morning. We opposed. aud they AL
i'm ped 4
HoronG party They sa,d they would count koche-
tT ~ thoy stood on faco OF returns, and that was
.I Ithaca asked.
Rochester" of course be nothing else but
votes" in this case and there is certainly no diff
Guilty in identifying Ithaca and Havana" espec-
tally "A we know that the Democrats were
then olamoring for n count of tho vote on the face
of the returns- Might not Ithaca be
person No; because while tho telegram above cited
refers To tho action Of "Ithaca' IN Florida, another
dispatch from New-Orleans announces TINT
Ithaca there lin tho plural have entire returns
showing s. 800 to 8 900 majority for Iilden'-which
WAS abont the modest figure OF the Democratic
claim at that time. and there are other eases IN
which Ithaca" plainly refers to party.
IDENTIFICATION OF NUMBERS.
We have already seen how the same Louisiana
dispatch which established the meaning Of Lon
dom also demonstrated that Thames meant
three and "Moselle" meant two" We soon
saw reason to susDect that the names OF rivers
ALWAYS represented numbers and this turned OUT TO
be the case. The proofs are complete and simple
For example to- egram from New York To Column
ha states that " friend will go through on train
leaving here tonight at Potomac o'clock We
have only 10 consult the railway timetables
,f that month to find out at what time the night
train for the South left Jersey City, and so we learn
that Potomac means SIX" Repeatedly figures OF
State or county maoritIes are given winch
we can interpret by consulting the news
paper files, and We discover that Dan.
ubsp i, "fyep and Schuylkill" seven.
River" is q very common word III connection Win
numbers There is one long dispatch when mas 30
MANY rivers III it that until we found tho key OF
Transportation we knew 1t rs the river
Dispatch When the words came 10 DC
rearranged in their proper sequence three rivers
came together after mineral. thus DANUBE 'ol
river river river" The dispatch evidently referred
TO a large amount, and TO lump sum clearly
"riverp could be nothing else than o. We have
ouoted a dispatch in which the Democrats claim
majority of So Mississippi Danubel to 81 lAisslss-
inpi Nissonril thousand. The meaning oil MISS
issinnir and of Danube had been ascertaned be-
fore we reached That dispatch, put TINS
was the first time we had encountered missouri
Yet the Interpretation perfectly simple. Inc
minority was said to be from 50 to g., inc last ui'
being unknown. Ii must be something higher than
q. IL was neither 6 nor q because we nau
identified them already; of course 1t was not
8, and there was nothing left but o. This LED US
stsn further We had all the units except
and A and two rivers remained. Rhine "
and Hudson The meaning of Rhine" was
snoedily settled by telegram in which,
after giving the majority for the Hayes
electors in South Carolina, "s.' went on to say:
i" rhine Of Tilden's within 20 of their lowest"
THE journals of the period win show that