Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-06-22

crvutorram can be read of
nand by tl,ose who understand
1t. usually without reference &c
the key. II Is not necessary
TO lock the door and go to work on
a telegram as II 1t were an inscription
in cuneiform hieroglyphics from a BAD
Woman tomb. Keys Of this cipher are
kept at all the sub-treasuries. minfs
and assay offices. Wnen the code IL
changed, as has happened twice since
1883. new keys are forwarded to those
establishments by registered mail, and
the old ones are carefully destroyed by
burning.
There Is another cipher In use In the
treasury department, by the bureau OF
the secret service. A key to u IL IN the
hands OF every field agent. The title OF
field agent IL a euphemfsm Tor detective.
OF course. the detectives OF the secret
service are engaged almost exclusively
In the business Of catching counterfeit
ers. and their work has 10 be done with
the utmost secrecy Hence 1t Is very mn
portant that they shall be able 10 hoih
private communication with thelr cniei
in Washington. II is worth mentlohinS
In this connection that the hfst cryptic
graphic code devised for the war depart
uent was made by Arson Stager, in De-
-,.ober. 1861. and the first key OF II was m
trusted TO the famous detective Allen u
Pinkerton, while employed by the gov
eminent on Il dangerous mission IN keh-
lucky. The war department today has a
cipher Of its own. but rarely uses II. IL
was employed at the time Of the Chicago
riots and during the Indian campaign OF
lso1-ei
The cipher employed by the navy de-
partment liz one Of the most eiaporase
systems ever devised. II is the work,
mainly. Of Admiral John @. Walker.
lately retired. There Is a copy OF the Key
on board of each flagship in the service.
and the officer In command IS held re-
sponsible for It's safe keeping. The Key
big as a n unabridged dictionary; they are
bound In Russia leather and enclosed In
/, heavy ieadcn case. kept always under
lock and key on shipboar6. The case y
perforated 80 snat. should the vessel De
taken. IL may be thrown overheard, SINK
ing and preventing the enemy from get
ting possession Of IL. Nearly all Of the
cas,le correspondence between the navy
.ie.pe rtnert and our ships in foreign
parts Is conducted by the help OF inns
cipher. During the trouble with Chile tn
government was nut To an enormous ex-
nense for cable tolls. which would have
i,ecn atladruoied bat for the fact that for
every cipher word sent three were saved
In English.
When The secretary Of the navy wishes
n send q message. ne NtcitteS III III pam
English TO a typewriter. II Is then given
70 tw0 officers who are especially skilled
m cipher work They translate the mes
sage into cipher, the process being very
lal.orsoGs one. inasmuch as the utmost
sar,. must be taken not to make any mis-
take But the most difficult task is 10
uurayei the messages In cipher that ar
rive at the department. because they are
so apt 10 contain errors which throw out
the whole meaning. II sometimes takes
several hours 10 dcclpher a despatch OF
twenty words The system Is based on
me substitution OF numerals for words.
and then for the numerals are put made
an words that have no meaning whatever
outside Of the cipher. Thus the message
in English undereo.s double transfor-
nation. Most trouble is had with mos
sages from South America, because they
have to he repeated over several lines
and the telegraph operators are poor.
During the rebellion in Brazil several de-
s1atches were two days on the way.
The state department. cipher Is much
like that used for many years ny the
French foreign office. The French code
was composed entirely of numerals, each
representing a word or phrase. The key
of this cipher was stolen more than once.
but a shifting key made its variations so
complicated that the foreign office con-
tinued to use 1t. merely notifying cores
pondenis OF changes decided upon. In
most European countries the telegraphs
are under government control. but in the
United States ii is different. and Uncle
Sam must pay like anybody else He
pays as much as anybody for cable SER
vice. One Of the most expensive mes
Sal eS was from Rio. and cost 500. When
the Trenton and Vandalia were lost in
the Samoan hurricane, a message was
sent from Auckland which cost nearly
sio00 1t was made much more expensive
by the fact that the cipher key was lost
w.1h the Trenton, and every word had to
be sent in plain English. The saving by
the use OF the navy code is about three
and one-half words to every word of
cipher.
The work of editing and publishing the
records OF the Civil war has been greatly
increased by the circumstance that many
of the despatchers sent to and by COM
handing officers during that conflict We're
in cipher. The keys of the clphers used
are not always obtainable, and the tel
egrams have TO be made out by sheer
force Of ingenuity and perseverance. Ii
Is stated that the dispatches sent over
the lines of the Federal military tele-
graph during a single year of the war
numbered 100000 The last important
use made of the military telegraph of
those days was to aid in the capture of
the assassin or President Lincoln. Beck
with. a cipher operator, who became ia
nous as member of General Grants
staff. was one of the first 10 get on the
track OF the murderer. and Il was upon
information which he sent to Washing
ton in cipher that Booth was located
Booth having been shot while attempting
to escape Beckwith received $500 of the
reward offered by the government for the
capture.
The queerest of the ciphers used by
the government is employed by the
weather bureau. The kilograms which
came TO the weather bureau from 80
signal stations all over the country are
curiosities of style. Here is an actual
specimen, by way of illustration:
Buffalo, April 1-Bashful barmaid
d,mnabe bony hrsute pirate
This apparently unintelligible commu-
nieation contains lot of real inforrna-
ton. each letter In every word having a
meaning. "Bashful' signifies that the
barometer is So12 and the temperature
90 degrees Fahrenheit. "Barmaid' tells
that the wind is from the north, and that
fifty-fwo hundredths OF an inch of rain
has fallen during the last twenty four
hours. "Damnable' says that the veloc-
ity of the wind IL twenty-five miles an
hour. and that the highest temperature
during the day was 66 degrees .sBony''
declares that the sky Is covered with
cirrus clouds. "Iirsute" makes it known
that the observations were taken at 8
i. NJ; that the dew point Is 50. and that
the local prediction is for fair weather.
pirate" communicates the fact that the
highest wind velocity today was %
miles an hour.
There is no secrecy about the weather