davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

Dear Sir: Say to Memminger Secretary or the Treasuryl that Hilton will have the machines all finished and dies all cut ready for shipping by the first of Janu- ary: The engraving of the plates. Is su- perb.
 They will be shipped via Halifax and all according to instructions.
 The main part of the work has been under the immediate supervision of Hil- ton, who will act in good faith in conse- quence or the large amount he has and will receive. The work is beautifully done and the paper is superb. part has been shipped and balance will be forward ed in few days
 Send some one to Nassau to receive and take the machines and paper through Florida. Write me at Halifax. I leave arrive at Nassau please send word by your agent that he is to await further in- structions. Yours truly, J. H. c.
 The following telegrams to the War Department, during the week following Mr. Dana's visit to General Dix, will show that no time was lost in hunting up the rebel gang and placing them under arrest:
 HoN MEM Rd1y,1 Y0RK' K p m, Dec; secrs 2s 1863 War; I have this morning seen evidence which affords good ground for the belief that II7l. the tn United States. here is prob, operators of this city. From long per sonal knowledge of the individual I have no doubt he Is perfectly capable of such reasonable conduct C. A. DANA.
 NEW YORK CITY, Dec. 30, 1863. Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War: The man inside the Bank Note Company reports that the work is not be- ing done there. He says they are capable of 1t ,,i ana m, informs me they have a branch establishment at Montreal, and that there Is no doubt but the work is being done there.
 Send the proper person to Montreal and Rouses Point. Tn my opinion the plates will come through to Albany and the Western road to Boston and by Cunard steamer to Halifax.
 ROBERT MURRAY, U. s. Marshal.
 NEW YORK, 5:30 D. m., Dec. 31, 1863.
 Hon. Edwin M. stanton, Secretary of War: l have arrested Hilton and his partner. and foreman and secured the plates for the rebel bonds, also 6's, 1O's, POS and sos, Confederate notes.
 1 have arrested the lithographer and printer and taken possession of Hilton s premises and the lithographer's and placed guard over them until the morn ing, and I have no doubt ] shall get the machinery also
 ROBERT MURRAY, U. s. Marshal.
 NEW YORK, January l, 1864.
 B. M. stanton, Secretary of War: l secured machinery and dies this morning at a. m., together with several millions of dollars In bonds and notes of various denominations l am after the maker of the machinery and will gets him. From an intercepted letter 1 learn that Cam mack Is in Havana
 ROBERT MURRAY, U. s. Marshal.
 
 In the present state of war when a telegraph operator is forwarding an official message he is profoundly 1gnor- ant of it's meaning. The message Is simply tumble of letters or figures.
 The simplest form of cipher consists in representing the letters of the al- phabet by other letters. sometimes characters, figures or arbitrary signs are used.
 Alphabat-a, b, c, d. e, f, g, h. etc.
 Cipher X, 3, c. ?, c, o, A, =.
 In this cipher the words "A bad hedge" would appear as follows. the
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

he added. evidently feeling that some explanation was needed.
 Well, will you have drink of whisky now, just to show how the stimulant affects your pulse?" asked Dr. Simon.
 The mans eyes glistened and he drew a deep breath of anticipation as he remarked emphatically. if lacon- ically:
 Would I? Search me-" and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
 Tt Is much better" said Dr. Simon, as he carefully measured out four ounces of whisky in a graduated medi- cine glass, ito take a subject who is used to big drinks. There will be less danger of bad results, and the fact that tenn for a week will show us satisfac- tory difference in his pulse wave before and after taking the stimulant.
 Not yet my man." he added, as the thirsty subject reached for the glass. First l must see the tracing which your pulse will give before the drink ,"
 While talking the doctor adjusted the delicate instrument on the mans wrist by means of rubber bands. Next he held strip of aluminium about half an inch wide and six inches long, over the flame of a candle until the surface was blackened. Then he moved the machine with infinite patience until 1t was di- rectly over the mans pulse.
 A delicate little needle was at once set throbbing to and fro, recording the beats of the artery. A clock arrange
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12
5zow to Solve Me Eamous Secrvt Clphers

time the first of the two rebel ciphers was translated by the trio of War De- partment cipher operators, and the As- sistant Secretary of War, MT. Charles A. Dana, started for New York at 7:3O p. m. the same day to confer with Gen. eral Dix, and before the date set for the seizure of the ocean vessels the rebel plotters and agents had been spotted, watch set upon their move ments, and within week they had all been arrested, and millions of rebel bonds seized and destroyed instead of being used in England and France to help pay for the rebel ships of war then being built in those countries.
 The history of these two rebel ciphers Is as follows:
 They were each enclosed in an enve- lope addressed to Alexander Keith Jr., Halifax, Nova Scotia, and were mailed from New York City; the first one be- ing dated December IS. 1863, and the second one four days later.
 United States Consul Jackson at Halifax had previously reported that Keith was in frequent communication with rebel blockade runners and with rebel agents in the United States. The mails were therefore being closely watched, and when Abraham Wake man, postmaster, discovered the enve- lope bearing Keith's address, which was dropped in the New York postoffice on December IS, he promptly sent it to the Secretary of War, who, on seeing that the enclosure was in cipher, turned it over to the War Department clerks, who vainly puzzled over the mysterious signs for two days.
 On the third day the important docu- ment was turned over to the telegraph department and placed in the hands of the trio, who set to work with a de- termination to do what the War De- partment clerks had failed in doing.
 In my boyhood days l was for short period employed in the store of John Horne & Co.,, Pittsburg, and as one of their cost marks was based upon the thirteen prime characters taken from the two geometrical figures shown be- low, I was thus able to discern, per- haps more readily than my associates, the slight differences between the seve- ral characters of that series.
 The basis or foundation referred to Is as follows, the Arabic numerals and the dollar and cent mark being shown in their respective places:
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

person of an amiable looking young man who readily consented to an exper- iment.
 He sat at ease. his head resting upon the back and his hands upon the arms of the chair. First the SphygmOgraph was fastened to his wrist and the pulse wave was taken. It showed a normal heart action.
 Next it was necessary to put him in a state of hypnosis in order to show the difference of the heart action between natural and hypnotic sleep. pr. Simon stood in front of him and gazed flxedly at the man, who seemed at once to feel the, influence of those great, glittering black eyes.
 "Go to sleep" commanded the doctor, pressing his fingers on the mans fore head
 You are going to sleep. You are asleep. Go deeper-deeper-de deeper"
 Sure enough. the man was asleep. His breathing and the relaxed condition of his body showed it.
 You are going still deeper asleep" said the hypnotist, speaking in slow, monotonous tone.
 The mans face became flushed and he breathed quickly.
 You are a ton of lead. Your arms are heavy. Your legs are heavy heavy-heavy!"
 The subject was sound asleep.
 The doctor occupied himself with ar ranging the slips for the sphymograph. speaking to the man at regular inter vals. Sleep as soundly, as deeply as you can," said the doctor. "Sleepier, drowsier, sleepier!"
 Then the subject breathed very quiet ly. He was in deep slumber. The doc tor raised the lids of his eyes. The pu- pills were contracted. All the muscles showed a complete state of hypnosis.
 Yes. he is in a good condition for the experiment." said the doctor First, however. he made few tests to prove that the man was entirely hypnotized
 'The most infallible proof of all, how ever" said Dr. Simon, lis that of the sphymograph. The pulse-waves cans not lie"
 The little slip glided quickly under the needle and showed the most wonderful tracing of all. The marks were regu- lar and flowing. The up strokes were short and the etching seemed merely wavy line. "All the nervous system is at rest" said the doctor.
 000O00OOOOOO0OOOO0
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

next letter after ''p" which is "q" The next alphabet commences with .'s," as this letter follows ''r' Each of the following alphabets is made in a simi- lar manner. In writing with this cipher the first word of the message should be written from the first cipher al- phabet; the second word from the sec ond alphabet, and so on, repeating if necessary. Suppose it were necessary to write the sentence, "The spy is in camp" The written from the first alphabet is JXU; "spy" would be rep sented (second alphabet) by KHQ, and the entire sentence would look like this:
 JXU KHQ DIN MIR HFRU.
 As in this cipher the same letter is represented by different characters it's solution without key is practically impossible
 I will now illustrate a form of cipher which, as far as I know, has never been used. It might be called the magic square cipher" The key can be writ ten from memory in a few minutes, and it has TO complications. Below is an ordinary magic square based on the number 5
 There are other magic squares that can be made with the same set of num- bers but I have given the one most easily constructed. The rule for mak- ing magic squares is very simple, and may be found in the encyclopedias. For illustration the following sentence will be used:
 Communicate with me tomorrow.
 In the space in the magic square oc- cupied by the figure 1 is written the first letter of the sentence. "C,' the. sec ond letter "O," is placed In the space where is found; the third letter where 3 falls, and the remainder of the letters are similarly placed. The message ap- pears as in the illustration. Then the message Is rewritten in one or more lines as is convenient:
 n 0 ET M AT U W ~ 1S n TYT0 TT,
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

THE Federal cipher codes during
 the Civil War were very simple
 and yet absolutely secret, arbi-
 trary words being used to repre-
 sent proper names, and also many ordinary words and military phrases The words of the entire body of the dispatch, after being concealed in this manner, were then arranged in one of over a thousand possible com binations, the particular combination being indicated by a key word, and as each combination had several key words 1t was not necessary to use the same one twice in succession. As a feature of the combination blind words were interspersed at regular or vary ing intervals, which, in translation, were of course discarded.
 When finally prepared for transmits sion the dispatch was wholly uninteI- ligible to the transmitting or receiving operator, and no case Is recalled of the enemy having translated a Federal cipher dispatch. On the other hand, many of the rebel cipher dispatches which fell into our hands by capture or through our spies were translated by our cipher operators, and thus im- portant military information was se- cured by our commanding generals.
 The rebels, instead of adopting a plan similar to ours, which was at once s-- cret and speedy, made use of the crude plan of transposing the letters of the alphabet in various ways.
 In some cases the hieroglyphic plan was adopted by the rebels, and it was this method which was followed in the instances referred to below
 A fn- ho1l ,1.,f1 I,f,, l. : . in New York City, having for it's i'm mediate object the seizure of two large ocean steamers, when one or two days out by rebel agents, who were to ship as passengers or crew. The scheme included also the shipment as freight of crates, packages and hogsheads. osten- sibly containing merchandise but which in reality contained guns, small arms, ammunition, etc, for the use of the pirates after they had overpowered the loyal crew and obtained control of the ship.
 The seizure of two ocean steamers and their conversion into privateers would create dismay and consternation in the North. and would perhaps be followed by the capture of many small craft, merchant vessels and Govern ment transports, and possibly the de- Struct1on Of some of our seaport towns. Meanwhile the rebel government was actually having large and varied is- sue of Confederate bonds engraned and printed almost within sight of the old tombstone in Trinity Church Yard. and communications on the subject of such bonds were passing to and fro between the rebel government in Richmond and its agents in New York City, the me- dium of these communications being the very same hieroglyphics which were carved on that old tombstone nearly one hundred years before
 These deep-laid plots were fortunate ly revealed to the Federal authorities in time to prevent their fulfillment. The date set for the seizure of the two ocean steamers was Christmas, 1863, and only four, days previous to that
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

The doctor obtained very good tracing of her pulse wave, then hand cd her the cigarette. While waiting for the nicotine to take effect Dr. Simon spoke of the results of chloroform, ether, nitrous oxide gas and morphine strated by the pulse waves.
 The effect is similar in each case, he said. ''The entire nervous system is affected, and the heart is, of course. stimulated to quicker action"
 Most opportunely to the subject in question, at that moment one of the doctors patients was announced, suf- imbedded in the hand. A delicate op- eration seemed necessary and the pa- tient requested an opiate.
 When the coincidence of the occur renee with the line of experiment was explained the patient of his own ac- cord suggested that a tracing of his pulse-wave should be taken when he was under the influence of chloroform.
 Long before this the young woman had finished her cigarette and had ob- tained a successful tracing of her pulse-beat, which showed the infiu- ence of even that small amount of nic- otine in her system.
 "'The question whether nicotine af- fects the action of the heart is rather OtlIlODSlTdl6O, IS IL not re- marked the doctor. "If one cigarette produces so marked a difference in the pulse of a healthy woman what must be the effect of constant smoking upon women of weaker physique, or with any heart difficulty? Any artificial quickening of the heart action is inju- rious." And the doctor calmly lighted a cigarette.
 T have tracings of the pulse waves of thirty persons taken before and dur ing natural sleep" he continued. You will notice that during natural sleep the wave Is slower, fainter and more reg ular After sleep, the nervous system being refreshed and strengthened, the tracing shows that the pulse is stronger and quicker
 During the hypnotic sleep" contin- ued the doctor, his eyes brightening as he broached his favorite topic, "the pulse-wave denotes even greater regu- larity of the heart action and more complete relaxation of the nervous sys- tenn than in sleep"
 A hypnotic subject was present in the
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

writing" Is what the name
 means in plain English.
 pr. Carleton Simon of New York has demonstrated by the sphygmograph how various phases of emotion affect the heart.
 T believe most thoroughly in the val ue of the sphygmograph." said Dr. Si- mon. "The tracings representing the pulse wave obtained by it are of the ut most value in determining the normal condition of the heart itself, the circu- lation and the respiratory organs as well as the effect of stimulants upon them"
 The doctor then proceeded to prove the truth of his words by putting the sphygmograph to the test upon some subjects provided for the purpose. First a tramp was ordered up to the big armchair, and with several sus- picious glances at the queer little in- strument lying on the table beside him sat down, evidently with an inward qualm.
 Well. my man." said the doctor, "how long is 1t since you have had a drink?"
 "A week." replied the weary one. I've been doing time on the island" @
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

and stronger beats.
 The action of the heart, you see." said the doctor. lis decidedly acceler- ated and the quantity of blood forced into the arteries at each pulsation is greater
 Weary Willie" weary no longer. then departed and a gay young woman took his place, who declared. as she sat down, that she had never smoked a cigarette in all her life, but that she was quite willing to do it in the inter- est of science
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12
Gooa Sto1les
 or Some Nezy 24xzllng Cphers GoOernment
 Hlh2Ist and
 Mercantile.

T c T R R N O O H.
 If the message does not fill the square irrevelant letters should be added to the full amount.
 Here is a message written in very Interesting form of cryptography-th gridiron cipher:
 s H R U ERG METM
 AN AUE DINM
 BUSB EARNY = FEY
 ODT
 It is possible to prepare a cipher message in such a manner that the casual observer would suppose the communication to be some common place note. One means of accomplish ing this is by means of the 'grill' cipher. The recipient has a piece of paper with certain spaces cut out. This is the grill" This is placed over the writing and through the opening cer- tain words appear-the words of the hidden message
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

The person writing the message has a similar grill, and this is placed over a sheet Of blank paper and the secret message is written through the spaces. The grill is then removed, and care fully devised words are added to give. apparently. commonplace meaning to the whole missive
 In the "two-word square" cipher is seen form of cryptogram used by the English Government 300 years ago. One or two alphabets are written in a square, ana each letter is represented by two letters-the letters which appear oppo- site in the key words. In the illustra- ton given A would be represented by OD or UT; R by M or PS. The word army" in this cipher is
 CD PSUOII.
 The key words are previously agreed upcu.
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

ment at the back of the instrument was then wound up, the strip inserted under the needle. and a little spring was touched. Slowly the blackened strip travelled under the throbbing needle and a zig-zag line was etched on the sur face.
 Pretty good!" said the doctor. ex- amining the action critically; almost normal action. A slight yalvuIar weakness is indicated on the down stroke. Now, here's your drink" he said. holding out the glass to the man.
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

who needed no second invitation, but swallowed the contents without so much as a wink
 "Ah-h!" he gurgled with deep satis- faction. beaming amiably upon the company. Make all the tries ye like at this game, I'll stay"
 In ten minutes the doctor readjusted the sphymograph to the happy mans wrist and made the second experiment. This time the needle jumped back and forth at lively pace and the result was an etching which showed faster
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

Is @; then Is the next in the order of frequency. Next in their order of fre- quency occur the letters a, o. n, i; then follows r S, h; the next group consists of q and l; then, in order, c, W, u, m, f, y, g, p, b; V, k; K, q, j, 2.
 Of course all single characters must represent a, l, or O. The double letters most frequently used are Il, co, if, ee, and ss. If we arrange in the order of
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

After we had translated the above hieroglyphics, the following is what ap- peared:
 NEW YORK, Dec IS, 1S63 Hon. J. P. Benjamin Secretary of State, Richmond, Va: Willis is here The two steamers will leave here about Christ mas. Lamar and Bowers left here via Bermuda two weeks ago. Twelve thou sand rified musketS came duly to hand and were shipped to Halifax as in- structed.
 We will be able to seize the other two steamers as per programme. Trowbridge has followed the Presidents orders. We will have Briggs under arrest before this reaches you. Cost 5000. We want more money How shall we draw? Bills are forwarded to Slidell and rects reed Write as before. J. H. c. Two days after we had interpreted the first cipher dispatch another one dated December P, and also enclosed in an envelope bearing Keith's address, was placed before us, and was quickly translated.
 This communication proved to be of almost equal Importance, referring as 1t did to the fact that Confederate notes and bonds were being engraved and printed in New York City.
 The second cipher was prepared in the same way as the first, and it's translation is as follows:
 NEW YORK, Dec. 22, 1s63 Hon. Benjamin H. Hill, Richmond. Ya.--
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

The password cipher" is based upon some keyword or password. Any word may be chosen for the keyword, and it may consist of any number of letters After the keyboard is fixed upon the ci- pher is made in the same manner as the one here illustrated. In the cipher here given the keyword is ''prudentia."
 After the letter ''p'' an alphabet is written in order commencing with the
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

semicolon being used to separate the words:
 X; 3x?; -c ?Ac
 This method of secret writing Is very easily solved if the message is of any length. The decipherer's first busi- ness is to classify the characters of the secret message in the order of their fre- quency.
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

their frequency words of two letters most commonly used the list stands of. to, in, it, is, be, he, by, or, as, at, an and so. The commonest -.yords of three letters are "the" and and; then fol- low for, are, but, all and not; of four letters, that, with. from, have, this, they and them.
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

It is device
 d by nicotine morphine alcoool and other It called phygmograph in plain English measurer" When ad usted the wrist accurately pulse tracing for reading the result of the register.
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

By placing a dot in each of the thir- teen spaces all the letters of the alpha bet can be represented by the above signs, thus:
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

Mess sMe N PA N M N.o AZ
 i: 1! T :: ..>:. 32r5'r54l 3aIs B 5 +334 333a3433rl TYRANTT RAaTTY RANITra IT. ~++'5i'l2'I 33l+ !. B 9 os s7z7 5 o8 g. Ss 7s43d777 5so5v, WRITING A MESSAGE IN THE NUMERICAL CIPHER" 7o oo575s v 22'7 's86s.o .oo 44544z AZ A 54 AZ 44445442 32I5I AZ 32'3433I4II54 i i i5 ;.o i
 DECPHERlNG A MESSAGE
The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

N HE latest toy of the physician Is a little device intended to show the action of the pulse Pulse
 writing" Is what the name