The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-29
CIPHER CODE EXPERT.

uehtly, ne SAID, "a question of whether
the young officer on deck at that time
put down my exact words"
CIPHER CODE EXPERT.
Commander Switzerland was then ex-
cused and Lieut.. Barnes was again call
ed. Pending his appearance MIR. Han
ma made a statement concerning the two
versions of the Schley dispatch of May
2S lie referred to the fact that not
only the translation of this dispatch but
$50 the translation of a navy depart-
mem dispatch of May q had been called
into question. He, however, gave his es.
pecial attentlGn to the Schley message,
saying:
There is no more inn ortant paper be-
fore the court than this telegram, and
in order to discount its Importance, In
order to weaken it's terrible enect, there
has been introduced on the record hore
suggestions that the dispatch as printen
by the government is not correct. Now,
We propose to show that that dispatch
as printed in the appendix to the report
of the chief of the bureau of navigation
for 1898 is precisely, word for word, as
that dispatch was received by the navy
department from the wires and con-
sfirmed by the telegraph company. We
propose to show further that that dis
patch as received by the navy depart
ment was cipher word for cipher word
as it left the West Indies.
AS it was placed upon the wires m
Kingston, so it is printed in the appen-
dix. I do not wish to lay any further
stress upon this matter, except to say
that in all my experience in Washing
ton in connection with the management
of executive departments by high Of
hcers of the government and by sub
ordinates, I have not found that great
departments of the government garbie
their official documents. [ did not
believe that this was true. We did not
accept it as suggestion which was
worth any consideration except for the
fact that it was introduced here, and
upon investigation We have found the
facts to be as stated, and we propose
to prove them by a witness whom we
desire to call. We are not trying this
case upon the appendix, but upon orig
inal documents We have never relied
upon those copies. They are subject. to
infirmities, of course
Lieut.. Barnes then identified the cipher
copy book Of the auxiliary cruiser Har-
ward, which vessel during the war was
under the command of Capt. now Adj
miraD Cotton This was the vessel which
carried Admiral Schleys dispatch to
Kingston to be there transmitted by ca
bic to Washington.
THE CIPHER MESSAGE.
Lieut.. Barnes said he was familiar with
the department cipher code and that last
night and this morning he had made a
translation of the dispatch as printed. He
then read his translation, and was ques-
toned concerning it by Mr.. Hanna, wno
asked:
Have you examined the duplicate OF
the cipher received at the department and
compared it with the cipher as it ap-
peared in that press copy book"
II have
WAS this cipher message, as received
by the department, confirmed by the tel
egraph company?'
1T was"
Il will ask you whether in cipher those
words as they appear in that press cory
book are identically the same in cipher
as those received by the department, or
is there any variation whatever IN word
or letter?''
They are identically the same in word.
Three words, as I recollect it, have let
ters which are indistinct in one place or
the other, and might be mistaken, al
though there is no chance of mistaking
the word"
Then, will ask you whether, ac-
cording to that press copy book, that dis
patch left Kingston as it was received at
the department in cipher?"
TT did, if this was the dispatch that
was sent of which this is a copy
Now, with respect to certain minor
variations in words in the translation you
nave given and which appear, 1 will ask
you first, Have you compared the trans
iatlon which you have made from cipher
with this dispatch in the appendix?'' -
81 have not"
why did you not do sop
,I-o
not to consult any other books what
ever than the secret code and the book
from which 1 took the cipher
You are familiar with the cipher code
and handle it frequently?'
II am; 1 do
is it part of your duty to do SOP
''It is
Mr.. Hanna, holding in his hand
copy of the appendix containing the Of
fetal print of the Schley dispatch point
ing out the discrepancies between that
print and the translation made by Lieut.
Barnes from the Harvard cipher book,
winch showed that the principal differ
ences were as follows: The substitution
OF the word heavy for the word ''help-
less" in the appendix translation and
the omission of the word "Ieaving'' in
the new translation, referring to the
departure from Key West
The comparison also showed changes
such as the omission of the word the
and the witness explained that often in
translating cipher messages the name OF
country is generally added after that
OF town or particular locality in order
to make the informal ton full and specific
He also gave this as the explanation of
the addition of the word leaving" say
ing that it was done to bring out the
sense of the message
''heavy'' for helpless the witness said:
T Heavy and helpless are very close to
each other in the cipher code. A change
of single number at the end. which
would indicate a change of a letter in a
word or a mistaken letter in word
would produce that sort of a change"
Mr.. Hanna reminded the witness that
at the end of the message as printed
in the appendix was the following SEN
tence:
Very difficult to tow collier to get
cable to hold which sentence did not
appear in the copy of the dispatch as
preserved by Admiral Schley in his press
copy book. He then asked whether these
words could by any translation or any
legitimate use of the cipher have been
added, or whether they could be due to a
cipher error had they been simply added.
"They could not have been simply
added in CIPHER replied the witness
ROSS-EXAMINED
By Mr.. Rayner: CT do not think there
is any disagreement between u.s. There
was dispatch sent by Commodore
Schley delivered to Capt Cotton on the
Harvard. That dispatch was Translated
into cipher on board the Harvard be-
tween Santiago and Kingston That
cipher translation came here to Wash