The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-09-29

Inc
per of the chief Of the board of naxi-
saUon for 1898 is precisely. word for
WOrd, as that dispatch was received
oy In navy department from the wires
pany NO'ii-
we propose to show. further. that
mat dispatch as received by the navy
department was cipher, word for word
as Il LETT the West Indies. As if vas
= upon the wires in Kingston Sc
Il Is printed IN the appendix
Reports Are CARRIED.
do not wish to lay any further
slress upon this matter except to saw
mat IN all my experience in Washing
Ton IN connection with the naanaserneD+
OF the executive departments nv bierb
oAIceIs OF the government and by sun
| ordlnates L have not found that great
| departments of the government sarble
| sHelf orhc1al documents. l did not he
/ HeVe that this was true. We did not
accept 1t as suggestion which was
worth any consideration, except for
the Iact that it was introduced here
ana upon investigation we have found
the Iacts to be as stated, and we pro-
RoSe 70 prove them by witness whom
we desire to call We are not irving
TINS case upon the appendix, but upon
oIlslhal documents. We have never re-
iled upon these copies. They are sub
Ject to infirmities. of course
then
and Identified the cipher copy book of
the auxiliary cruiser Harvard which
VeSsel during the war was under COM
mand of Captain (now AdmiraD Cot
ton: This was the vessel which car
ried Admiral Schley's dispatches to
Kingston, to be there transmitted bv
cable to Washington
Lieutenant Barnes said he was IA
miliar with the departments cipher
S coo. ana that last night and before he
had made translation of the dispatch
as presented. He then read his trans
latlon and was questioned concerning
II by Mr.. Hanna, who asked:
Have you examined the duplicate of
the cipher received at the department
and compared it with the cipher as it
appeared in the press copy?"
II have"
Was this cipher message as received
by the department confirmed by the
telegraph company"
1T was"
Was Properly Translated.
II will ask you whether in cipher
those words as they appear in that
press copy book are identicaIIy the
same in cipher as those received by the
department or is there any variation
Whatever in word or letter7''
They are identically the same In
word. Three words as 1 recoIecu 1t
have letters which are indistlnct in
mistaken, although there is no chance
Of mistaking the word"
Iher L viii ask you whether, ac-
cording to the press copy book, that
dispatch left Kingston as received at
the department in cipher7"
1T did. if this was the dispatch that
was sent of which this is COPY"
Now, with respect to certain minor
variations in words herein the trans
lation you have given and which ap-
pear, I viii ask you first, have you
compared the translation which you
have made from cipher with this dis
patch in the appendix"
IT have not"
''why did you not do SOP"
L was asked by the judge advocate
not to consult any other books what
ever than the secret code. and this book
from which I took the cipher" /
You are familiar with the cipher
code and handle 1t frequently"
ct am
rs it a part Of your duty to do SOP"
''It is
Mr.. Hanna, holding In his hand a
copy of the appendix containing the
official print of the Schlev dIsDatcb
pointed out the discrepancies between
that printed and the translation made
by Lieutenant Barnes from the Har-
ward cipher book. which showed that
the principal differences We're as fol-
lows: The substitution of the word
heavy for the word helpless in the
appendix translation and the omission
Of the word leaving" in the new trans
lation. referring to the departure from
Key West
Explains the Code.
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 a country is generally added after
that of a town or particular locality in |
order to make the information full and |
specific.
He also gave this as the explanation
of the addition of the word leaving"
saying that it was done to bring out
the sense of the message. With refer |
ence to the word heavy for helpless !
the witness said:
Heavy and helpless are very close to- !
each other in the code. A change of a /
single number at the end which would !
indicate a change of letter in word /
or a mistaken letter In a word would /.
produce that sort of 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 get cable to |
hold which sentence did not appear
in the copy Of the dispatch as preserved |
by Admiral Schley in his press copy |
words could by any translation or any i
legitimate use of the cipher have been |
added, or whether they could be due to (
a cipher error, or had they been simply /
added.
''They could not have been simply /
added IN cipher" replied the witness
BY Mr.. Raynor-I do not think there
IS any disagreement between US. There !
was a dispatch sent by Commodore /
Schley, delivered to Captain Cotton on
the Harvard. That dispatch was trans /
lated into cipher on board the Harvard /
between Santiago and Kingston. That
cipher translation came here to Wash /
ington and you made a translation /
which have no doubt is perfectly cor
rect. The translation seems to accord /
in most particulars. with the exception |
Of some trivial things with the trans |
lation you have in the appendix.
What Confirm Meant.
Mr. Raynor then cross-examined the
witness. first asking him whether he
had any knowledge that the cipher dis
patch in question is a correct transla-
ton of the dispatch that Commodore
Schley gave to Captain Cotton
81 have no special knowledge that it
was" the witness replied.
Now, in Admiral Schley's letter