The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1912-11-15


with the cipher story. Have the
handwriting experts been turning
tricks with the war department mes
sages?"
"Emphatically yes. Two-thirds Of
the orders to the troops In the field
along the Mexican border have been
translated, either in transit or before
| leaving Washington Telegraph, wire
less, sealed letter by trusted hands
some one gets to the more important
messages. The ciphers have been
changed, reversed, reVamped, invented
brand new by the most scientific ex-
perts--"
who very probably sold out their
process inside Of an hour after trans
acting business with the war depart
ment," Pinkwell interjected.
mo. Hardly. Because" and VIII
kins almost snorted as he forced out
the words-"I personally invented the
latest cipher used-cooked 1t up from
ancient Greek, my old college trigo-
nometry and sixty words Of the Co
manche tongue. learned when | spent
vacation at Fort Sill. You'd think
that would be some cipher, Billy, some
cipher. 1t held them for two days
then found good evidence that it had
been translated"
by whom, and for whom"
Billy, there's the toughest problem
in the whole blamed affair ! can't
even state. definitely, which govern
ment to accuse. All | know Is that
our army orders, our Mexican policy.
and / don't know what else besides
are being continually relayed to an
unfriendly power, and | can't actually
name the power"
THE process of elimination" said
the old detective, slowly, should cas-
lily demonstrate the location Of the
leak. and the power to which such
leak Is valuable. Which do you
really figure In the equation-yellow
men or wooden shoes"
yellow men or wooden sh-- oh
blaZes!" snapped the chief. Il am a
slow thinker today. Probably at all
times, or could have ended this whole
business without calling for outside
help. AS you are perfectly aware,
there are fifty reasons why Germany
would be glad TO keep In touch with
our Mexican policy, and would pay
well for our secret ciphers. Then, if
you look at it in another light, there
are just as many reasons for Japan
to grasp every chance OF keeping close
watch upon our troops, our naval
| movements and our general dealings
with all other nations. | can't fix it
rightly can't definitely assert that
there Is a Gordon of Japanese spies
from here to Los Angeles. with an in
telligence bureau which can both OBJ
tain and interpret every cipher we
have ever constructed. Neither can
say that there is a German system OF
the same pattern-I am, as yet, beau
tifully checked at all points. l have
| only this moral certainty: Nothing
goes out Of Washington concerning
the movements of fleets or armies
without heavy risk of transcription
and Interpretation by our enemies
There are only two avenues OPEN
you can easily guess them both"
Either find the leak-or devise a
cipher that even Japanese or Ger
man scientist cannot take apart and
reassemble."
The chief nodded emphatically
IF We found the leak, we would
stop the source Of information--for a
little while. If We devised an unde-
cipherable cipher, We could make
monkeys of either kaiser or mikado
until our plans had matured, and our
hands could not be forced on either
the Atlantic or Pacific. After that,
we could ferret out the leak at lei.
sure"
Exactly" assented Pinkwell. Then
you think 1t would be best for my
office to make some sort Of bluff at
digging up the guilty parties. while
you devote your energies to the con-
struction Of cipher that not even
such man as-well, we will say
Won Schimmel--could possibly olsen
tangle?"
The chiefs nod was more emphatic
than before.
II have thought of asking the secre.
tary of war and the secretary Of the
navy to join us in formulating new
cipher. Among us, we might possibly
turn ouc something that would be too
much for the wisest fellow that ever
combined or subtracted words and
letters"
Something like the Dancing Men
in the Sherlock Holmes story?" Quer-
led the detective. with a reminiscent
SMILE
THAT i6ea," returned the chief--"a
tiny dancing figure. in different po-
sition to represent each letter, was
original and clever. You will remem'
ber, though. that 1t was finally turned
into plain English. without much diff
ficulty. almost think Won Schimmel
was right-that there Is no cipher
which cannot be read Dy the expert