Gunnison news-champion., 1923-08-03
True
Detective Stories
OUT OF THE AIR

- mans were getting messages
through from the United States
10 the faiherland- That much was
certain Washington knew IL beyond
The shadow OF doubt. bu, the way
In which the messages were trans
mitted was a mystery-tark and ap-
parently unfAthomabIe.
This was In the days before Amer
lea entered the war. In the days when
the United States uas. theoretically
at least. 4 neutral nation. But Won
BernsiorH. Won Pap~n and the rest Of
the embassy at Washington were do
ing everything they could to further
their schemes from this side OF the
Atlantic.
But not even the secret service
could penetrate the mystery Of the
messages. That these were flashed
from the huge wireless towers on this
side OF the Atlantic. or reIayed from
the German radio stations. seemed
fairly obvious. But how,
They must he sending the stuff
through the air" argued the chief Of
the secret service TO Talbot. one 9f
his best men. '-for the simple reason
that we've closed all their other chan
nels-
ANY idea as to the code they are
us!ngT" asked Talbot.
None at all. but MS probably con
cealei somewhere in the messages
which they send out to the ships at
sea-press bulletins. stock quotations.
and the like. We've studied them
carefully. but haven't been able TO md
n thing"
How about the outburst from
Nauen every morTingT'
THE only explanation for that
seems 10 he that It's an attempt to
fog the air SO that ships and other
towers can't get anything through"
Yes. but In that case would the
Germans send It for an hour early
every morning7 Why not all day long1
And why that hash Of language that
doesn't mean a thlng1 II they were
trying TO fog things they'd wireless the
Bible or Nietzsche or excerpts from
some other long book instead OF that
mess Of meaningless rot"
"AIl right" retorted the chief, III
you think there's clue there. go TO It,"
But Talbot didn't begin his inyes-
LEGATIONS with study Of the Nauen
hast" He made his way at first TO
the laboratory Of Charles f. Apgar. n
deep student OF wireless telegraphy.
10 80. haF h. s.lI 10
bles and. when he had finished. the
expert leaned forward and picked up
something from the table In front OF
him.
See thatT' Apgar asked. Talbot
nodded.
Looks like an old-fashioned cylin-
drical photograph record" he said.
Just what II is" admitted the eI-
pert. only You use II In connection
with wireless phonograph.'
"A wireless photography" and the
government operatives voice showed
that he had never heard OF such
contriysnce.
Yes, u photograph attached to the
receiving end OF radio station.
finished working on II a few days ago.
and ! think It's Just what you need
for this job. II will record and keep
track OF every sound that comes into
the station. enabling you to listen in
on messages months after they have
been sent With a supply OF these
records and the necessary patience you
ought TO be able to figure out the sys-
TEN the Huns are using without their
being any the wiser. II may take
weeks or even months. but it's Just a
question OF being everlastingly mt IL"
Apsar was right. Talbot found
that 1t took him nearly four months
to get on TO the system-four months
Of ceaseless listenIng-ln at the end of
a De Forest audlon detector which
picks up sound waves from thousands
OF miles away. and even then he would
never have located the secret had II
not been for the wax cylinders But
with the aid of these automatic detec.
tiyes he was able to repeat each mes
sage until he had II almost by heart,
trying out the various combinations
and symbols until he stumbled across
the right one.
Then. one morning. when the chief
Of the secret service least expected
him he burst into the office with the
exclamation:
tive got 1.-THE fifth. tenth and
fifteenth flashes! Seer and he held
out sheet Of paper on which were
row upon row Of figures and letters,
commencing with 5S-K-1LB"
Looks interesting" admitted the
chief. hut what does II meanT'
Got German dictionary here1
Novel, have Luckily its an old
edltion-just the one they're using for
the code. The letters give the num-
bers of the pages. and the figures des-
ignate the words. the big ones in bold
type. Five and eight K means the
fifth and eighth words on page eleven.
u B means the fourteenth word on