Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-09-06
NEON GREETs DUBIOUS
Cipher Fans Talk in Code
BY PHIL THOMAS
star stan Writer

Queen Elizabeth Room Of the
Raleigh Hotel yesterday, nod
ded to "Ishcabibel" and said
hello to Dubious"
This was how members Of
the American Crytogram AS
ISOLATION, an organization Of
amateur code and cipher fans,
greeted each other as their
annual convention opened at
the hotel.
The Cryptographic Society
Of Washington. which has 80
members of the 600-member
national group, Is playing host
to the meeting.
Dubious" really Robert s.
Du Bots of GIT Thirty-second
place NV, president of the
local group, explained that all
members of the organization
go by mons de plume.
ITS sort of a tradition with
u.s." he said. "It makes for
more intimate sociability."
Neon" is Ernest E. Alden Of
Rochester, N. Y, a retired
chemist, formerly with the
Eastman Kodak Co.. and "Ish-
cabibel" is David Kahn OF
Great Neck, N. Y. a reporter
for the newspaper Newsday.
Meet Here Today
Once a year members of the
organization get together. adj
dress each other by their code"
names. try to figure out strange
messages and garner informa-
ton about the latest in ciphers
and codes from lecturers.
The members (about As of
them will be here through to-
day. come from Al Of the so
States, and there are 16 in
foreign countries. They come
from all walks of life. including
everything from lawyers and
housewives and range in age
from l2-year-old Lorenzo Mid
dletown to 80-year-old member.
Dubious" a relative new
conner to the 30-year-old Or
ganization, Joined in 1912. sat-
iSfying an interest in puzzles
dating back to his 10th birth
day.
He said that many members
have been stimulated to join
by reading Edgar Allen Poe's
classic story, The Gold Bug"
a tale Of how a treasure was
found through deciphering Of
a mysterious message.
Satisfaction Is reward
What are the rewards of
such an avocation?
William M. Bowers, treasurer
Of the national organization
and a civil engineer from
Clarksburg. w. Va, gave one
answer: Its like climbing a
mountain so you can say you
did it,"
Mr.. Bowers. by the way, is
known as "Zembie." a rather
obscure coded combination of
his initials.
"Ishcabibel" said the ANA
teur cipher fans can use either
their wits or several tools Of the
BLACK art" to break down one
of the infinite number Of
ciphers.
Lettered Sliderule Used
The tools include a cipher
disk, simply two concentric
cardboard circles with letters
of the alphabet on them. and
possibly a "St. Cyr Slide" a
slide rule with letters instead
If numbers.
OF course, "Ishcabibel" added,
there are very complicated
electronic cipher machines, but
these-alas-are available only
to military circles, it seems.
Dubious" added that ciphers
are different from codes. A
cipher uses a system of jum-
bling or substitution of letters
to make garbled words, while
codes are built on words and
phrases, requiring use Of a key
book to break them.
For instance, the word "Zom-
bic" could mean "Pentagon.
Cipher Easily Broken
Poe's Gold Bug" message
he said, used a simple substi
tuition cipher in which the &C
tual letters in the words werI
replaced with other letters o
the alphabet.
A cipher can be broken b.
one experienced in the ar
through noticing the frequenc,
with which letters or combina
tons of letters occur. Some
times a ciphered message ma,
be based on a "key phrase
, and can be broken down b.
> matching letters in the mes
sage to letters in the Ike
. phrase. The association use
about 80 different kinds o
,, ciphers in its publications sen
: to puzzle members.
, Dubious" admitted there
4 much educated guesswork il
, deciphering a garbled message
Ho eoid with avidont f1rid