SOLVING CIPHER SECRETS Edited by M. E. Ghaver

INTERESTED FANS SEND IN SOME LIVELY CHAT-AND SEVERAL NEW PUZZLERS ARE OFFERED FOR HUNGRY HEADS

ID you ever have trouble in occasionally, notwithstanding our combined solving some particular efforts to the contrary. cipher? And did you ever This, by way of introduction, fans, to a feel like running the party sort of " get-together " celebration that we ragged that contrived the have planned in this article. affair? It's just this way. So much has been Well, that's how Frank Spalding, of received from cipher enthusiasts in the way Wrangell, Alaska, must have felt about the of interesting questions, general comments, cipher of Foster F. V. Staples, in the June ciphers, and methods of solving them, that 6 " Solving Cipher Secrets." the only adequate way to cope with the sit• " If I could have caught him last night— uation, and thus to discharge this duty to June 7," writes Mr. Spalding, " he would our readers, is for us all to get together in have had to do some tall explaining." an entire article devoted to that purpose. Nevertheless, Mr. Spalding succeeded in So let's pull up our chairs and talk things solving this cipher, as well as all the others over. It may be that your particular ques• in that issue, although he confesses that tion will not crop up. Btit in that event when he had finished the lot he was " not a you will find another case that covers the good Christian any more!" same ground more completely. Our Alaskan correspondent, who, inci• To open our first session, then, let's give dentally, takes much pleasure in making the ciphers of secret organizations some con• life a burden to the great North American sideration, for almost every secret society grizzly, has mentioned, along with several has one or more private ciphers known only other fans, certain errors discovered in the to the initiated. texts of our ciphers. Some of these are for official purposes It is almost an impossibility to avoid only, as for example, the mnemonic ciphers mistakes of this kind. They are of frequent used in rituals, or the ciphers used for trans• occurrence even in military messages, where mitting passwords, or other essential secret of all places accuracy is an unquestionable information. In some organizations, how• necessity. ever, other ciphers are provided members All of the ciphers printed in this maga• for purposes of secret correspondence. zine are carefully checked at every stage We have here a letter inclosing a crypto• of their journey up to the printed page. gram written in a very clever cipher of this Nevertheless, a few errors have occurred, kind. Those who have carefully studied the and they will probably continue to occur tallies in FLYNN'S for August 15 and Sep- S14 FLYNN'S tember 12 should have no great trouble in many devised methods of their own to take solving it, however. care of the emergency. One correspondent sends in an outline of his treatment of the DE.4R SIR: cipher. In reading over your department on ciphers, I was reminded of an old cipher system that DEAR SIR: was devised for an old lodge of mine that has I note that you speak of having a system since passed out of existence. It was invented of solving the Nihilist cipher. I have also for secret lodge communications, and while evolved a system, which I thought might it is comparatively simple, I do not know be of interest to you, although I should im• of a- case of its secret having been penetrated. agine yours would be very similar to mine. With that in mind I am inclosing a little My system is based on the fact that some message so written, and e-xtend a dare to you certain numbers admit of but a single inter• and members of this department to read the pretation. For instance, 22 gives us A for message the writer intended to convey. both message and key letter, and jo gives us H. DEARMOND HUTSON. E for both. South Bend, Indiana. On the other hand, 66 will give us a possi• CIPHER No. 1. bility of any letter in the alphabet for either A. K. G. S. Code message or key letter. 14-30-12-48-36-42-42-36-46-54-46-26-36-42- My first step is to set down the message 54-44-30-22-24-44-22-54-14-16-24-28-34-14- in one or more lines with plenty of space be• 52-38-14-54-26-24-36-14-52-26-36-28-36-30- tween each number, each group being num• bered consecutively. I have taken Cipher 44-54-44-38-14-54-16-36-54-14-36-54-16-44- No. 4 from the June 6 issue as an example. 28-36-14-44-28-24-16-55-4-30-44-18-36-14- 26-44-54-46-44-14-52-26-36-28-36-30-44-54- Belov/ each group I place its possibilities. 44-18-52-54-46-26-36-42-54-12-24-4-54-16- Thus gro7tp I could be b-c-d-e-g-h-ij-k. 18-44-38-22-36-48-54-44-38-14-54-26-44-38- The next thing is to see if there are any 8-54-44-30-22-28-36-16-54-16-36-54-52-18- single letter possibilities. In this we are for• 50-44-40-30-52. tunate, as group 6 gives us E. A glance at group 5 eliminates the possibil• Often such ciphers are not original, espe• ity of a single letter key, since it does not con• cially if used in purely local organizations. tain E. Or if intended to be original, they frequent• Now as to a two-letter key, all the even numbered groups show E as a possibility. ly turn out otherwise. Selecting group g as an odd numbered group Thus we have a letter from J. G. Meer- with the smallest number of possibilities dink, Hoboken, New Jersey, who writes (b-c-d-e), it will be seen that while B oc• that he used the Augustus cipher, described curs as a possibility in all odd numbered groups, C-D-E do not occur as possibilities in FLYNN'S for February 21, when but a in group 5. These are accordingly canceled, schoolboy, in a secret society they had in leaving only E as the possibility for the odd their school at the time. numbered groups. And another from James R. Heeney, We are therefore pretty safe in assuming Newark, New Jersey, who says that he had that BE is the kejr^vord. Applying this key to the cipher we dope out that " KNOWL• been using the Nihilist cipher—see FLYNN'S EDGE IS POWER." for March 28—with some friends without HAROLD H. BROWN. any previous knowledge of it. Their varia• Red Bank, New Jersey. tion used a twenty-six-letter alphabet, Z z 3 s 4 S ^ 7 S g etc. being assigned the value 56. 37 48 46 67 43 30 a6 37 27 eU. Perhaps some more of our readers have B-JC c-p a-p b-z a-m B-E a-e b-k B-E etc. knowledge of secret society ciphers that they c-ij d-o B- c-ij C-d no longer have any reason to keep secret. d-h E-M c-n d-x f-g C-c d-h e-g h-k d-m B:IV E-G If so, send them right along to puzzle the ij-ij e-1 g-u fans. f-k h-t g-ij ij-s Speaking of the Nihilist cipher, its thun• h-h k-r ders are still crashing on far-off horizons. m-p Great interest was displayed by the fans in n-o this cipher, and in methods of- solving it. The above table has been prepared in Before the special method of solving this accordance with Mr. Brown's method with cipher was published in the June 27 issue, the exception that we have taken the liberty SOLVING CIPHER SECRETS 315

to use a different arrangement of pairs that The first digit—2 in this instance—is now will be found a material aid in working transferred from the number representing the first letter of the message, to that represent• out very short messages. The letters have ing the last, no matter what the length of the been paired so that the sum of their numeri• message may be. The present example will cal substitutes is always equal to the now appear thus: 1-31-54-2. cipher substitute above. Thus, in group i, We will now consider the hyphen as join• B-(i2) plus K-(25) equals 37; c-(i3) plus ing the two digits of a number instead of separating them. The new numbers thus ij-(24) equals 37; and so on. formed—13-15-42—are referred back to the Any letters assumed to he in the key- checkerlioard square, giving CER, the en• in this case B and E—will thus necessarily ciphered form of the message PLY. be paired with the only letters that could Any one knowing the method can decipher any message written In it providing that he result in the message from their use—in this use the square in its original form. We may, instance K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E. A key let• however, change the order of the figures i to ter could, of course, he either letter of any 5 at side and top of the square. The order pair. That they happen to be the first of these figures thus forms the key to the cipher.- letters in every pair in this example is mere• Below is a message thus enciphered, using ly due to chance. a different order of the figures. Another correspondent, F. A. G., of Chi• Can you decipher it? cago, Illinois, writes th/t he has evolved a W. A. ALEXANDER. method of his own for this cipher that gives St. Louis, Missouri.

CIPHER No. 2. ONXBM YWHCO BYSNT OKFOQ BQOVR XCRWS BXNQN QOTEO OVOQO OSLKvv' BXSLG WHNXB VORIB FBKVO KZkqyi QQNQN NRYFG HNLRX OOYLF NNRTG HSU.

good results, apparently, the details of Now this is a very clever cipher, fans, which he would be glad to submit if we are and it looks hard. But don't let Mr. Alex• interested. ander throw any dust in your eyes. His You bet we are interested. If F. A. G. cipher is really not as difficult to solve as it will submit his method we shall he glad to would lead one to believe. It is one of pass it on to the fans if it contains any those ciphers whose complexities are more new idea not yet covered in these pages. apparent than real. Peel off the shell and In this connection it is quite possible that you have a very simple form of cipher. some of our cipher enthusiasts may work Can you pierce the disguise? out something not only of interest, but of In the June 27" Solving Cipher Secrets " real importance to the science. Submit your we published a cipher by J. Levine, Long methods for any kind of cipher. They will Branch, California, who offered one year's be carefully considered, and, if published, subscription to FLYNN'S to the first person the originator will be given full credit in submitting the correct solution within the these columns. Make " Solving Cipher time limit of one month from the date of Secrets " your cryptographic exchange. We the above issue. have no cipher secrets that we intend to This cipher proved a Waterloo for the keep from the fans; and we trust they will fans. Not a single answer was received, keep none from each other. right or wrong. But this will probably Another fan submits for your approval occasion no great surprise when the mechan• this fascinating variation of the Nihilist ism of his cipher is laid hare. cipher: According to Mr. Levine's explanation of

DEAR SIR: his system, it is based on the alphabet A-i; Now for a home-brew cipher. It is based B-2; and so on up to Z-26. The values of on the cipher square, or " checkerboard," pub• this simple numerical alphabet are varied by lished by you March 28. It will be easily ex• the use of key numbers interspersed plained by a short example. Take the word PLY. From the square it throughout the cipher. is written down 21-31-54 in the usual manner. Here is the cipher reprinted from the 316 FLYNN'S

June 27 issue, but this time with the key To illustrate, take the first eight num• numbers in italics: bers of the cipher:

14 3 3 4 2 o 10 2 4 J7 18 II 14 o 4 1 CIPHER: 33420 10 24 etc. 6 9 I 20 3 3 3 13 o 10 S 9 4 8 2 o KEY: 6 15 21 18 20 5 5 14 etc. /I 3 7 o 21 14 5 20 IS 14 6 2(5 3 22 20 s o 10 o II 23 15 12 II s I 10 7 3 12 17 16 ,20 S 3 10 7 5 14 079 24 08411 II 92 10 39213 (a) CLQPTECJ etc. o J 13 13 13 14 14 21 S 9 o I 2 12 o 4 o 1(5 9 18 25 30 IS 7 18 4341201819455423633917 (b) I R Y r 0 G R etc. 7 5 8 2 4 2 15 7 4 13 I 4 2 9- Here the numbers shown at (a) are And here is the message it conveys; smaller than those of the KEY, while those "CRYPTOGRAPHERS KNOW THAT at (b) are larger. But both series are such ONE OF THE EASIEST WAYS TO as will give the numbers of the CIPHER START A SOLUTION TO A CIPHER IS by subtraction. The correct value for each TO GUESS ONE OR MORE OF THE number—given above in ITALICS—must WORDS IN THE CRYPTIC MESSAGE." be determined by trial. To explain the method, begin with the Now there are those who have said that first key number. These may be any num• any cipher capable of more than a single bers selected at random. The first one in interpretation is open to certain grave ob• the present example is 14. Spelling out 14, jections. and substituting from the simple numerical For example, suppose that the general alphabet for the letters so obtained, this pro• of an army issues an order, part of which is vides key numbers for the first eight letters " ATTACK AT 5 P.M." And suppose that of the message, as shown in lines (a) and the particular key in use at the time makes (b) below. it possible for the enciphered form of FIVE The first eight letters of the message (c), to he interpreted as NINE, or even as similarly treated, are shown at (d). The FOUR; and P. M. likewise as A. M. Ob• cipher substitutes for these letters are found viously any officers receiving this order by taking the differences, as shown (e). would he in a quandary, and serious results might ensue. (a) J4-F O V R TEEN Consequently while systems of this kind (b) 6 IS 21 18 20 5 s 14 are legitimate ciphers worthy of careful (c) CRYPTOGR study, they are not entirely practicable for (d) 3 18 25 16 20 IS 7 i8 every use. ?«; 14 3 3 4 2 o 10 2 4 To give the fans a little practice on this Similarly, the next number in the kind of cipher, here is an example in Mr. Levine's system, changed, however, by us• cipher following the a'oove, namely 17 ing (i) a different arrangement than i to 26 (S-E-V-E-N-T-E-E-N), is taken as the key for the letters of the alphabet, and (2) but for the nine numbers following it; and so a single key number throughout. on to the end. This cipher is thus one in which the CIPHER No. 3. ' numbers have variable values depending 6 19 8 4 2 17 I 2 IS 13 I 6 13 17 2 IS upon the key letters. And, further, since in 6 2 13 14 18 I 6 18 IS 2 13 I 6 19 6 14 enciphering the difference is always taken, 2 19 o S 2 2 19 13 a IS 17 IS 2 13 6 13 no matter which of any pair of numbers is 2 18 19 2 14 19 18 13 13 18 s 2 IS 2 4 18 6 6 2 19 3 2 3 I 18 15 o 2 19 2 IS 6 the larger, most of the cipher numbers have 5 12 4 2. two possible values. In enciphering tliis causes no difficulty In the above simjder form, Mr. Levine's whatever. But in deciphering, even with cipher is very similar to the key phrase the key, the context will often be required cipher solved by that veteran cryptographer, to find which of the two possible values is Edgar Allan Poe. For in the key phrase the correct one. cipher each letter of the message is always SOLVING CIPHER SECRETS 317 represented by the same cipher substitute; challenge his claim. In order to quiet the hut a given cipher substitute can stand for situation he was at length forced to admit any one of several possible letters in the that while he still insisted on the truth of message. his proposition, he had no intentic;: of mak• Mr. Levine's idea of complicating his ing himself a test of human ingenuity. cipher by use of key numbers carried along Some of our correspondents, as we have in the cipher itself is thus practically the already said, agreed with Poe. R. Hamil• same as using twenty-six different key ton, of New York City, whose cipher was phrase alphabets in mixed succession, their printed in the August 15 FLYNN'S, was one order being determined by that of the let• of these. Incidentally, here is the solution ters provided by the key numbers. All of to his cipher, which was one of the trans• which will he plainer, if not now perfectly position class. understood, when you have seen the key phrase cipher itself, already promised for a future issue. E I E E OjS N 0 A W T Speaking of Poe, listen to this letter from - R T T U M M N 0 a representative of the Empire State, re• D - E L 0 T Y I If ceived in answer to the cipher fn the May P E - I C 1 L H N 16 issue: I H M M S T E T A DEAR SIR: C PES - E S 0 C The solution to Poe's cipher is: " Few per• A UIR N A I. N R sons can be made to believe that it is not quite an easy thing to invent a method of secret Y s A| A H T - 0 K S A writing which shall baffle investigation. Yet 0 E Fl M R A A - A E M it may be roundly asserted that human inge• R H 0 IIY R H C - I H nuity cannot concoct a cipher which human E M - C ingenuity cannot resolve." T T T UlT C T I do not agree with Poe. I think that a S S S N NiO 0 R N H cipher composed of a combination of ciphers, To decipher this cryptogram it is only transposition, substitution, and the keyword necessary to rewrite it by rows in regular type, could baffle any would-be solver indefi• nitely, provided he knew absolutely nothing order into the prearranged square, placing pertaining to the construction of the cipher no letters on the diagonal originating in the in the beginning. lower right-hand corner. Beginning with I wish you would tell in some number how the middle letter (S) oi the first row, the to decipher a cryptogram depending on a columns should he read upward in the man• keyword or some number combination. RONDEL HARPER. ner required to obtain the following mes• Geneseo, New York. sage: There are numerous methods of solving SOCRATES COULD NOT HAVE PUT IT MORE CONCISELY. MAN MAKES ciphers of the type Mr. Harper mentions. NOTHIN (G) WHICH MAN CANNOT Two methods have already been described DESTROY. A CIPHER IS THE SU• in the issues of June 6 and June 27. We PREME TEST OF MAN'S INGENUITY. would like to describe some more advanced R. HAMILTON, methods if we thought they would he of On the other hand, many fans agreeing general interest. Suppose we take a vote on with Mr. Harper, most emphatically stated the question. Let us know how you feel that Poe was wrong. Some sent along about it. vicious looking ciphers to substantiate their As to the second paragraph of Mr. Har• claims, which we shall print as space per• per's letter, opinion on the question seemed mits, together with comments of their in• to he about equally divided among our cor• ventors. respondents. Let's read this letter from one who takes The printing of this statement in Poe's a neutral stand in the controversy: own time stirred up a regular hornets' nest. DEAR SIR: He was besieged with cryptograms from all Your exposition of the method of solving parts of the country from those who would an arbitrary substitution cipher in FLYNN'S 318 FLYNN'S

for May i6 was fine. Your department is of three numbers. For example: 127-4-11 growing better every time it comes out. would indicate the nth word of the 4th Poe is undoubtedly right, but one must not be led to believe by that statement that line on the /27th page of the key volume. it is possible to decipher ail secret messages It is generally conceded that book cipher, by just a mere working knowledge of their when properly used, is impossible of solu• construction. tion without the key volume. This kind A book cipher, for instance, may be only of cipher is somewhat popular with writers possible to decode by a knowledge of what particular book was used. If this knowledge of detective literature, although it is a little is unavailable, and a current book of fiction more cumbersome to handle than some other is used, the cipher becomes unsolvable. Of types of ciphers. Both Gaboriau and Doyle course, such a cipher is so cumbersome as to have utilized it. William Garrett used it in be impractical, but this fact does not destroy the validity of my contention. his three-part serial, " Treasure Royal," I am wpndering whether you would consent that began in the July 25 issue of this maga• to give me a series of lessons on ciphers, on zine. , the ground you intend to cover in future To get hack to the subject in hand, no issues. J. K. M. matter what you may think of Poe's state• To put the cart before the horse, we will ment you must agree that the solution of answer the last part of this inquiry first. a simple substitution cipher such as he used It is perfectly feasible to study cryptogra• in " The Gold Bug " is always an interest• phy by correspondence, but without a pre• ing problem. If you are skeptical, try this pared series of lessons the cost of an individ• one from Mrs. J. C. Minear, Denver, Col• ually prepared set would be prohibitively orado: high. CIPHER No. 4. And, besides, as much as we would enjoy ; 094t(? 7;66tl 9 *$5((6 it, vre have not the time to prepare such 7989X;(J 6;(.$ ?ot5 -%:t *;:6? a course. We must therefore ask our cor• 3!t.l:;6oti 75 *94):;?* 6?) :;t6 respondent and other interested enthusiasts grt ?o)6t )* $9-6) ( to make " Solving Cipher Secrets " their Any simple substitution cipher, such as text book of crj'ptography. the above, is admittedly easy of solution There is no reason in the world why this unless the message is very short. And that department should not be the most compre• is why more of the fans didn't succeed in hensive thing of the kind ever attempted. solving Mr. Hutchinson's cipher in the June In this connection, we are in receipt of nu• 27 issue. merous inquiries as to dates of issues of But a single solution to this cipher was FLYNN'S containing installments of this de• sent in, it being from Miss Katherine Henry, partment. Seattle, Washington. For the benefit of Here's a complete list for the benefit of those who may have mislaid the above men• those who want to fill out their set while tioned issue, Mr. Hutchinson's cipher is here copies are still available: December 13, reprinted. 1924; January 17, February 21, March 28, April 25, May 16, June 6, June 27, July DEAR SIR: 25, August IS, and September 12, 1925. The following message is written in a secret code known to smugglers: Now for a few facts about the book AH MING: cipher, for the benefit of those not familiar YRT HSRKNVMG WFV HSRMBL with this kind of secret writing. NZIF. ED. Book cipher is of the substitution class, If this message is solved, or cannot be the substitutes being usually numbers that solved, please let me know the results. The readers of your magazine will have a hard indicate certain words in certain lines, para• time deciphering it. S. HUTCHINSON. graphs, or pages, of the article, pamphlet, Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. hook, or other publication used as a key by the code-writers. The correct solution, as submitted by The most common method of using this Miss Henry is: BIG SHIPMENT DUE cipher is to represent each word by a group SHINYO MARU. The cipher alphabet is SOLVING CIPHER SECRETS 319

formed by writing the last letter (Z) oi the business on hand. There are still before us alphabet in place of the first (A); the next some inquiries of more or less interest and to last (Y) in place of the second (B); and importance, which, for the reason that they so on. will have to be answered at some length, This cipher is of much more than pass• will be dealt with when we next " get to• ing interest, for it is an arrangement for gether." the twenty-six letter English alphabet of However, there is a more urgent reason the very ancient atbash cipher of the Kab• why we should end this here and now. It balah, known to have been used at least must he getting late. Hark! There's the five centuries B.C. Full particulars of this old tower dock striking the midnight hour and other hermeneutical canons of the Kab• at this very moment. It's high time for all balah may he expected in a later article. good cipher fans to he hitting the hay. These methods were used in ancient times But before we close up shop, how about for interpreting a hidden signification of a little cipher by way of a toast in honor the Scriptures, supposed to exist in addition of this occasion? All set? to the apparent meaning. Here's how: Miss Henry is to he congratulated for her CIPHER No. s. success with this cipher. While not of a SBE VGF NYJNLF SNVE JRNGURE complex type, its brevity makes it difficult JURA TBBQ SRYYBJF TRG GBTRGURE of solution. JVGU N PVCURE BA GUR GNOYR Well, fans, this just about finishes the NAQ N PUNYYRATR EVATVAT PYRNE. SOLUTIONS TO THE SEPTEMBER 12 CIPHERS They who carefully tabulated the initial, SENTED IN CIPHER BY THE FOURTH LETTER IN ADVANCE OF IT IN ALPHA• final, and total alphabetic frequencies of BETICAL ORDER, D BEING USED FOR the first two ciphers in FLYNN'S for Sep• A, E FOR B, AND SO ON THROUGH THE tember 12, no doubt discovered how easy ALPHABET, C FINALLY BEING USED it is to distinguish between normal and FOR Z. AMONG THE SEVERAL METH• artificial word divisions in the simple sub• ODS THAT CAN BE USED TO RESOLVE A CIPHER OF THIS TYPE MAY BE stitution cipher. MENTIONED THAT USED WITH THE Of these two ciphers. No. 2 used the nor• AUGUSTUS CIPHER DESCRIBED IN mal word divisions. The No. i cipher, with FLYNN'S FOR FEBRUARY 21. the arbitrary divisions, is written in an al• Cipher A''^. 2 used the following alphabet: phabet based on the system of Julius Cssar. By comparison you will find that this alpha• Woj-iKo/. ABCDE FGHI J KLMNO PQRST UVWXV Z Cither: VWXYZ QRSTU LMNOP GHIJK BCDEF A bet is very similar to that of the Augustus cipher, the Key to which was printed in Here is its translation: FLYNN'S for March 28. In Caesar's time AT THE EXPIRATION OF A MONTH'S the Latin alphabet did not contain the let• TIME THE SEA HAD SUNK SO LOW- ters /. U, and W. Here is Julius Caisar's THAT THERE REMAINED BETWEEN cipher arranged for the twenty-six-letter ME AND THE CONTINENT BUT A SMALL STREAM. THIS I CROSSED, English alphabet, as used in the No. i AND WHEN I HAD PROCEEDED SOME cipher: DISTANCE FROM THE SEA, I SAW A Normal: ABCDEFGHI J KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ GOOD WAY BEFORE ME SOMETHING Cither: DEFGH I J KLMNOPQRSTUVWXVZABC THAT RESEMBLED A GREAT FIRE. BUT AS I DREW NEARER I DISCOV• The solution to cipher No. 7 is as follows: ERED MY ERROR, FOR WHAT I HAD THIS CRYPTOGRAM IS WRITTEN IN TAKEN FOR A FIRE WAS A CASTLE A CIPHER USED FOR SECRET MEMO• OF RED COPPER, WHICH THE BEAMS RANDA AND CORRESPONDENCE TWO OF THE SUN MADE TO APPEAR AT THOUSAND YEARS AGO BY JULIUS A DISTANCE LIKE FLAMES. CESAR, THE ROMAN GENERAL, STATESMAN, AND WRITER. EACH For a number of reasons that we will go LETTER OF THE MESSAGE IS REPRE• into more fully in later issues, too exact 320 FLYNN'S an agreement between any frequency table Of the following fans who submitted their and the frequencies of a given cryptogram solutions to the ciphers in " Solving Cipher should not be expected. Secrets " for July i'f, only the ^rst three One of the factors entering into the situa• succeeded in solving both of the Blair tion is the length of the cipher message it• ciphers. The others failed on the more self. In general, the longer the message, the difficult No. I. more exactly will its frequencies agree with Jack. Crawford, Los Angeles, California. those of the tables. J. K. Manning, Morrisonville, Indiana. In the case of the above cipher, the fact P. K. Moore, Denver, Colorado. that any cipher is relatively of no great J. Raymond Hamilton, New York, N. Y. J. Levine, Long Beach, California. length is alone sufficient reason why only a few of its characters can be identified The solutions to all of the ciphers in this by the method of initial, final, and total article will he foimd in next " Solving frequencies. Cipher Secrets."

OME-of you are picking FLYNN'S up now for the first time. To you particu• S larly FLYNN'S addresses this general announcement of some of the things to which you may look forward this fall and winter. Mansfield Scott, whose novels, " Escape " and " The Town Without a Law," were two big features of FLYNN'S phenomenal first year, will have a wonderful new serial, " The Phantom Passenger." The scene of the story is laid entirely on shipboard. And it's as blood-curdling and as hair-raising as anything in detec• tive fiction. We have been fortunate in securing a unique series of special articles by the lateTlaptain Patrick Tyrrell, famous in the United States Secret Service. Thirty and forty years ago, before the days of telephones in every home and radio broad• castings on every breeze, the operatives of the Secret Ser\'ice were pretty much on their own. In the sparsely settled sections of the Mid West their activities are unbelievable. And yet they are true. Watch for Episodes of the Secret Service, by Captain Patrick Tyrrell. Edgar Wallace, an old favorite with every lover of mystery yams, offers a four-part serial, " Seven Locks." Barclay Northcote, the criminologist, has pre• pared the inside true story of " Unmasking the Molly Maguires." Conan Doyle made a fictitious Sherlock Holmes story of what happened in Pennsylvania. And he succeeded only in diluting and weakening the thrill that abides in the facts. Charles Somervilie, the man who has written up more murder trials than any other living man, will be a frequent contributor. There will be serials by Arthur Preston Hankins, Madeleine Sharps Buchanan, J. S. Fletcher, Police Commissioner Richard E. Enright, Richard Howells Watkins, Wright Beach Paulhan, and others.

10 F W