SOLVING CIPHER SECRETS Edited by M. E. Ghaver

IF YOU HAVE ANY TROUBLES, HERE'S A WAY TO FORGET THEM; IF YOU HAVEN'T, HERE'S A WAY TO KEEP AWAY FROM THEM

T is not often that a little In Scotland a device called the maiden skill in deciphering would was introduced by the Regent Morton, who be the deciding factor in himself afterward was executed by it. The saving a man his life; maiden was somewhat similar in construc• nevertheless, it was the tion to the guillotine, with the exception lack of just this knowledge that the blade was fixed in the apparatus that cost a certain eminent gentleman his with the sharp edge upward, the neck of the head about two and a half centuries ago. victim being forced down upon it by a heavy Before entering into the why and where• descending weight. fore of this man losing his head^ however, a In England the Halifax gibbet was used few remarks about how heads were officially for beheading until 1650. lost in the olden days might not be out But the best known of all these machines of order. is the French guillotine, devised by Dr. An- It seems that beheading has thrived as toine Louis, and first called the louison or a r'^de of capital punishment from yery louisette, later being named after Dr. Guil• ear.y times. It was practiced in the days of lotine, who proposed it as a method of de• ancient Greece and Rome, both with the capitation before the Constituent Assembly ax and the sword. on December i, 1789. Beheading was introduced into England This proposition did not at first meet with in 1076. It was the accepted mode of favor. But it gradually gained support, punishment for offenders of high rank, but the machine finally coming into use by a also was occasionally used for common law effective October 6, 1791. After a few malefactors or thieves. It was common in successful experiments upon corpses in the those days to accompany the execution with hospital of Bicetre, the machine was set up certain barbarous features, such as drawing on the Place de Greve, where it was used and quartering, which were not fully abol• for the first time on the 25th of April, 1792, ished until 1870. in the execution of the highwayman, Pelle- Decapitating machines are likewise said tier. to be of very ancient origin. Some authori• The guillotine was thus but a revival of ties attribute the first of these to the Per• ancient methods that had already fallen into sians, saying that the idea was later intro• disuse in many parts of Europe for half a duced into various European countries. century. Nevertheless, it is still used to in• A machine of this kind was used in Ger• flict the death penalty in France, Belgium, many during the Middle Ages. and some parts of Germany, its general SOLVING CIPHER SECRETS 795 adoption seeming to have been hindered by is an absolute certainty, provided it is not the horrors of the French Revolution. too short. This much sets the stage for the enact• The brevity of the above message would ment of our little drama. Enter now the thus tend to make its solution more diffi• hero himself, Louis de Rohan-Guemcnee, cult, but it is still of sufficient length to the Chevalier de Rohan. resolve without the key. In fact, one ac• Rohan was the name of one of the most customed to working with ciphers should illustrious of the feudal families of France. not need more than a few minutes to de• Of the younger branches the most famous is cipher it. that of Guemenee, which furnished in the But De Rohan's skill was not adequate eighteenth century the celebrated Cardinal to this simple task. And his limited experi• de Rohan, who was involved as the prin• ence in cryptography worked his ruin, for, cipal actor in the affair of the diamond despite his every effort, he could make necldace, later immortalized in fiction by nothing out of the message, even though Alexandre Dumas. his life depended on it. The Chevalier de Rohan, notorious for For full twenty-four hours he puzzled his dissolute life, was of this same brandi, over this cipher in vain. The light faded, being the grandson of Hercule de Rohan, and the whole night through he tossed on made Governor of Paris by Henry IV. his hard bed, sleeplessly revolving the mys• In the year 1674, as the story goes, the tic letters in his brain, but all to no avail. chevalier was sent to the Bastille on sus• Day dawned, and with the first pale picion of having entered into treasonable gleam of light he was again poring over conspiracy with the Dutch during the Third the cryptic message, but as uselessly as Dutch War, against Louis XIV, King of before. France. At length, failing in all his attempts, and At the time of his commitment there wearied and exhausted by his many efforts, was no evidence against him except what De Rohan decided with many mi.sgivings might be obtained from his accomplice, a to confess, and to throw himself upon the M. Latruaumont, who had been apprehend• mercy of the crown. ed and imprisoned at the same time as the He, accordingly, admitted his guilt, but chevalier. the crown knew no mercy. He was behead• But Latruaumont proved himself a faith• ed on the 27th day of November, 1674. ful and courageous ally, in that he endured The cipher, as printed above, is the orig• a most severe examination, and suffered inal in French. Below will be found the execution without having confessed. same message translated into English, and De Rohan's friends wanted to inform him enciphered in the same key as the original, that his associate had died without having insofar as the cipher alphabet reconstructed admitted anything, and accordingly, in from the original specimen would permit. sending him some fresh body linen, they In trying to solve this cryptogram one succeeded in passing the following cryptic should endeavor to work it out under con• message into his dungeon, written on one ditions similar to those most probably ex• of the shirts: perienced by De Rohan himself. Remember that you are without paper or MG DULHXCCLGU GHJ YXUJ, LM CT ULGC ALJ. pencil, for more than likely De Rohan had neither. All of your work must be done This cipher, as it happens, is one of the mentally. Before you is a brief cipher mes• simple substitution type with normal word sage that spells life or death in its few cryp• divisions, in which any given letter in the tic letters. normal alphabet is invariably represented If you would wear your head in the usual by the same substitute in cipher, any given way to-morrow, you must perforce decipher cipher substitute, conversely, always denot• this cryptogram to-day. ing the same letter in the message. Would you be able to save your own To solve such a cipher without the key head? 796 FLYNN'S

Or, in De Rohan's place, could you have of going awry in long ciphers, not to men• saved his? tion short ones. Some method not depend• Here's your opportunity to try! ent upon frequencies will therefore be found CIPHER No. I. not only of value with the former, but JWG DULHXCGU LH AGTA, WG WTH practically indispensable with the latter. JXMA CXJWLCZ. Fortunately there is available a very sim• De Rohan must not be judged too harsh• ple expedient. To illustrate with tlie De ly for his inability to solve this cipher. In• Rohan cipher, if the groups be numbered formation on this subject is none too preva- for purposes of reference from i up, thus:

13 3 4 S (> 7 8 JWG DULHXCGU LH AGTA. WG WTH JXMA CXJWLCZ. lent to-day, and it must be borne in mind The following short groups will be found that in De Rohan's time it was still more to have certain characters in common: inaccessible. I a W G It is true that at that time some progress 5 W G had been made in methods of deciphering, 6 WTH but such knowledge was not common prop• 3 L H erty. Even such a simple specimen as the From the above it will be seen that the above was looked upon as an impenetrable last two letters of group i are as the same as mystery. the two letters of group 2; tlrat the initial This department has already given two letters of groups 5 and 6 are identical; and methods of solving such ciphers. In that the final letters of groups 3 and 6 are FLYNN'S for September 12 was described also alike. Further, groups 5 and 6 must a method depending upon the initial, final, represent two words that may be used in and total frequencies of letters. And in sequence. the May 16 issue of this magazine there The problem now resolves itself into the was described a method of determining question: what short words will satisfy all words according to their frequencies. of these conditions? There might possibly Both of these methods require a speci• be more than a single set of words that men of some length for their most effective would do this; but there can be but a single application. Nevertheless, they are of some correct assumption. value even in so short a cipher as the above. Some consideration of affixes may also be For example, in a longer cipher the char• advantageous in connection with this meth• acter for E would more than likely predomi• od. If the longer words of any English nate. In the De Rohan cipher eight differ• text be examined, it will be seen that many ent characters occur either three or four of them are built up by means of affixes times each. Thus while no character pre• used with shorter words or roots. Thus the dominates to a degree that would justify word interpretable uses the prefix inter- its being called E, nevertheless, it may be and the suffix -able. assumed with reasonable certainty that E A comparison of the shorter words with is represented by one of these eight char• the beginnings and endings of longer ones, acters. and of these affixes with each other, will Again, in a longer cipher, the most fre• often prove a valuable aid. quently recurring three letter group would To return to De Rohan's cipher, to cor• very probably represent THE, according to rectly assume the values of groups i and 5 the table in the May 16 issue. is to know the values of eleven—or one- Here no group occurs more than once. third—of the thirty-three characters of the But the chances are that some of the shorter cipher; and to correctly assume the values groups in the cipher represent some of the of all four of the above illustrated groups words in the above mentioned frequency would leave but fourteen unknown charac• table. ters. And these can readily be determined Frequency tables, however, have a habit by context. SOLVING CIPHER SECRETS 797

The method just outlined should be all The answers to the De Rohan cipher, sufficient in coping with most short ciphers both French and English, as well as that to such as that of De Rohan. the foregoing, will be found in next Solving Consequently, even though this adven• Cipher Secrets. turer lost his head in 1674 through failure In this the fans are also asked to expect to decipher his cryptogram, to-day our an unusual treat in the form of an exposi• readers should not lose more than a few tion of the masterful Ileissner grille cipher. minutes in really attaining its solution. This marvelous cipher is capable of innu• The next cipher tells one of the many merable variations. The instructions will stories relative to the once much debated enable you to make a grille after your own question as to whether or not death by de• individual key, if you so desire. And the capitation was instantaneous. ciphers will try your skill at its best. As a sample of these stories, the instance Watch for the next articHe! of Louis Philip Joseph, Duke of Orleans, UNTYING THE KNOTS and father of Louis Philippe I, King of France, may be mentioned. Here follow the solutions to the ciphers When this notable was beheaded he is printed in the October 10 issue of FLYNN'S. said to have rolled his eyes wrathfully at Cipher No. i was Mr. Hutson's A.K.G.S. Robespierre, Danton, and the leaders of the Code. A tabluation of the numbers of this Mountain party, who had brought him to cipher reveals that it consists of even num• his fate. bers only, the largest of these being 54. A similar tale is told of the execution of There being just 27 even numbers com• Charlotte Corday, who assassinated Marat prised within the limits 2 to 54, inclusive, with a dinner knife. The executioner is only 26 of which are needed for the alpha• said to have held her head up to the public bet, the idea suggests itself that the addi• gaze, and to have brutally struck it in the tional character might be for a word-space. face with his fist. Whereupon the sup• In a simple substitution cipher having a posedly dead face is alleged to have blushed word-space, the most frequently occurring as if in indignation. character—representing the space—would But the most remarkable of all these have a frequency, according to the tables yarns, and one which is admittedly untrue, in ITYNN'S for August 15, of 18.6 per cent, for the party concerned is known to have and the next most used character—the sub• died with his head on his shoulders, is nar• stitute for E—would have a frequency of rated in the following cipher. 10.6 per cent. It is claimed that the executioner was in On the other hand, in a cipher without this case afterward examined as to the truth the word-space, the most frequently recur• of the incident. His testimony has been ring character—see FLYNN'S for September concealed in No. 2 by means of a famous 12—would ordinarily be the substitute for cipher described in a previous installment of E, with an average frequency of 13.i per this department. cent, and the next in line would be the sub• W/iat did the executioner testify? stitute for J', with an average frequency of 9 per cent. CIPHER No. 2. A tabulation of the numbers in the above .Some doufo//uHy veracious writer has staled cipher, which consists of 130 groups, shows thai when .Sir Kencl/w Digbye was beheaded 54 occurring twenty times, or 15.3 per cent; for high treason, the executioner, holding t/;e 44 and 36 each sixteen times, or 12.3 per severed head up in fu/1 view as was usual on cent; and so on down the line. such occasions, exclaimed in a load voice: "This is the head of a traitor." At which Thus 54 Avould seem to be the word- the /fatures of the decapitated geatlewan are space. And this single discovery alone said to have instantty assamed an expression would materially simplify the resolution of of contemptuous scorn; and the spectators the cipher, in that it transforms it into a were electrified to hear the head shout forth in dear ond distinct tones: "That is a ras- simple substitution cipher with normal word calty lie!" divisions. 798 FLYNN'S

There is further evidence, however, tend• Mr. Alexander's key could be expressed ing to show the presence of a methodized in letters as follows: (side) v-w-x-y-z; alphabet. For instance, there is an interval (top) w-v-y-x-z. Expressed in figures, if of 5 places between the numbers 44 and 36 1-2-3-4-3 be used at the side, 2-1-4-3-5 inclusive, counting even numbers only; and must be used at the top. Or if 5-3-1-2-4 a similar interval exists between the fre• be used at the side, then 3-5-2-1-4 must be quently used letters E and 7 of the normal used at the top. And so on with the other English alphabet. 118 possible forms of this key. This and other similar comparisons sug• It is impossible to say what numerical gest the following arrangement of the key, key our correspondent used, for the reason which, upon trial, proves to be correct: that any of the 120 above mentioned will give the same cipher, and any of the 120 54 52 SO 48 46 44 42 40 38 will in like manner decipher it. — A B C D E F G H 36 34 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 We can't stop to explain why this is so, I J K L M N 0 P Q but if you doubt it, try it yourself. 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 Cipher No. 3, a variation of Mr. Levine's R S T U V W X y Z system, used the key (G=) 7, with the fol• Cipher No. 2, Mr. Alexander's modifica• lowing alphabet: tion of the Nihilist cipher, can be solved ABCDEFGHIJKLM in the following manner: 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First, substitute for each letter of the NOPQRSTUVWXYZ 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 cipher (a) its numerical substitute as found in the unmodified Nihilist key, as at (b). The message was: " Any cipher that per• Then, having transferred the last digit 5 of mits of more than a single interpretation is the cipher to the first place, regroup the not to be recommended for general use." figures by pairs as shown at (c). The method of enciphering is shown be• In this form the cipher is nothing other low, where the letters of the message are than one of the simple substitution type, in given at (a), their numerical substitutes which any given letter of the normal alpha• at (b), the key at (c), and at (d) the bet is always represented by the same pair cipher, formed by taking the differences be• of figures in cipher. tween the numbers at (b) and (c). (a) O N X B M y W H S U. (a)ANYC IPHER etc. (6) 13 26 15 11 5 24 6 9 22 etc. (b) 34 33 .53 12 32 54 52 23 43 45. (c) 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 c2c. (c) S3 43 35 31 23 25 45 22 3- -4 34. (rf) y O U R D E P A (R) (S) S. (d) 6 19 8 4 2 17 1 2 15 etc. .\nd it may be deciphered by any method Notwithstanding the aforementioned applicable to such ciphers, the translated shortcoming, this system is very ingenious, message, partly shown at (d), being in full and ciphers of this type are worth careful as follows: study. Your department, Solving Cipher Secrets, is, Cipher No. 4, by Mrs. J. C. Minear, was in my opinion, the best feature in a magazine one of the simple substitution type, with an which is itself at the top of its class. alphabet of figures and signs. Here is the There are (5x4x3x2=) 120 different com• key, as far as the contents of the message binations of the five digits used as a key to reveals it: this cipher, and apparently (120x120=) ABCDEFGHIJKLM 14,400 different keys obtainable by using 9 t . 1 t » 8 0 ; $ 7 all the possible combinations of these digits NOPQRSTUVWXYZ both at the top and the side of the Nihilist ()3 :6?r4- = 5x " checkerboard." Her message, translated, stands thus: " I We say apparently, for really there are have not missed a FLYNN'S magazine since only T20 different keys, each of these being they were first published. My favorite capable of 120 forms, which make absolute• stories are those of Lawson." ly no difference in the cipher. No. 5 was written in the albam cipher. SOLVING CIPHER SECRETS 799 a sj'stera related to the atbash cipher ex• representing any letter in cipher by that one plained in tlie last article. with which it thus comes in juxtaposition. You have been promised a full exposition A B C D E F G H I J K L M of these and other associated systems in an N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z early issue. But in the meantime an ex• Thus A in the message would be repre• planation of the key used in No. 5 will no sented by N in cipher; N being conversely doubt be welcome. expressed by A. Similarly B would be used This is formed by superimposing the first for O, and O for B. And so on with the half of the alphabet upon the second half, rest. CAN YOU SOLVE THESE? Attention, fans! time to solve. It is based on a keyword of Here's another chance at a free year's ten letters which stand for figures, forming subscription to this magazine. The lucky numerical values which in turn stand for the positions of the letters of the alphabet. solver, in case there is more than a single Just these particular letters count. Others C(jrrect solution submitted, will be that one which are in the cryptogram are merely put whose letter bears the earliest postmark. there as word spacers. Any of the remaining letters may be used for this purpose, either DKAR SIR: singly or in pairs. I am inclosing herewith a message in a I have not tried to make an unsolvable cipher that I have originated. I believe it to cipher, merely one a little more difficult than be indecipherable, and will give a year's sub• the most of them to solve. scription to FLYNN'S to the first one who suc• PHILO B. HORTON. ceeds in working it within two weeks of the Kalamazoo, Michigan. dale of its appearance. This cipher is very complex, and is capable of many variations. CIPHER No. 4. FRIDOLR HOLMBERC. SWTAI WNANW IGWTW WNTAI Wichita, Kansas. JOWOB ANTIE KAIWO EANMG WTOWH HWOAN VVTWHI KWIWH CIPHER No. 3. PASTO STUAN WILWO TWWTW BBiBK7E8N:XRDoOGLN NIWHM WIWHI WODAS OANWO RJJN83PWRET MPEGVGSE I T O 6 F B N H P J 0 11 8 D X M B P 7 A British government cipher is the next R N 3 M M X X N H D M S A U ? to claim your attention. X B C E I 3 E X L E 6 S A H 6 M J W QIJHUJHO=;U6XQ6MKMB DEAR SIR: ^83LPWRKVAPJZN\'J4K I am inclosing a little cipher message which I think may be of interest to your readers. YJZSiX$ZS7QoHEBR3j5 Some four years ago I was in the British serv• C O 0 3 S N 8 2 K M W ? JI Y M Z O ice, and a member of the Allied Police Com• VPNJAD.SK2BJOI4GODE mission in the Near East, with headquarters C U N 4 K D N C L G R U $ Q B Y V at Constantinople, and during this lime I had F C F W P Q P V W W 8 C G B 9 M D many occasions to use the cipher which I E L B. have used in preparing the inclosed message. Go to it, fans! We hope to have the I may say that this code is one that is, pleasure of congratulating the winner in an or was, used by the British government, and early issue. I believe that it is considered about the best that is known. I do not say that it is not The following letter explains the next decipherable, but I will say that it is going to cipher so well that no further remarks are cause some one a bad night's sleep. necessary: WlI LIAXf E. BOVVNS. Corps Area Photographer. DEAR SIR: Signal Corps, U. S. Army, Fort McPherson, I have always enjoyed reading ciiiher Georgia. ^ stories, particularly the " Gold Bug," and the one by Jules Verne; but the most of them are CIPHER No. t. so simple that one as unskilled as myself in LZFP UKM \TNTA O OISMB EIVGZHL this art can solve them without the aid of the EVE CJI HIGB KNRO HG GBAG author. AISH HYXSG SPTBYM YGFFX JT LEE 1 am inclosing a cryptic message wdiich T GCH ADZWQTVH OS MSLX MPS believe will lake a little more than the usual SMMGE CGAHNPGAPHM WT WEXY 800 FLYNN'S

MYVPRBPOG GINZ DNVO GPLBIZ GLX 'gainst my fair sow, I may ne'er be 'gain a KLAXI CS TZFTL KWTRV WZLCGM O boy to bear ye fodd'r. 'Braid ye if it be to QCKWNNE KZJEI QFN TUSEMXVY giv'n blinder e'cs. The geese came that I ask. SHCHN MX RZQG BC UMN ZLMM XSNRT RP VXKCZIN O DHLE GUSQS- " The variations of this cipher are in• WFXZ HB TVN SCL ZSOX WIE VXNCEI finite," says our correspondent. " It can CS TM AIFGPT lYXXZ KNC VCHDX BVA EXtlTIG JCBGM FZACZ WF be altered and adjusted to many secrets, SATPLXL GVBON OICTOEW V RLS MW and the next just as hard as the first." So lAHZFEUDM O QEIUPLHCG NRY that even with the secret of the above speci• AJMMMPVSPQ XCLAWBR NBLJ UIBT men exposed " I can still, using the Bacon GMODB AM WF XCFZJG PSNH AWCMM QHGS OVP WXVHNV JT HBBZZVRB cipher ' set to music,' defy the world, un• WYNKQUGI ZJPLRBVVRB AD JEIIFM- less the world has a great lot of time to WZP YOMFLXCWYA BA BNXPFLF spare." RMH GLZ OOPXVHHVZG ZZ KWARV On account of the complexity of Mr. WZLCGM OCI VG THMZWTYDBN UC CVR XCCFMTV NRY CYY JQUUXN Petree's cipher, and the brevity of his sam• CG NAM CEMZBEUE KOYMKV. ple, some explanation of his system may not be out of order. Here it is, and may The following specimen is from Raymond you make the most of it! Wallace, Oakland, California, who writes To begin, Mr. Petree's cipher is based that it is in a system of his own, and that on Bacon's biliteral cipher, described in he has never heard of another even re• FLYNN'S for April 25. sembling it. It only requires reference to a Mr. Petree has, however, modified this short table which can be memorized in ten alphabet by using the figures / and 2 in minutes. No keyword is used. place of the letters a and b, and by using CIPHER No. 6. a different arrangement of the alphabetic HULUZ DI DHU GOBHUL UTODIL values. \ YMT HOZ TUBYLDNUMD NYA DHUA Further, in place of Bacon's biformed GIMDOM^ YZ KIIT YZ DHUA MIW YLU YZ RIMK YZ DHUA UKSOZD alphabet, Mr. Petree has divided the alpha• VOKELU DHOZ lED OV AIE GYM CD bet into two groups of letters, any letter of OZMD LUYRRA ZI FULA HYLT PED one group being usable in place of a / in AIE HYT PUDDUL WYDGH AIEL ZDUB his binumeral alphabet, and any letter of VIL AIE NEZD KI GYLUVERRA. the other group, similarly, in place of a 2. " Let Human Mind," writes C. B. Petree, In this second substitution Mr. Petree Oregon, Missouri, " labor over the following mystifies and puzzles the uninitiated by se• message. It is under a type discussed in lecting letters that form words and sen• the department. However, I defy the world tences. to decode this cipher!" How about it, fans? Can you solve this one? Or, admitting defeat, are you of the CIPHER No. 7. And it be any easilier, don't eat of she opinion that Mr. Petree has out-Baconed cream. Be 't if thy toes run off of a road Bacon?

10 F W