by DAVID KAHN
823 early church financial encipherments: Clara Fabricius, “Die Litterae Formatae im Fruhmittelalter,” Archiv fur Urkundenforschung, IX (1925), 39-86, 168-194.
823 Knights Templars: J.-H. Probst-Biraben and A. Maitrot de la Motte-Capron, “Les Templiers et leur Alphabet Secret,” Mercure de France, CCXCIII (August 1, 1939), 513-532 at 522, 530.
823 merchants in Peshawar, goldsmiths in Kashmir: Leitner, xv, xvi.
824 butchers in Hanoi: Guiraud, 66-61.
824 magicians’ mind-reading codes: John Nanovic [pseud. Henry Lysing], Secret Writing: An Introduction to Cryptograms, Ciphers and Codes (New York: David Kemp & Co., 1936), 80-88.
824 antique dealer code: for the solution of one of these codes, see André Langie, Cryptography, trans. J. C. H. Macbeth (London: Constable, 1922), 116-121.
824 Broadhurst: George Broadhurst, “Some Others and Myself,” The Saturday Evening Post, CIC (October 23, 1926), at 42.
824 Macy’s solves Masters code: Richard Austin Smith, “Business Espionage,” Fortune, LIII (May, 1956), 118-126, 190, 192, 194, at 119.
824 Kreuger: 26 × 26 ivory plaque in possession of Boris Hagelin, who kindly showed it to me; “Ciphering in progress here” sign in possession of W. F. Friedman; Gyldén instruction reported by Gyldén, interview, May, 1962. I have not been able to confirm or refute the J. P. Morgan cryptanalysis rumor.
824 no business cryptanalysis: Ulmont O. Cumming, who has done considerable business espionage, says in a letter, October 30, 1963, that he has never heard of any cryptanalysis for business espionage.
825 Hong Kong solutions: William J. Mitchel, interview.
825 Kryha: U.S. Patent 1,744,347; various advertising pamphlets; Hamel’s Die Chiffriermaschine Systeme Kryha (1927); Sacco, §45 for description, §114 for solution.
826 Ottica Meccanica Italiana: advertising pamphlet for its Cryptograph; Italian Patents 452,848 and 490,996.
826 Mi-544: Gerhard Grimsen, “Cryptographic Telegraph Equipment Mi-544,” Electrical Engineering, XXV (1958), 209-214.
826 Gretag: The Concept of Ciphering, Gretag Teleprinter and Ciphering Device Type KFF, and Transmission Control and Ciphering System TC-534 (all three Regensdorf-Zurich: Gretag, n.d.); R. Winter, letter, September 23, 1966.
826 NBC encodes messages: “Long Live the Queen!” Time, LXI (May 25, 1953), 67.
826 Hermoni: “Robs Banks Via Cable; Caught by Own Line,” New York Sunday News (September 14, 1958).
826 commercial scramblers: David Kahn, “The Sound of Secrecy,” Newsday (December 1, 1961), 1c. Delcon Corporation, Telephone Security (Palo Alto, Calif.: Delcon Corporation, 1960), and Product Bulletins 101, 102, 103 (n.d.); U.S. Patent 3,114,800; “The Murchisons and Allan Kirby,” Life (April 28, 1961), 79, for picture of Clint Murchison using Delcon scrambler. Westrex Company, Type 58 Privacy (New York: Westrex Corporation, 1961), and Type 59 Privacy (New York: Westrex Corporation, 1960); “Airline to Offer Telephone Calls,” The New York Times (January 27, 1960); Philip J. Klass, “El Al to Use In-Flight Phone Service,” Aviation Week (July 6, 1959). Lynch Communication Systems, E-7 and B-69 Speech Privacy Equipment (San Francisco: Lynch Communication Systems, 1960).
826 fortification plans concealed: Robert S. S. Baden-Powell describes this in relating his experiences in the Boer War.
828 stereoscopic cryptography: Herbert C. McKay, “Notes from a Laboratory,” American Photography, XL (November, 1946), 38-39, 50; Herbert C. McKay, “Stereo Photography,” U.S. Camera, XIII (October, 1950), 16, with example.
828 plastic lenticle system: U.S. Patent 3, 178, 993.
829 fiber optic cryptography: Narinder S. Kapany, “Fiber Optics,” Scientific American (November, 1960), 72-81, with diagrams of fiber optic coder and photographs of encode and decode at 77; “Picture Tube,” Time (December 3, 1956), 69-70. I have not seen Brouwer et al., “Two Dimensional Coding of Optical Images,” Optica Acta, II (April, 1955).
829 difficulties of fiber-optics coders: R. J. Meltzer, letter, August 23, 1965.
829 Bausch & Lomb fiber-optic encoders: U.S. Patents 3, 145, 247 and 3, 178, 993.
829 LeFebure Corporation: Instant Verification (no place or date of publication); “Signature Scrambler Foils Forgery,” Management and Business Automation (September, 1960), 53.
829 R.C.A.: Signature Verification (Camden, N.J. : R.C.A., n.d.); R.C.A. press release, “RCA Develops New Signature Scrambling Device to Block Bank Passbook Forgery,” October 11, 1960.
830 Vernam cifax: U.S. Patents 1, 613, 686 and 1, 657, 366.
830 Belin mechanism: U.S. Patent 1, 657, 366; Sacco, §46.
831 pay-TV: Federal Communications Commission, Subscription TV and the FCC, INF Bulletin No. 20-G (September, 1964). Pay-TV is the F.C.C.’s Docket 11279.
831 Jerrold’s reports: Don Kirk, “Engineering Report on Encoding Television Signals,” in Wired TV is the Best Way to Bring Toll TV to the American Public (Philadelphia: Jerrold Electronics Corporation, 1955); “Technical Description of Proposed Television Codes and Methods of Decoding Zenith, Skiatron and Telemeter Scrambled Broadcasts,” Appendix to Jerrold Electronics Corporation, Reply to Comments in Response to Notice of Proposed Rule Promulgated by the Commission on February 10, 1955; Before the Federal Communications Commission, Docket No. 11279 (Philadelphia, Pa.: Jerrold Electronics Corporation, September 8, 1955). I would like to thank Mr. Kirk for his kindness in reading the draft of this section.
832 systems of encipherment: abstracted from above reports.
832 monalphabetic substitution, one-time system: “Engineering Report,” §B.
832 “In a conventional LP”: “Engineering Report,” §C2a.
832 “This would pose”: “Engineering Report,” §C2b.
833 “require only inexpensive”: “Engineering Report,” §C2b.
833 Skiatron, Zenith, and Telemeter systems: “Technical Description.”
833 “for successful operation,” “even if one”: “Technical Description,” 32, 31.
834 “This corresponds to”: “Engineering Report,” §A.
834 “not … a coding procedure”: “Technical Description,” 32.
834 “which can be eliminated”: “Engineering Report,” §D2.
834 “Thus, it may well be”: “Technical Description,” 38.
835 “Assume for the moment”: “Engineering Report,” §D2.
835 “Pay-television systems do not”: William C. Rubinstein, letter, January 10, 1966.
835 “The world is full”: Ibid.
835 Hartford test: “Fee-Vee,” Time (July 5, 1962), 39. Perhaps the only other place in the country that broadcasts scrambled television is New York City’s Channel 31, which televises pictures of criminal line-ups to half a dozen police precinct houses, saving detectives and witnesses from having to go down to headquarters to view suspects; the pictures are scrambled to protect the rights of suspects (“20 Police Stations Get Television Sets in Test of U.H.F.,” The New York Times [March 22, 1962]; Ira Kamen, “Scrambled Line-Up,” Popular Electronics, XVII [August, 1962], 57; Walter Arm, deputy commissioner, New York City Police Department, letter, April 17, 1963). New York City enacted Local Law No. 271 on March 18, 1963, making it a misdemeanor for unauthorized individuals to unscramble the telecasts; this became §434a-38.0 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York.
836 Chappe: “Chappe, Claude” and “Télégraphe” in La Grande Encyclopédic, Jean Laffay, Les télécommunications, Que sais-je? No. 335 (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1961), 10-14.
836 Chappe’s codes: Col. Pamart, “Abraham Chappe, fut-il le premier transmetteur militaire?” Revue des Transmissions, No. 47 (November, 1952), 5-6, 9-12, 15-20, 23-27, at 5. France’s Archives Nationales has a copy of the Grand Vocabulaire in four large handwritten volumes; this is F90 11690. What seem to be official codes based on the Chappe system are F90 11660-3; the Archives catalog says they were used in the July Monarchy and the Restoration (1830-1848). The Musée Postal at Paris has a number of handwr
itten sheets on which words and syllables are represented by two or three positions of the Chappe semaphore. The U.S. Library of Congress has an anonymous Telegraphic Dictionary (Brooklyn, T. Kirk, printer: 1812), whose 382 pages list words in columns with no numbers or codewords next to them. There is no explanation for its use and I do not know for what it was intended.
837 1845 Telegraphic Vocabulary: William F. Friedman, Report on the History of the Use of Codes and Code Language, the International Telegraph Regulations Pertaining Thereto, and the Bearing of This History on the Cortina Report, International Radiotelegraph Conference of Washington: 1927, Delegation of the United States of America (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1928), 6. Friedman was technical adviser to the American delegation. I have depended heavily upon this superb report in my discussion. It is cited henceforth as “Friedman, Report.”
837 British maritime signals: “Signalling,” Chambers’s Encyclopaedia.
838 Smith: Biographical Dictionary of the American Congress; Robert Luther Thompson, Wiring a Continent (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1947), 13.
838 Morse’s special vocabulary: Friedman, Report, 7.
838 Rogers: in the Library of Congress. All commercial codes henceforth mentioned in the text may be found in the Library of Congress; I have therefore deemed it unnecessary to give bibliographical information for them unless the text calls for it.
838 shift from figures to dictionary words: Friedman, Report, 7-8.
838 one eighth in code: cited to Alexander Jones, Historical Sketch of the Electric Telegraph (New York, 1854).
838 Clausen-Thue: Royal Geographical Society, letter, April 16, 1963.
838 codewords charged as if plain language: Friedman, Report, 11.
838 M. Abenheim and other codes: all the Library of Congress.
839 dangers of dictionary words: Friedman, Report, 15-20; Guide to the Correction of Errors in Code (and Other) Telegrams, 4th ed. (London:[“The Electrician” Printing and Publishing Co., Ltd.], 1890), for proportions of errors.
840 Primrose: Frank J. Primrose vs. The Western Union Telegraph Co., 154 U.S. 1. The case was heard in the October term, 1893, and decided May 26, 1894. The opinion of the court was delivered by Justice Horace Gray, with only Justice John Marshall Harlan (grandfather of the Justice of the same name appointed by President Eisenhower) dissenting—as was his wont. The decision cites, at pages 32 and 33, other cases involving errors in cipher messages. Two later cases are 128 Southeastern Reporter 500, involving a change from BLUFFNESS to BLUFFING in a 1923 message and causing a loss of $663, in which the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled for the telegraph company, and 35 Southern Reporter 190, in which ALIKE was received as ALIVE in 1892, causing a loss of $304.89, and in which the Mississippi Supreme Court held that the customer was entitled to recover that amount—the only court to do so. The other cases involving telegraphic error—31 Southern Reporter 222 and 18 Southern Reporter 425—became tangled in jurisdictional problems and were not settled on the basic question. References to other legal problems of cipher-message transmission may be found in American Jurisprudence under “Cipher” and “Telegraphs and telephones—cipher messages,” Corpus Juris Secundum under “cipher,” “cipher messages,” and “code book,” Words and Phrases under “cipher, cipher dispatch or message,” and Abbott New York Digest under “Cipher messages” and “Telegraphs and Telephones—cipher messages.” Many of these other cases involve the failure to deliver a message, such as 245 New York Reports 284, or the failure to stop one, such as 139 New York Supplement 289. In reading these cases, one sometimes comes across famous names. 245 N.Y.R. 284 was argued for the appellant by Vincent R. Impellitteri, later mayor of New York, and was decided by Judge Benjamin R. Cardozo, later a great U.S. Supreme Court justice. 139 N.Y.S. 289 was decided by Justice Samuel Seabury, later to gain fame as the man who cleaned up Jimmy Walker’s New York.
840 compilers eliminate dangerous words: Friedman, Report, 21.
841 artificial codewords: Friedman, Report, 21-25.
841 code condenser: example taken from The Standard 12 Figure Converter Code.
842 I.T.U. tariff regulations: Friedman, Report, 11-15, 25, 31-32; George A. Codding, Jr., The International Telecommunications Union, Université de Genève: Institut Universitaire de Hautes Études Internationales (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1952), 67-75, 153-154.
843 I.T.U. official vocabulary: Friedman, Report, 29-30, 32-33.
843 artificial codewords admitted: Friedman, Report, 35-39.
843 Whitelaw’s. Friedman, Report, 39.
843 Bentley’s and five-letter codes: Friedman, Report, 40-43.
844 Bentley: H. B. Bentley, memorandum, May 2, 1963, and letter, May 11, 1963.
844 codes for all industries: from Library of Congress Card Catalog under subject entry “Cipher and Telegraph Codes.’
845 more codes after war: Friedman, Report, 59.
845 American code-compilers: William J. Mitchel, interview, June 10, 1965.
845 Macbeth: R. W. Bell, historian, Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Co., letter, May 3, 1963.
846 Kircher: George E. McCracken, “Athanasius Kircher’s Universal Polygraphy,” Isis, XLIX (November, 1948), 215-228. For other written forms of international languages, see M. Monnerot-Dumaine, Précis d’Interlinguistique (Paris: Librairie Maloine, 1960), 11-16.
846 International Code of Signals: “Signalling,” Chambers’s Encyclopaedia.
846 salesmanship: Mitchel interview.
846 “By reading telegrams,” methods of code-compiling: Mitchel interview.
847 “I had a great mass”: 91 Federal Reporter Second 998. Hartfield had sued Peterson for copying his code; U.S. Circuit Court Judges Martin T. Manton, Learned Hand, and Augustus N. Hand upheld the award of $5,000 damages to Hartfield.
847 business firms compare codes: Mitchel interview.
847 no transposition of letters: Mitchel interview; Paul D. Green, “Lost Your Money? Wire KUBIT,” The Saturday Evening Post (November 6, 1948).
848 code construction chart: William F. Friedman and Charles J. Mendelsohn, “Notes on Code Words,” The American Mathematical Monthly, XXXIX (August-September, 1932), 394-409 at 408.
848 “most codemakers”: Rudolf Schauffler, “Über die Bildung von Code-wörtern,” Archiv der Elektrischen Übertragung, X (1956), 303-314 at 312. Hardie translation.
848 unpopularity of pronounceability: Friedman, Report, 50-58.
849 Cortina proposals: Friedman, Report, 59-70.
849 three vowels per codeword: Friedman and Mendelsohn, “Notes on Code Words,” 394.
849 effect of teletypewriters: Friedman, Report, 62.
849 effect of 1932 regulations: Jesse F. Gelders, “The Strange Language of the Cables,” Popular Science Monthly, CXXVIII (March, 1936), 22-23, 86.
850 not a single practicing code compiler today: Mitchel interview.
850 “digital shorthand”: Robert W. Bemer, “Do It By the Numbers—Digital Shorthand,” Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery, III (1960), 530-536; mimeographed I.B.M. press release, “ ‘Digital Shorthand’ Can Triple Data Link Capacity,” July 5, 1960.
Chapter 23 CIPHERS IN THE PAST TENSE
For the problem in general, see F. Stix, “Geheimschriftkunde als historische Hilfswissenschaft,” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Instituts für Geschichts-forschung, XIV, 453-459, and C. Trasselli, “La crittografia, scienza ausiliaria della storia,” Nuova Critica, Nos. 3, 4 (1945).
854 “His Majesty suddenly”: Armand Baschet, Les Archives de Venise: Histoire de la Chancellerie Secrète (Paris: Plon, 1870), 312.
854 “Were we able”: Wharton, I, 281, quoted in Edmund C. Burnett, Letters of Members of the Continental Congress (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1921-1936), III, xxxiii.
854 Bergenroth: DNB; W. P. Cartwright, Gustave Bergenroth: A Memorial Sketch (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1870), 3-11.
855 “Simancas is a colle
ction”: Cartwright, 89-90.
855 “Shrill notes,” “none but drivers,” kitchen girl: Bergenroth letters quoted in Cartwright, 67-68, 54, 56.
855 castle, administrative difficulties: Cartwright, 58-64, 93, 95-97.
856 cryptanalytic endeavors: These are pieced together from Bergenroth’s letters to the Master of the Rolls in 1860 and 1861, printed in Cartwright, and from his “Remarks on the Ciphered Despatches in the Archives at Simancas,” originally published in Great Britain, Public Record Office, Calendar of Letters, Despatches and State Papers Relating to the Negotiations between England and Spain (London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1862), I (Henry VII: 1485-1509), ed. Gustave Bergenroth, at cxxxvii-cxlvi, and reprinted in Cartwright, to which reference is made in this note. “I did not,” Cartwright, 205; “The first thing,” 209; “When copying,” 91; “The question,” 213.
856 “Nothing but,” “The despatches”: Cartwright, 206, 98.
857 only key not read: Cartwright, 207.
857 Ayala: Cartwright, 76.
857 Friedmann assists: Cartwright, 53, 163. Friedmann is not listed in DNB, no biographical notices are given in the catalogue of the New York Public Library, and the Public Record Office has no biographical information on him (letter, January 8, 1965).
857 Bibliothèque Nationale: Manuscrits français, nouvelle acquisition 4206, a small notebook with 19 cipher keys marked “Don de M. Paul Fried-mann, … 8 février 1880.”
858 Michiel: Les dépêches de Giovanni Michiel, ed. Paul Friedmann (Venice: Imprimerie du Commerce, 1869), v-xvi; Paul Friedmann, “Some New Facts in the History of Queen Mary,” Macmillan’s Magazine, XIX (November, 1868), 1-12, at 1-3.
859 Pasini: Les dépêches de Giovanni Michiel, xiv; Baschet, 82, 111-112, 309-312; Galland, 16; Archivio di Stato, Venice, letter, October 19, 1964.
859 Gabbrielli: Archivio di Stato, Florence, letter, March 12, 1964; G. E. S[antini]., “Dispacci in cifre del R. Archivio di Stato di Firenze,” Archivio Storico Italiano, III series, XIV (1871), 473-476 at 476 for 400 solutions; Meister, Diplomatischen, 42-47.