Newspapers / Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.) / Feb. 19, 1937, edition 1 / Page 10
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Cole Major William F. Friedman, who solved the dictionary code without seeing the dictionary. . . . Above, the scene in the San Francisco courtroom where ended the drama of the dictionary code. By Thomas M. Johnson MURDER in the courtroom! A brown arm darts forth. A dash, a crash! A dark-faced man falls from the witness chair, nands clutching wildly Above the dying man stands a second gripping a smoking pistol His face, also dark wears an expression of tri umpnant natred “Traitor!’ he marls. But in that instant, his leer turns to a mdeous grimace He spins about, and falls beside ms victim That second report, from the rear of that tragic courtroom, came from the .45 of United States Marshal James B Holohan later to become warden of San Quentin penitentiary Calmly, accur ately he had fired over the heads of the panic-stricken crowd, to prevent further kilims* bv a Hindu fanatic. THUS ended, in San Francisco, a world-wide drama unique in the annals of American justice. Unique, also, in the annals of the Black Art of cryptography of codes and ciphers, of secret writing The full story can be told for the first time, from the day when an American code and cipher ex pert scanned a sheet of paper on whicl were typewritten rows and rows of fie ures: 78-2-45 35-1-17 122-1-52 What did these figures mean? I'm problem was taken to Major William t Friedman, head of the cipher depart ment of the Riverbank Laboratory, at Geneva. 11l The United States was on the brink of war. when he looked over these strange figures. “The British have detected this mes sage passing between Hindus in Berlin and their agents now in America, plot ting to start a revolution in India with German money." it was explained. Major Friedman studied the groups and columns of numbers. Eagerly he pointed out three consecutive groups that .were typical: 78-2-45; 35-1-17; 122-1-52. “Look!” he cried. “Here’s a clew! “In each of the three groups, the sec ond figure, the central one, is always either a one or a two. And. look again —the groups are all composed of three numbers each! Both clews point to the same thing—a dictionary code. men who used this code em ployed a dictionary—or rather two of the same kind —from which they se lected their words But instead of writ ing the words, in their notes to each other, they put down a group of num bers for each word, each group convey ing the word’s exact location. “The first number of each group would be the page on which that word appears in the dictionary, the second number would be the column, and the third would be the location in that col umn of the word itself. “But why bother? Let’s just read the message first and find the book later.” Major Friedman’s uninitiated hearers gaped with amazement. “Oh, that’s no miracle!” said the cryptographer lightlv “We’ll just use Ram Chandra, shot to death in court by his co-plotter, Ram Singh. • TJ/i) W v the principles that govern frequency of letters and words “Why, we can even block oft this or any dictionary, into 26 sections, corre sponding to the numbers of words be ginning with each different letter of the alphabet. Andre Langie. the French cryptographer, has discovered that: “Words beginning with A form 6.43 per cent: “Words beginning with B form 5.35 per cent —and so on. “Perhaps you ask. ‘So what?' ’* the cryptographer continued. “Well, if the numbers in this message extend from 1 to 100. then a number between 1 and 6 will represent a word beginning with A; a number between 7 and 12 will represent a word beginning with B— ah, now you see. don’t you?’’ Then began a long, laborious search by Major Friedman and his assistants; nothing spectacular, nothing mystical, just hard work. Picking out the num ber-groups that occurred most fre quently. he began a detailed study and search for the common words, so neces sary that the plotters must have used them oftenest; words like THE. OF. AND. STOP, or YOU. After hours of such painstaking labor, they emerged triumphantly with the first positive clew: the number-group 199-2-14 must mean YOU. and so. in the dictionary the plotters had used, the word YOU must be on page 199. column 2. 14th word! FOLLOWING up this lead, Major Friedman gradually worked out one word after another At last he had enough so that he could tackle a word group. He found that 78-2-45. 35-1-17 122-1-52, which once looked so baffling, must mean COME AT ONCE. And gradually, adding here a little, there a little, he found a meaning for each of the many word-groups in the message. So the code was broken. But when the plotte.s went to trial in San Fran cisco, in early 1918. Major Friedman knew his case would be stronger if he could actually show the jury the dic tionary that was used. Then began a weary, patient search. Day after day. Major Friedman trudged from one second-hand bookstone to an other. At last he visited the co-onera- Ram Singh, slain in court after murdering a supposed traitor. I tive bookstore of the University of Cali- I forma at Berkeley. And there he found a dictionary that ! he had never seen before—a two-col umned dictionary. He turned to page 78. His eye shifted to the second col umn. Carefully he counted down. 10 words, 20 words, 40 words—4s words. What’s this? Not—yes it is—COME! From all the thousands of dictionaries in the world, tie had found the very one that the Hindu plotters had used But he had found it months after he had solved their messages. When 30 conspirators, white and I dark, came to trial. Major Friedman showed the dictionary in court He ex | plained the meanings of the code mes sages. He had unraveled the dark skein woven by Oriental guile and the great German secret service, through pains taking hard work rather than through ‘ miracles. But the result seemed miracu j lous to one of the plotters. Ram Singh j —-so miraculous, that he was sure a I confederate had sold him out. On this Ram Singh brooded, until, the last day of the trial. April 23. 1918, he shot Ram Chandra dead, and Marshal Holohan, who recently retired as ward en of San Quentin prison, shot him dead in turn. His trust in a secret code had I cost him his life.
Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 19, 1937, edition 1
10
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