Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1891 — Cabin Cipher Codes. [ARTICLE]

Cabin Cipher Codes.

The ingenuity exercised in devising cipher codes is astonishing to veteran travelers. These little volumes fire now published in convenient form to be carried in a traveler’s pocket and contain a list of five or Bix hundred English words selected more for their telegraphic euphony than on any other consideration, arranged alphabetically and each with its meaning in’ plain language set opposite to it The number of words, phrases and sentences which a single cipher word may mean when flashed under the ocean is astounding. For instance: In Low’s new pocket code the word “scamper” means “Telegraph in cipher as soon as you receive the copy of the pocket cable code which I send you for that purpose.” The word “euarched” means, “Check book has been lost or stolen; please stop payments ou any checks bearing the number of my check book.” When telegraphic euphony is alluded to an expert will readily understand that the object desired in cipher words is a collection of letters, the telegraphic symbols for which are most readily intelligible to the ear of the cable operator, the telegraph sounds, for instance, for “m” and “e” are so nearly alike, it is said, that certain unions of those letters have been avoided, as far as possible. The system on which a code may be arranged is well shown in this series of three definitions: “Liberties,” means “in replv to your;” “Libertine,” which means “in reply to your letter;” “Liberty,” which means “in reply to your telegram.” —New York World.