◆ SpookStack

so . . \ = The three messages sent frM#Paris: w 1. From MacLean to his wifes - . re Jv Bad to leave unexpectedly stop sorry darling stop 4 love you stop please do not stop loving me stop donald (87 letters) 2° 2. From Burgess to his mother: J J _ 7 terribly sorry for xy silence stop am embarking on a long mediterranean poliday stop do forgive stop’ guy (87 letters) iv . 5. From MacLean to his mother: I am quite all right stop do not worry stop love te all (43 letters) ,: Points of suspicion: 1. The numerical consistency of the letters. Each long mersage is equal and the short message is just half the length of the long ones. 2. There is an aspect of "padding" to achieve the numerical consistency. The "I" and "A" usually dropped in telegrams are drpppéd in some places, but not in others, The “do” 4s a rarely used word—especially in telegrams, but each message bas one, Also the short message omits a signature. . 53. The possibly "key" repetitions: Each message bas a "do" and each has a five— letter word ending in "-orry." 4. The unusual frequency of some letters: The common vowel E is used 19 times compared to 80 O's. H is most frequently used in English with T and §, but there are only 3 H's compared to 14 S's and 19 T's. A-l4 F-2 K-1 P-12 U-4 2-0 B- 2 G-7 L-1 Q- 1 V-5 C- 2 8-5 W-6 R-15 W-1 Ne D-10 I-12 N-l2 S-14 X-1 E-19 J-0 O-5S0 T-19 Y-98 ete et eme meme amen ene One decyphering theory: The numerical consistency of the letters indicates that the three messages should be combined in a ratio of two letters from each of the long messages to one letter from the short message. There are innumerable combinations which could be made. For ease in composing such a code message, there would also have to be some "fill" letters which would be dropped in the decyphering. However, if the letters of the three messages are combined in a 1-2-2- ratio, there should be discernable within a reasonable range of letters all the letters (scrambled) of any code~message word. 2 ¢ Ss i NS ~g