Re: Question about the Beale ciphers

From: Lassi Hippeläinen (lahippel@ieee.orgasm-research.invalid)
Date: 04/07/03 

From: Lassi Hippeläinen  <lahippel@ieee.orgasm-research.invalid>
Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 07:38:00 GMT

spymix wrote:
<...>
> If it is the same key as cipher #2 then I guess the trick is finding
> the right text for cipher #1!

Yup. But finding that text is next to impossible, unless you start
looking for other hints. My personal quess is that the original "key"
was a single book or booklet that contained at least three separate
articles. Since the *second* ciphertext is the introduction to the other
two, its key text (the Declaration of Independence with the known
misprint) is probably article #2 in the book.

What are the other two texts? No idea... but intelligent guesses are
allowed. The speculated book would probably have been published for
educated Southern gentlemen of the era. Assuming the same coding method
was used in all three ciphers, approximate lengths of the articles can
be deduced from the code values. The first one seems pretty long and
could be an essay about the incidents that led to the Declaration. The
third text could then be associated with something that happened after
it. (BTW, that text may include many names.) Since neither text has been
identified by now, they must have been written specifically for the
book, and haven't been reprinted ever since.

If that leads you to the correct solution, I'd be happy to share the
spoils...

-- Lassi