Beale ciphers

The Beale cipher is probably the best known encrypted message to the world. It describes a hoard of gold which a certain Thomas J. Beale to have hidden in the years 1820/22. The second side of the Beale cipher could be decrypted by the American Declaration of Independence. The numbers represent the initials of the n-th words in the original text. The first and third cipher could not be deciphered.

History

1885 Scripture (The Beale Papers ) published by the American publisher James Ward, after a hotel owner in Lynchburg (Virginia / USA) named Robert Morris Beale at his departure for his second stay in the hotel in 1822 a sealed box with " papers of great value " was confided that he should retain this information. A few months later, Morris received a letter from Beale of St. Louis, where he was instructed to keep the crate for ten years and when no one would demand their return, to open the box and the papers contained using the key, which he then should be given in June 1832 to decipher.

Beale never returned to the hotel and Morris did not get the promised key. However, he waited until 1845 until he left the castle of the box in which the three leaves with the ciphers and a note were. The note told of how Beale and some other men had found and hidden a large amount of gold. Morriss was assumed that the men were dead, and felt obliged now to distribute the wealth of the families of the men that shall be included in the third cipher. The second cipher describes what is the treasure, and the first location of the hiding place. Without the key, however, Morris was unable to decrypt the three ciphers, so he tried on his own to crack the ciphers, which he ultimately failed. Before his death, in 1862, he confided to a friend, whose identity is not known. This made ​​it finally after many years to decrypt the second cipher, but failed also to the other and therefore decided in 1885 to publish the whole story.

However, it is not clear whether it is not a prank at the Beale ciphers. The author of the font, allegedly Morris ' friend, could have even invented the whole story. The Communication presented by Klaus Schmeh summary of the analytical considerations of intellectual knowledge and the quality of the encryption technique corresponds more closely to creep around 1885, when the letters of the supposed buffalo hunter Beale, which appears quite likely a hoax.

The cipher

The second Beale cipher ( decrypted)

I HAVE IN THE COUNTY OF BEDFORD Deposited ABOUT FOUR MILES FROM AN EXCAVATION IN Buford VAULT OR SIX FEET BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE GROUND THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES Jointly BELONGING TO THE PARTIES WHOSE NAMES ARE GIVEN IN NUMBER THREE WITH HERE.

THE FIRST DEPOSIT CONSISTED OF TEN HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN POUNDS (1014 lbs.) AND THIRTY EIGHT HUNDRED OF GOLD AND TWELVE POUNDS ( 3812 lbs.) OF SILVER, Deposited in November EIGHTEEN NINETEEN. (NOV.1819)

THE SECOND WAS MADE DEC. EIGHTEEN TWENTY -ONE (DEC 1821) AND OF NINETEEN HUNDRED AND SEVEN CONSISTED POUNDS OF GOLD AND TWELVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT OF SILVER; ALSO OBTAINED JEWELS IN ST. LOUIS IN EXCHANGE TO SAVE TRANSPORTATION, AND VALUED AT THIRTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS.

THE ABOVE IS PACKED IN IRON POTS securely WITH IRON COVERS. THE VAULT IS LINED WITH Roughly STONE, AND THE REST OF VESSELS ON SOLID STONE, AND ARE COVERED WITH OTHERS.

German translation of the second Beale cipher

I have two meters below the surface, the following items deposited in Bedford County, about four miles from Buford, in a cavity, which include those persons who are mentioned in number three:

The first deposit is made of 1,014 pounds of gold and 3,812 pounds of silver, deposited in the November 1819 The second depot was created in December 1821 and consists of 1,907 pounds of gold and 1,280 pounds of silver. ; also jewels, obtained in St. Louis in exchange for silver to facilitate transport, and estimated at $ 13,000.