June 27, 2023 • 34 mins
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Espionage adventures, Covert operations, Thrilling missions, International intrigue, Spy thriller, Government agents, Undercover work, Secret intelligence, Political espionage, Intriguing conspiracies, High-stakes espionage, Intelligence gathering, Hidden identities, Espionage secrets, Political thrillers, Spy network, Secret missions, Classified operations, Intrigue and suspense, Government secrets
Espionage adventures, Covert operations, Thrilling missions, International intrigue, Spy thriller, Government agents, Undercover work, Secret intelligence, Political espionage, Intriguing conspiracies, High-stakes espionage, Intelligence gathering, Hidden identities, Espionage secrets, Political thrillers, Spy network, Secret missions, Classified operations, Intrigue and suspense, Government secrets
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Chapter twelve, The Double Code.It was one night in early fall that
Bill Quinn and I were browsing aroundthe library in the house that he called
home ever since a counterfeiter's bullet incapacitatedhim from further active work in the Secret
Service. Prior to that time,he had lived, as he put it,
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wherever he hung his hat. Butnow there was a comfortable little house
with a den where Quinn kept themore unusual and often gruesome relics which brought
back memories of the past. There, hanging on the wall, with a
dark brown stain still adorning the razorlike edge, was a Chinese hatchet,
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which had doubtless figured in some tongwar on the coast. Below was an
ordinary twenty five cent piece attached tothe wallpaper with chewing gum, just as
at once aided in robbing the treasuryof nearly a million dollars, Quinn assured
me. In another part of theroom was a frame containing what appeared to
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be a bit torn from the wrappingof a package, with the canceled stamp
and a half obliterated postmark as theonly clues to the murder of the man
who had received it, and Besidethe bookcases, which contained a wide range
of detective literature, hung a largerframe in which were the fingerprints of more
than a score of criminals, menbearing names practically unknown to the public,
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but whose exploits were by words inthe various governmental detective services. It was
while glancing over the contents of thebookcase that I noted one volume which appeared
strangely out of place in this collectionof the fictional romances of crime. What's
this doing here, i inquired,taking down a volume of the Giant Raft
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by Jules Verne. Verned it writedetective stories? Did he no, replied
Quinn, And it's really out ofplace in the bookcase. If possible,
I'd like to have it framed andput in the wall with the rest of
the relics, for it's really moreimportant than any of them from the standpoint
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of value to the nation. Thatquarter on the wall over there, the
one which figured in the sugar fraudcase cost the government in the neighborhood of
a million dollars, But this bookprobably saved a score of millions and hundreds
of lives as well, if ithadn't been for the fact that the Thurber
of the Navy Department knew his JewelsVerne even better than he did his Bible.
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It's quite possible that well, there'sno use telling the end of the
story before the beginning. Make yourselfcomfortable, and I'll see if I can
recall the details of the case.Remember, doctor Rick Albert Quinn inquired after
we had both stretched out in frontof the open fire. Theoretically, the
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air doctor was attached to the Germanembassy in Washington merely in advisory and financial
capacity. He and Hanyell van Heimhausen, the same counselor that the present German
government wanted to send over here asan ambassador after the signing of the peace
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treaty, were charged with the solutionof many of the legal difficulties which arose
in connection with the business of thebig red brick dwelling on Massachusetts Avenue.
But while von Heimhausen was occupied withthe legal end of the game, doctor
Albert attended to many of the undergrounddetails which went unsuspected for many years.
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It was he, for example,who managed the bidding for the wireless station
in the Philippines, the plan whichpermitted the German government to dictate the location
of the station, and to seeto it that the towers were so placed
where they would be most useful toBerlin. He undoubtedly worked with von Poppen
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and boy Ed during the early yearsof the war, years in which this
precious trio, either with or withoutthe knowledge of the Count von Bernsdorff,
sought by every means to cripple Americanshipping, violate American neutrality, and to
make a laughing stock of American diplomaticmethods. What's more, they got away
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with it for months, not becausethe Secret Service and the Department of Justice
weren't hot on their trail, butbecause the Germans were too cagy to be
caught, and you can't arrest adiplomat just on suspicion. During the months
which followed the first of August nineteenfourteen, practically every one of the government's
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detective services was called upon in someway to pry into the affairs of the
embassy staff, but the brunt ofthe work naturally devolved upon the two organizations
directly concerned with preventing flagrant breaches ofneutrality, the Secret Service and the Department
of Justice. Every time that DoctorAlbert or any other official of the German
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government left Washington. He was trailedby anywhere from one to five men.
Every move he made was noted andevery reporter to headquarters, with the result
that the State Department had a verygood idea of the names of the men
who were being used to forward Germany'sends, even though it knew comparatively little
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about what was actually planned. Theattaches were entirely too clever to carry on
compromising conversations in the open, andtheir appointments were made in such a manner
as effectually to prevent the planting ofa dictaphone or any other device by which
they might be overheard. The directionsto the men who were responsible for the
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working of the two services were everyattache of the German embassy is to be
guarded with extreme care. Day andnight. Reports are to be made through
the usual channels, and in theevent that something unusual is observed, Divisional
Headquarters is to be notified instantly,the information being transmitted to Washington before any
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final action is taken. This lastclause, of course, was inserted to
prevent some hot headed operative from goingoff half cocked and thus spoiling the State
Department's plans. As long as Albertand his associates were merely guarded, they
couldn't enter any formal complaint, butgiven half a chance, they would have
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gotten on their official dignity and demandedthat the espionage cease. From the State
Department's point of view, it wasan excellent rule, but Jeane Barlow and
the other secret servicemen assigned to followAlbert couldn't see it in that light.
What's the idea anyhow, Jean growledone night as his pet taxicab dashed down
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Massachusetts Avenue in the wake of thebig touring car that was carrying the German
attache to the Union station. Here, we have to be on the job
at all hours just to watch thisDutchman and see what he does. And
with a note of contempt, henever does anything worth reporting. Sees half
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a dozen people, lunches at theGerman American Club, drops in at two
or three offices downtown, and thenback here again. If they'd only let
us waylay him and get hold ofthat black bag that he always carts around,
there'd be nothing to it. SomedayI'm going to do that little thing,
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just to see what happens. ButBarlow took it out in threats.
Secret servicemen find pleasure in stating whatthey are going to do someday, but
the quality of implicit obedience has beendrilled into them too thoroughly for them to
forget it, which is possibly thereason why they take such a sheer and
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genuine delight in going ahead when therestrictions are finally lifted. It was in
New York, more than two yearsafter the war had commenced, that Barlow
got his first opportunity to see whatwould happen. In the meantime, he
had been assigned to half a dozenother cases, but always returned to the
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shadowing of doctor Albert because he wasthe one man who had been eminently successful
in that work. The German hadan almost uncanny habit of throwing his pursuers
off the trail whenever he wanted to, and, in spite of the efforts
of the cleverest men in the service, had disappeared from time to time.
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The resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare andthe delicacy of the diplomatic situation which ensued
made it imperative that the man withthe saber scar, as doctor Albert was
known, be kept constantly under surveillance. Stick to him, Jean, and
don't bother about reporting until you arecertain that he will stay put long enough
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for you to phone. Were theinstructions of the Barlow received. The doctor
must be watched every moment that he'saway from the embassy, and it's up
to you to do it. Anythingelse beside watching him, inquired the operative,
hopefully no, smiled the chief.There isn't to be any rough stuff.
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We're on the verge of an explosionas it is, and anyone who
pulls the hair trigger will not onlyfind himself out of a job, but
will have the doubtful satisfaction of knowingthat he's responsible for wrecking some very carefully
laid plans. Where Albert goes,who he talks with, and if possible,
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a few details of what they discussis all that's wanted. Wouldn't like
to have a piece of the Kaiser'smustache or anything of that kind, would
you, Chief Barlow retorted, Icould get that for you a whole lot
easier than I could find out whatthe man with the saber scars talks about.
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He's the original George be careful.Never was known to take a chance
wouldn't better nickel against a hundred dollarsthat the sun would come up tomorrow,
and always sees to it that hisconferences are held behind bolted doors. They
even pull down the shades so thatno lip reader with a pair of field
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glasses can get a tip as towhat they're talking about. That's the reason
you were picked for this case,was the chief's reply. Any strong arm
man could wail Albert over the headand throw him in the river. That
wouldn't help any What we need isinformation concerning what his plans are, and
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it takes a clever man to getthat. All bull and a yard wide,
laughed Jeanne, but the compliment pleasedhim. Nevertheless, I'll watch him,
but let me know when the lidcomes off, and I can use
other methods. The Chief promised thathe would, and it was not more
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than three weeks later that he hadan opportunity to make good. Barlow erected,
speaking over the long distance phone tothe operative in New York. The
Department of Justice has just reported thatdoctor Albert is in receipt of a document
of some kind, probably a letterof instruction from Berlin, which it is
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vital that we have at once.Our information is that the message is written
on a slip of oiled paper carriedinside a dummy lead pencil. It's possible
that the doctor has destroyed it,but it isn't probable. Can you get
it? How far am I allowedto go? Inquired Jeanne, hoping for
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permission to stage a kidnapping of theGerman attache, but fully expecting these instructions,
which followed orders that he was todo nothing that would cause an open
breach, nothing for which Doctor Albertcould demand reparation or even an apology.
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In other words, Barlowe said tohimself, as he hung up the phone,
I'm to accomplish the impossible, blindfoldedand with my hands tied. Wonder
whether Paula would have a hunt.Paula was Barlow's sweetheart, a pretty little
brunette who earned a very good salaryas private secretary to one of the leading
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lights of Wall Street, which accountedfor the fact that the operative had learned
to rely upon her quick flashes ofintuitive judgment for help in a number of
situations which had required tact as wellas action. They were to be married
whenever Jeanne's professional activities subsided sufficiently toallow him to remain home at least one
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night a month. But meanwhile,Paula maintained that she would as soon be
the wife of an African explorer,because at least I would know that he
wouldn't be back for six months,while I haven't any idea whether you'll be
out of town two days or twoyears. After they had talked the Albert
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matter over from all angles, Paulainquired, where would your friend with the
saber scar be likely to carry thepaper? Either in his pocket or in
the black bag that he invariably haswith him. Hum she mused, If
it's in his pocket, I don'tsee that there is anything you can do
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short of knocking him down and takingit away from him, and that's barred
by the rules of the game.But if it is in the mysterious black
bag, it's the doctor in town. Now. Yes, he's at the
astor probably for two or three days. I left Dwyer and French on guard
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there while I presumably snatched a littlesleep. But I'd rather have your advice
than any amount of rest. Thanks, was the girl's only comment, for
her mind was busy with the problem. There's apparently no time to lose,
So I'll inform the office the firstthing in the morning that I won't be
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down. Meet you in front ofthe astor and we'll see what happens.
Just let me stick with you inconspicuously, and I think that I can guarantee
at least an opportunity to lift thebag without giving the German a chance to
raise a row. Thus it wasthat early the next day Jean Barlow was
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joined by a distinctly personable young woman, who, after a moment's conversation,
strolled up and down Broadway in frontof the hotel. Some twenty minutes later,
a man whose face had been disfiguredby a saber slash received at Heidelberg,
came down the steps and asked fora taxi. But Barlow, acting
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under directions from Paula, had seenthat there were no taxis to be had
a flash of his badge and somecoin in the realm had fixed that.
So Doctor Heinrich Albert of the Germanembassy was forced to take a Plebeian surface
car, as Paula had intended thathe should. The secret Service operative and
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his pretty companion boarded the same cara block farther down two other government agents,
having held it sufficiently long at fortyfourth Street to permit of this move.
Worming their way through the crowd,when their prey changed to the sixth
Avenue elevated, Jeanne and Paula soonreached points of vantage on either side of
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the German, who carried his blackbag tightly grasped in his right hand,
and the trio kept this information untilthey reached fiftieth Street, when the girl
apparently started to make her way towardthe door. Something caused her to stumble,
however, and she pitched forward rightinto the arms of the German,
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who by that time had secured aseat and had placed his bag beside him,
still guarding it with a protecting arm. Before the foreigner had time to
gather his wits, he found himselfwith a pretty girl literally in his lap,
a girl who was manifestly a lady, and who blushed to the tips
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of her ears as she apologized forher awkwardness. Even if the German had
been a woman hater, there wouldhave been nothing for him to do but
to assist her to her feet,and that necessarily required the use of both
hands, as it happened. DoctorAlbert was distinctly susceptible to feminine charms,
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and there was something about this girl'ssmile which was friendly, though embarrassed,
so he spent longer than was strictlyessential in helping her to the door.
She appeared to have turned her ankle, and then returned to his seat,
only to find that his portfolio wasmissing. Reclamations and threats were useless.
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A score of people had left thecar, and as the guard heartlessly refused
to stop the train before the nextstation, there was naturally not a trace
of the girl or the man whohad accompanied her. By that time.
In fact, Barlow and Paula hadslipped into the shelter of a neighboring hotel
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lobby and were busy inspecting the contentsof doctor Albert's precious briefcase. Even if
there's nothing in it, laughed thegirl. We've had the satisfaction of scaring
him to death. Jeanne said nothing, but pawed through the papers in frantic
haste. A slip of oiled paper, he muttered, by the Lord Harry,
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here it is, and he produceda pencil, which his trained fingers
told him was lighter than it shouldbe. With a wrench, he broke
off the metal tip that held theeraser, and from within the wooden spindle
removed a tightly wrapped roll of verythin, almost transparent paper covered with unintelligible
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lettering. What's on it, demandedPaula. I'll never tell you, was
Barlow's reply. It would take abetter man than I am to decipher this,
and he read off, I II T F B B T t
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x O code interrupted the girl.Sure it is and apparently a peach.
The next moment, he had slippedthe paper carefully into an inside pocket,
crammed the rest of the papers backinto the brief case, and was disappearing
into a phone booth. Better getdown to work, dear, he called
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over his shoulder. I'm going toreport to the office here and then take
this stuff down to Washington. Andthat was the last that Paula saw of
him for a week. Six hourslater, Barlow entered the Chief's office in
the Treasury Department and reported that hehad secured the code. Message so New
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York phoned was the only comment fromthe man who directed the destinies of the
Secret Service. Take it right upto the Navy department and turn it over
to Thurber, the librarian. He'llbe able to read it if anybody can.
Thurber, Jean Knew, was theman who was recognizedly the leading authoritily
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on military codes and ciphers in theUnited States, the man who had made
a hobby as well as a business, of decoding mysterious messages, and who
had finally deciphered the famous square lettercode, though it took him months to
do it. He'll have to workfaster than that this time, thought Barlow,
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as he made his way toward thelibrarian's office on the fourth floor of
the big gray stone building. Timesat a premium, and Germany moves too
fast to waste any of it.But Thurber was fully cognizant of the necessity
for quick action. He had beenwarned that Barlow was bringing the dispatch,
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and the attire office was cleared forwork. Spreading the oiled paper on a
tabletop made of clear glass, thelibrarian turned on a battery of strong electric
lights underneath, so that any watermark or secret writing would have been at
once apparent. But there was nothingon the sheet except line after line of
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meaningless letters. It's possible, ofcourse, that there may be some writing
and invisible ink on the sheet,admitted the cipher expert. But the fact
that oiled paper is used would seemto preclude that the code itself may be
any one of a several varieties,and it's a matter of trying them all
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until you hit upon the right one. I thought that Poe's story of the
Goldbug claimed that any cipher could beread if you selected the letter that appeared
most frequently and substitute it for theletter E, which is used most often
in English, and so on downthe list, stated Barlow. So it
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did, but there are lots ofthings that Poe didn't know about code's thurber
retort, His eyes rivetted to thesheet before him. Besides, that was
fiction, and the author knew justhow the code was constructed, while this
is fact, and we have todepend upon hard work and blind luck.
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There are any number of arbitrary systemswhich might have been used in writing this
message, he continued. The Armyclock code is one of them, the
one in which a number is addedto every letter figure dependent upon the hour
at which the message is written.But I don't think that applies in this
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case. The cipher doesn't look likeit, although I'll have to admit that
it doesn't look like any that I'vecome across before. Let's put it on
the blackboard and study it from acrossthe room. That often helps in concentrating.
You're not going to write the wholething on the board, queried the
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operative. No, only the firstfifteen letters or so, and Thurber put
down this line I I I TF B B T t x O r
q W S b B translated intowhat we call letter figures. He went
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on, that would be nine ninenine, twenty six, two two,
twenty, twenty, twenty four,fifteen, eighteen, seventeen, twenty three,
nineteen two two, the system whereA is denoted by one, B
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by two and so on. Nowthat's still meaningless. That repetition of the
letter I at the beginning of themessage is what makes it particularly puzzling.
If you don't mind, I'll lockthe door and get to work on this
in earnest Where can I reach youby phone? Barlow smiled at this polite
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dismissal, and stating that he wouldbe at headquarters for the rest of the
evening and that they would know whereto reach him after that left the office
decidedly doubtful as to Thurber's ability toread the message. Long after midnight,
Jean answered a ring from the phonebeside his bed, and, through a
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haze of sleep, heard the voiceof the Navy librarian inquiring if he still
had the other papers which had beenin doctor Albert's bag. No, replied
the operative, but I can getthem. They are on top of the
chief's desk. Nothing in them,though went over them with a microscope just
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the same, directed Thurber. I'dlike to have them right away. I
think I'm on the trail. Butthe message is impossible to decipher unless we
get the code word. It maybe in some of the other papers.
Barlow found the librarian red eyed fromhis lack of sleep and the strain of
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concentration over the code letter. Butwhen they had gone over the papers found
in the black bag, even Thurberhad to admit that he was checkmated.
Somewhere, he maintained, is theone word which will solve the whole thing.
I know the type of cipher.It's one that is very seldom used.
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In fact, the only reference toit that I know of is in
Jules Verne's novel The Giant raft.It's a question of taking a key word,
using the letter figures which denote this, and adding these to the letter
figures of the original letter. Thatwill give you a series of numbers which
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it is impossible to decipher unless youknow the key word. I feel certain
that this is a variation of thatsystem, for the fact that two letters
appear together so frequently would seem toindicate that the numbers which they represent are
higher than twenty six, the numberof letters in the alphabet. One word,
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muttered Barlow. Then, seizing whatwas apparently a memorandum sheet from the
pile of Albert's papers, he exclaimed, here is a list that neither the
chief nor I could make anything of. C It has twelve numbers, which
might be the months of the year, with a name or word behind each
one. Yes, replied Thurber,disconsolately. I saw that the first thing,
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but this is October and the wordcorresponding to the number ten is Wilhelmstrasse.
And that doesn't help at all.I tried it. Then try Hohenzallen
the September word, snapped Barlow.This message was presumably written in Berlin and
therefore took some time to get overhere by George. That's so a variation
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of the clock code as well asVerne's idea. Here, read off the
letters and I'll put them on theboard with the figures representing Hohenzallen underneath.
Take the first fifteen as before.When they had finished the blackboard bore the
following, the first line being theoriginal code letters, the second the letter
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figures of these, and the thirdthe figures of the word Hohenzallen, with
the first H repeated for the fifteenthletter I I I t f b b
tt x o r q w sb b I ii t f b b
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t t x o r q ws b b nine thirty five, twenty
six, twenty eight, forty six, twenty four, fifteen, eighteen,
seventeen, twenty three, nineteen twentyeight, eight, fifteen, eight five,
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fourteen, twenty six, fifteen twelve, twelve five, eighteen fourteen eight
y thirty five for that double I, and twenty eight for the double B's
asked Borrow, add twenty six thetotal number of letters in the alphabet to
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get the letter figure for the letteritself, said Thurber. That's the one
beauty of this code. One ofthe things which helps to throw you off
the scent. Now subtracting the twolines, we have one twenty twelve,
one, fourteen, twenty nine,three, six twelve, five, five
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twenty. We've got it, hecried an instant later, as he stepped
back to look at the figures andread off Atlantic Fleet. It was a
double code, after all, Thurberstated, when he had deciphered the entire
message by the same procedure and hadreported his discovery to the Secretary of the
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Navy over the phone. Practically infallibletoo, save for the fact that I,
as well as doctor Albert, happenedto be familiar with Jules Verne.
That plus the doctor's inability to relyon his memory and therefore leaving his key
words in his briefcase, rendered thewhole thing pretty easy. Yes, thought
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Jean. Plus my suggestion of theSeptember word rather than the October one,
and plus Paula's quick wit, That'sreally all there was to it. But
he kept his thoughts to himself,preferring to allow Thurber to reap all the
rewards that were coming to him forthe solution of the double code. Do
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you know what the whole message was? I inquired, as Quinn stopped his
narrative. You'll find it pasted onthe back of that copy of the Giant
Raft, replied the former operative.That's why I claim that the book ought
to be preserved as a souvenir ofan incident that saved millions of dollars and
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hundreds of lives. Turning to theback of the Verne book, I saw
pasted there the following significant lines.Atlantic Fleet sails from Hampton Roads at six
o'clock morning of seventeenth eight U boatswill be waiting, advise necessary parties,
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and be ready to seek safety.Success of attack inevitable. That means that
if Thurber hadn't been able to decipherthat code, the greater part of our
fleet would have been sunk by anunexpected submarine attack launched by a nation with
whom we weren't even at war,I demanded even when I had finished the
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message precisely agreed Quinn. But ifyou'll look up the right you'll find that
the fleet did not sail on schedule. While doctor Heinrich Albert and the entire
staff from the house on Massachusetts Avenuewere deported before many more weeks had passed,
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there was no sense in raising afuss about the incident at the time,
for von Bernsdorff would have denied anyknowledge of the message and probably would
have charged that the whole thing wasa plant designed to embroil the United States
in the war. So it wasallowed to rest for the time being,
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and merely jotted down as another scoreto be wiped off the slate later on.
But you have to admit that aknowledge of Jules Verne came in very
handy, quite as much so,in fact, as did a knowledge of
the habits and disposition of white mice. In another case, which one was
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that Quinn merely pointed to the topof his bookcase, where there reposed a
stuffed white mouse, apparently asleep.That's a memento of the case, replied
the former operative. I'll tell youof it the next time you drop in.
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End of chapter twelve,
Chapter twelve, The Double Code.It was one night in early fall that
Bill Quinn and I were browsing aroundthe library in the house that he called
home ever since a counterfeiter's bullet incapacitatedhim from further active work in the Secret
Service. Prior to that time,he had lived, as he put it,
(00:22):
wherever he hung his hat. Butnow there was a comfortable little house
with a den where Quinn kept themore unusual and often gruesome relics which brought
back memories of the past. There, hanging on the wall, with a
dark brown stain still adorning the razorlike edge, was a Chinese hatchet,
(00:44):
which had doubtless figured in some tongwar on the coast. Below was an
ordinary twenty five cent piece attached tothe wallpaper with chewing gum, just as
at once aided in robbing the treasuryof nearly a million dollars, Quinn assured
me. In another part of theroom was a frame containing what appeared to
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be a bit torn from the wrappingof a package, with the canceled stamp
and a half obliterated postmark as theonly clues to the murder of the man
who had received it, and Besidethe bookcases, which contained a wide range
of detective literature, hung a largerframe in which were the fingerprints of more
than a score of criminals, menbearing names practically unknown to the public,
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but whose exploits were by words inthe various governmental detective services. It was
while glancing over the contents of thebookcase that I noted one volume which appeared
strangely out of place in this collectionof the fictional romances of crime. What's
this doing here, i inquired,taking down a volume of the Giant Raft
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by Jules Verne. Verned it writedetective stories? Did he no, replied
Quinn, And it's really out ofplace in the bookcase. If possible,
I'd like to have it framed andput in the wall with the rest of
the relics, for it's really moreimportant than any of them from the standpoint
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of value to the nation. Thatquarter on the wall over there, the
one which figured in the sugar fraudcase cost the government in the neighborhood of
a million dollars, But this bookprobably saved a score of millions and hundreds
of lives as well, if ithadn't been for the fact that the Thurber
of the Navy Department knew his JewelsVerne even better than he did his Bible.
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It's quite possible that well, there'sno use telling the end of the
story before the beginning. Make yourselfcomfortable, and I'll see if I can
recall the details of the case.Remember, doctor Rick Albert Quinn inquired after
we had both stretched out in frontof the open fire. Theoretically, the
(03:07):
air doctor was attached to the Germanembassy in Washington merely in advisory and financial
capacity. He and Hanyell van Heimhausen, the same counselor that the present German
government wanted to send over here asan ambassador after the signing of the peace
(03:27):
treaty, were charged with the solutionof many of the legal difficulties which arose
in connection with the business of thebig red brick dwelling on Massachusetts Avenue.
But while von Heimhausen was occupied withthe legal end of the game, doctor
Albert attended to many of the undergrounddetails which went unsuspected for many years.
(03:52):
It was he, for example,who managed the bidding for the wireless station
in the Philippines, the plan whichpermitted the German government to dictate the location
of the station, and to seeto it that the towers were so placed
where they would be most useful toBerlin. He undoubtedly worked with von Poppen
(04:12):
and boy Ed during the early yearsof the war, years in which this
precious trio, either with or withoutthe knowledge of the Count von Bernsdorff,
sought by every means to cripple Americanshipping, violate American neutrality, and to
make a laughing stock of American diplomaticmethods. What's more, they got away
(04:35):
with it for months, not becausethe Secret Service and the Department of Justice
weren't hot on their trail, butbecause the Germans were too cagy to be
caught, and you can't arrest adiplomat just on suspicion. During the months
which followed the first of August nineteenfourteen, practically every one of the government's
(04:58):
detective services was called upon in someway to pry into the affairs of the
embassy staff, but the brunt ofthe work naturally devolved upon the two organizations
directly concerned with preventing flagrant breaches ofneutrality, the Secret Service and the Department
of Justice. Every time that DoctorAlbert or any other official of the German
(05:23):
government left Washington. He was trailedby anywhere from one to five men.
Every move he made was noted andevery reporter to headquarters, with the result
that the State Department had a verygood idea of the names of the men
who were being used to forward Germany'sends, even though it knew comparatively little
(05:46):
about what was actually planned. Theattaches were entirely too clever to carry on
compromising conversations in the open, andtheir appointments were made in such a manner
as effectually to prevent the planting ofa dictaphone or any other device by which
they might be overheard. The directionsto the men who were responsible for the
(06:10):
working of the two services were everyattache of the German embassy is to be
guarded with extreme care. Day andnight. Reports are to be made through
the usual channels, and in theevent that something unusual is observed, Divisional
Headquarters is to be notified instantly,the information being transmitted to Washington before any
(06:34):
final action is taken. This lastclause, of course, was inserted to
prevent some hot headed operative from goingoff half cocked and thus spoiling the State
Department's plans. As long as Albertand his associates were merely guarded, they
couldn't enter any formal complaint, butgiven half a chance, they would have
(06:59):
gotten on their official dignity and demandedthat the espionage cease. From the State
Department's point of view, it wasan excellent rule, but Jeane Barlow and
the other secret servicemen assigned to followAlbert couldn't see it in that light.
What's the idea anyhow, Jean growledone night as his pet taxicab dashed down
(07:24):
Massachusetts Avenue in the wake of thebig touring car that was carrying the German
attache to the Union station. Here, we have to be on the job
at all hours just to watch thisDutchman and see what he does. And
with a note of contempt, henever does anything worth reporting. Sees half
(07:46):
a dozen people, lunches at theGerman American Club, drops in at two
or three offices downtown, and thenback here again. If they'd only let
us waylay him and get hold ofthat black bag that he always carts around,
there'd be nothing to it. SomedayI'm going to do that little thing,
(08:07):
just to see what happens. ButBarlow took it out in threats.
Secret servicemen find pleasure in stating whatthey are going to do someday, but
the quality of implicit obedience has beendrilled into them too thoroughly for them to
forget it, which is possibly thereason why they take such a sheer and
(08:30):
genuine delight in going ahead when therestrictions are finally lifted. It was in
New York, more than two yearsafter the war had commenced, that Barlow
got his first opportunity to see whatwould happen. In the meantime, he
had been assigned to half a dozenother cases, but always returned to the
(08:52):
shadowing of doctor Albert because he wasthe one man who had been eminently successful
in that work. The German hadan almost uncanny habit of throwing his pursuers
off the trail whenever he wanted to, and, in spite of the efforts
of the cleverest men in the service, had disappeared from time to time.
(09:15):
The resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare andthe delicacy of the diplomatic situation which ensued
made it imperative that the man withthe saber scar, as doctor Albert was
known, be kept constantly under surveillance. Stick to him, Jean, and
don't bother about reporting until you arecertain that he will stay put long enough
(09:39):
for you to phone. Were theinstructions of the Barlow received. The doctor
must be watched every moment that he'saway from the embassy, and it's up
to you to do it. Anythingelse beside watching him, inquired the operative,
hopefully no, smiled the chief.There isn't to be any rough stuff.
(10:03):
We're on the verge of an explosionas it is, and anyone who
pulls the hair trigger will not onlyfind himself out of a job, but
will have the doubtful satisfaction of knowingthat he's responsible for wrecking some very carefully
laid plans. Where Albert goes,who he talks with, and if possible,
(10:26):
a few details of what they discussis all that's wanted. Wouldn't like
to have a piece of the Kaiser'smustache or anything of that kind, would
you, Chief Barlow retorted, Icould get that for you a whole lot
easier than I could find out whatthe man with the saber scars talks about.
(10:48):
He's the original George be careful.Never was known to take a chance
wouldn't better nickel against a hundred dollarsthat the sun would come up tomorrow,
and always sees to it that hisconferences are held behind bolted doors. They
even pull down the shades so thatno lip reader with a pair of field
(11:09):
glasses can get a tip as towhat they're talking about. That's the reason
you were picked for this case,was the chief's reply. Any strong arm
man could wail Albert over the headand throw him in the river. That
wouldn't help any What we need isinformation concerning what his plans are, and
(11:31):
it takes a clever man to getthat. All bull and a yard wide,
laughed Jeanne, but the compliment pleasedhim. Nevertheless, I'll watch him,
but let me know when the lidcomes off, and I can use
other methods. The Chief promised thathe would, and it was not more
(11:52):
than three weeks later that he hadan opportunity to make good. Barlow erected,
speaking over the long distance phone tothe operative in New York. The
Department of Justice has just reported thatdoctor Albert is in receipt of a document
of some kind, probably a letterof instruction from Berlin, which it is
(12:15):
vital that we have at once.Our information is that the message is written
on a slip of oiled paper carriedinside a dummy lead pencil. It's possible
that the doctor has destroyed it,but it isn't probable. Can you get
it? How far am I allowedto go? Inquired Jeanne, hoping for
(12:37):
permission to stage a kidnapping of theGerman attache, but fully expecting these instructions,
which followed orders that he was todo nothing that would cause an open
breach, nothing for which Doctor Albertcould demand reparation or even an apology.
(12:58):
In other words, Barlowe said tohimself, as he hung up the phone,
I'm to accomplish the impossible, blindfoldedand with my hands tied. Wonder
whether Paula would have a hunt.Paula was Barlow's sweetheart, a pretty little
brunette who earned a very good salaryas private secretary to one of the leading
(13:22):
lights of Wall Street, which accountedfor the fact that the operative had learned
to rely upon her quick flashes ofintuitive judgment for help in a number of
situations which had required tact as wellas action. They were to be married
whenever Jeanne's professional activities subsided sufficiently toallow him to remain home at least one
(13:45):
night a month. But meanwhile,Paula maintained that she would as soon be
the wife of an African explorer,because at least I would know that he
wouldn't be back for six months,while I haven't any idea whether you'll be
out of town two days or twoyears. After they had talked the Albert
(14:07):
matter over from all angles, Paulainquired, where would your friend with the
saber scar be likely to carry thepaper? Either in his pocket or in
the black bag that he invariably haswith him. Hum she mused, If
it's in his pocket, I don'tsee that there is anything you can do
(14:28):
short of knocking him down and takingit away from him, and that's barred
by the rules of the game.But if it is in the mysterious black
bag, it's the doctor in town. Now. Yes, he's at the
astor probably for two or three days. I left Dwyer and French on guard
(14:52):
there while I presumably snatched a littlesleep. But I'd rather have your advice
than any amount of rest. Thanks, was the girl's only comment, for
her mind was busy with the problem. There's apparently no time to lose,
So I'll inform the office the firstthing in the morning that I won't be
(15:15):
down. Meet you in front ofthe astor and we'll see what happens.
Just let me stick with you inconspicuously, and I think that I can guarantee
at least an opportunity to lift thebag without giving the German a chance to
raise a row. Thus it wasthat early the next day Jean Barlow was
(15:37):
joined by a distinctly personable young woman, who, after a moment's conversation,
strolled up and down Broadway in frontof the hotel. Some twenty minutes later,
a man whose face had been disfiguredby a saber slash received at Heidelberg,
came down the steps and asked fora taxi. But Barlow, acting
(16:02):
under directions from Paula, had seenthat there were no taxis to be had
a flash of his badge and somecoin in the realm had fixed that.
So Doctor Heinrich Albert of the Germanembassy was forced to take a Plebeian surface
car, as Paula had intended thathe should. The secret Service operative and
(16:26):
his pretty companion boarded the same cara block farther down two other government agents,
having held it sufficiently long at fortyfourth Street to permit of this move.
Worming their way through the crowd,when their prey changed to the sixth
Avenue elevated, Jeanne and Paula soonreached points of vantage on either side of
(16:48):
the German, who carried his blackbag tightly grasped in his right hand,
and the trio kept this information untilthey reached fiftieth Street, when the girl
apparently started to make her way towardthe door. Something caused her to stumble,
however, and she pitched forward rightinto the arms of the German,
(17:11):
who by that time had secured aseat and had placed his bag beside him,
still guarding it with a protecting arm. Before the foreigner had time to
gather his wits, he found himselfwith a pretty girl literally in his lap,
a girl who was manifestly a lady, and who blushed to the tips
(17:33):
of her ears as she apologized forher awkwardness. Even if the German had
been a woman hater, there wouldhave been nothing for him to do but
to assist her to her feet,and that necessarily required the use of both
hands, as it happened. DoctorAlbert was distinctly susceptible to feminine charms,
(17:56):
and there was something about this girl'ssmile which was friendly, though embarrassed,
so he spent longer than was strictlyessential in helping her to the door.
She appeared to have turned her ankle, and then returned to his seat,
only to find that his portfolio wasmissing. Reclamations and threats were useless.
(18:18):
A score of people had left thecar, and as the guard heartlessly refused
to stop the train before the nextstation, there was naturally not a trace
of the girl or the man whohad accompanied her. By that time.
In fact, Barlow and Paula hadslipped into the shelter of a neighboring hotel
(18:38):
lobby and were busy inspecting the contentsof doctor Albert's precious briefcase. Even if
there's nothing in it, laughed thegirl. We've had the satisfaction of scaring
him to death. Jeanne said nothing, but pawed through the papers in frantic
haste. A slip of oiled paper, he muttered, by the Lord Harry,
(19:06):
here it is, and he produceda pencil, which his trained fingers
told him was lighter than it shouldbe. With a wrench, he broke
off the metal tip that held theeraser, and from within the wooden spindle
removed a tightly wrapped roll of verythin, almost transparent paper covered with unintelligible
(19:29):
lettering. What's on it, demandedPaula. I'll never tell you, was
Barlow's reply. It would take abetter man than I am to decipher this,
and he read off, I II T F B B T t
(19:51):
x O code interrupted the girl.Sure it is and apparently a peach.
The next moment, he had slippedthe paper carefully into an inside pocket,
crammed the rest of the papers backinto the brief case, and was disappearing
into a phone booth. Better getdown to work, dear, he called
(20:15):
over his shoulder. I'm going toreport to the office here and then take
this stuff down to Washington. Andthat was the last that Paula saw of
him for a week. Six hourslater, Barlow entered the Chief's office in
the Treasury Department and reported that hehad secured the code. Message so New
(20:37):
York phoned was the only comment fromthe man who directed the destinies of the
Secret Service. Take it right upto the Navy department and turn it over
to Thurber, the librarian. He'llbe able to read it if anybody can.
Thurber, Jean Knew, was theman who was recognizedly the leading authoritily
(20:59):
on military codes and ciphers in theUnited States, the man who had made
a hobby as well as a business, of decoding mysterious messages, and who
had finally deciphered the famous square lettercode, though it took him months to
do it. He'll have to workfaster than that this time, thought Barlow,
(21:22):
as he made his way toward thelibrarian's office on the fourth floor of
the big gray stone building. Timesat a premium, and Germany moves too
fast to waste any of it.But Thurber was fully cognizant of the necessity
for quick action. He had beenwarned that Barlow was bringing the dispatch,
(21:44):
and the attire office was cleared forwork. Spreading the oiled paper on a
tabletop made of clear glass, thelibrarian turned on a battery of strong electric
lights underneath, so that any watermark or secret writing would have been at
once apparent. But there was nothingon the sheet except line after line of
(22:07):
meaningless letters. It's possible, ofcourse, that there may be some writing
and invisible ink on the sheet,admitted the cipher expert. But the fact
that oiled paper is used would seemto preclude that the code itself may be
any one of a several varieties,and it's a matter of trying them all
(22:30):
until you hit upon the right one. I thought that Poe's story of the
Goldbug claimed that any cipher could beread if you selected the letter that appeared
most frequently and substitute it for theletter E, which is used most often
in English, and so on downthe list, stated Barlow. So it
(22:53):
did, but there are lots ofthings that Poe didn't know about code's thurber
retort, His eyes rivetted to thesheet before him. Besides, that was
fiction, and the author knew justhow the code was constructed, while this
is fact, and we have todepend upon hard work and blind luck.
(23:15):
There are any number of arbitrary systemswhich might have been used in writing this
message, he continued. The Armyclock code is one of them, the
one in which a number is addedto every letter figure dependent upon the hour
at which the message is written.But I don't think that applies in this
(23:37):
case. The cipher doesn't look likeit, although I'll have to admit that
it doesn't look like any that I'vecome across before. Let's put it on
the blackboard and study it from acrossthe room. That often helps in concentrating.
You're not going to write the wholething on the board, queried the
(23:57):
operative. No, only the firstfifteen letters or so, and Thurber put
down this line I I I TF B B T t x O r
q W S b B translated intowhat we call letter figures. He went
(24:23):
on, that would be nine ninenine, twenty six, two two,
twenty, twenty, twenty four,fifteen, eighteen, seventeen, twenty three,
nineteen two two, the system whereA is denoted by one, B
(24:45):
by two and so on. Nowthat's still meaningless. That repetition of the
letter I at the beginning of themessage is what makes it particularly puzzling.
If you don't mind, I'll lockthe door and get to work on this
in earnest Where can I reach youby phone? Barlow smiled at this polite
(25:08):
dismissal, and stating that he wouldbe at headquarters for the rest of the
evening and that they would know whereto reach him after that left the office
decidedly doubtful as to Thurber's ability toread the message. Long after midnight,
Jean answered a ring from the phonebeside his bed, and, through a
(25:30):
haze of sleep, heard the voiceof the Navy librarian inquiring if he still
had the other papers which had beenin doctor Albert's bag. No, replied
the operative, but I can getthem. They are on top of the
chief's desk. Nothing in them,though went over them with a microscope just
(25:52):
the same, directed Thurber. I'dlike to have them right away. I
think I'm on the trail. Butthe message is impossible to decipher unless we
get the code word. It maybe in some of the other papers.
Barlow found the librarian red eyed fromhis lack of sleep and the strain of
(26:15):
concentration over the code letter. Butwhen they had gone over the papers found
in the black bag, even Thurberhad to admit that he was checkmated.
Somewhere, he maintained, is theone word which will solve the whole thing.
I know the type of cipher.It's one that is very seldom used.
(26:38):
In fact, the only reference toit that I know of is in
Jules Verne's novel The Giant raft.It's a question of taking a key word,
using the letter figures which denote this, and adding these to the letter
figures of the original letter. Thatwill give you a series of numbers which
(27:00):
it is impossible to decipher unless youknow the key word. I feel certain
that this is a variation of thatsystem, for the fact that two letters
appear together so frequently would seem toindicate that the numbers which they represent are
higher than twenty six, the numberof letters in the alphabet. One word,
(27:25):
muttered Barlow. Then, seizing whatwas apparently a memorandum sheet from the
pile of Albert's papers, he exclaimed, here is a list that neither the
chief nor I could make anything of. C It has twelve numbers, which
might be the months of the year, with a name or word behind each
one. Yes, replied Thurber,disconsolately. I saw that the first thing,
(27:55):
but this is October and the wordcorresponding to the number ten is Wilhelmstrasse.
And that doesn't help at all.I tried it. Then try Hohenzallen
the September word, snapped Barlow.This message was presumably written in Berlin and
therefore took some time to get overhere by George. That's so a variation
(28:22):
of the clock code as well asVerne's idea. Here, read off the
letters and I'll put them on theboard with the figures representing Hohenzallen underneath.
Take the first fifteen as before.When they had finished the blackboard bore the
following, the first line being theoriginal code letters, the second the letter
(28:47):
figures of these, and the thirdthe figures of the word Hohenzallen, with
the first H repeated for the fifteenthletter I I I t f b b
tt x o r q w sb b I ii t f b b
(29:14):
t t x o r q ws b b nine thirty five, twenty
six, twenty eight, forty six, twenty four, fifteen, eighteen,
seventeen, twenty three, nineteen twentyeight, eight, fifteen, eight five,
(29:41):
fourteen, twenty six, fifteen twelve, twelve five, eighteen fourteen eight
y thirty five for that double I, and twenty eight for the double B's
asked Borrow, add twenty six thetotal number of letters in the alphabet to
(30:04):
get the letter figure for the letteritself, said Thurber. That's the one
beauty of this code. One ofthe things which helps to throw you off
the scent. Now subtracting the twolines, we have one twenty twelve,
one, fourteen, twenty nine,three, six twelve, five, five
(30:30):
twenty. We've got it, hecried an instant later, as he stepped
back to look at the figures andread off Atlantic Fleet. It was a
double code, after all, Thurberstated, when he had deciphered the entire
message by the same procedure and hadreported his discovery to the Secretary of the
(30:55):
Navy over the phone. Practically infallibletoo, save for the fact that I,
as well as doctor Albert, happenedto be familiar with Jules Verne.
That plus the doctor's inability to relyon his memory and therefore leaving his key
words in his briefcase, rendered thewhole thing pretty easy. Yes, thought
(31:21):
Jean. Plus my suggestion of theSeptember word rather than the October one,
and plus Paula's quick wit, That'sreally all there was to it. But
he kept his thoughts to himself,preferring to allow Thurber to reap all the
rewards that were coming to him forthe solution of the double code. Do
(31:44):
you know what the whole message was? I inquired, as Quinn stopped his
narrative. You'll find it pasted onthe back of that copy of the Giant
Raft, replied the former operative.That's why I claim that the book ought
to be preserved as a souvenir ofan incident that saved millions of dollars and
(32:06):
hundreds of lives. Turning to theback of the Verne book, I saw
pasted there the following significant lines.Atlantic Fleet sails from Hampton Roads at six
o'clock morning of seventeenth eight U boatswill be waiting, advise necessary parties,
(32:30):
and be ready to seek safety.Success of attack inevitable. That means that
if Thurber hadn't been able to decipherthat code, the greater part of our
fleet would have been sunk by anunexpected submarine attack launched by a nation with
whom we weren't even at war,I demanded even when I had finished the
(32:53):
message precisely agreed Quinn. But ifyou'll look up the right you'll find that
the fleet did not sail on schedule. While doctor Heinrich Albert and the entire
staff from the house on Massachusetts Avenuewere deported before many more weeks had passed,
(33:14):
there was no sense in raising afuss about the incident at the time,
for von Bernsdorff would have denied anyknowledge of the message and probably would
have charged that the whole thing wasa plant designed to embroil the United States
in the war. So it wasallowed to rest for the time being,
(33:34):
and merely jotted down as another scoreto be wiped off the slate later on.
But you have to admit that aknowledge of Jules Verne came in very
handy, quite as much so,in fact, as did a knowledge of
the habits and disposition of white mice. In another case, which one was
(33:57):
that Quinn merely pointed to the topof his bookcase, where there reposed a
stuffed white mouse, apparently asleep.That's a memento of the case, replied
the former operative. I'll tell youof it the next time you drop in.
(34:17):
End of chapter twelve,
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