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From: jim@randvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: Re: Any Beale Cipher Fans out there?
Message-ID: <300@markle.randvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 30-Sep-87 12:45:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: markle.300
Posted: Wed Sep 30 12:45:09 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Oct-87 05:32:29 EDT
References: <785@phoenix.PRINCETON.EDU>
Reply-To: jim@markle.UUCP (Jim Gillogly)
Organization: Banzai Institute
Lines: 20

In article <785@phoenix.PRINCETON.EDU> amlovell@phoenix.PRINCETON.EDU (Anthony M Lovell) writes:
>I'm interested in finding if there are any people in Netland who have
>done anything at all with the Beale Ciphers.  Send me some mail, I'm
>interested in hearing about approaches taken by other people.

I wrote a paper a few years ago for Cryptologia, in which I found that
if B1 is "decrypted" with the Declaration of Independence (the key to
B2), the result is largely garbage, but with a couple of alphabetically
increasing strings.  One is quite long; I don't remember the exact string,
but it is of the form ABFDEFGGHIJKLLMMNO or something of that sort.  Way
too long to be accidental.  I presented it as something a would-be
decryptor of B1 must take into account in any alleged decryption, since
it can't arise by chance.  I personally feel that it's a pretty good
demonstration that the Beale Ciphers are a hoax.

Needless to say, Dr. Hammer and the Beale Cypher Association don't agree.
-- 
	Jim Gillogly
	{hplabs, ihnp4}!sdcrdcf!randvax!jim
	jim@rand-unix.arpa