r A RK AND C EM ET ER Y. 
68 
MEMORIAL FREAKS AND SCULPTURED FEATS 
ANCIENT STONE WITH CRYPTOGRAM 
RECENTLY SOLVED. 
A Cipher Inscription Solved 
For more than a hundred years a 
mysterious cryptograph inscription on 
a stone in the old Trinity church cem- 
etery in New York City, remain an un- 
solved puzzle. An ingenious student of 
cryptograms has recently solved the 
cipher by the method described in Ed- 
gar Allan Poe’s story “The Gold Bug.” 
Above the inscription proper are some 
masonic emblems and this line of 
strange characters, curved around the 
top of the stone. 
n0Laii.LiEin3ajjn 
As E is the letter which most fre- 
quently occurs in the English language 
it was fairly certain that the second, 
fourth, seventh and tenth characters oc- 
curring in the cryptogram represented 
the letter E. Since all of the characters 
were variations of the square which 
represents E, it followed that if the 
square could be split up into proper 
combinations the necessary and cor- 
rect letters would be obtained. With 
this idea in mind, the cipher character 
for E was placed in a square and the 
natural variations built up around it. 
This formed every variation possible. 
It was at once apparent that the cen- 
tre square, which represented E, was 
the fifth combination, so what more 
natural than to place the other letters 
in the other combinations (or varia- 
tions). You have now the letters A to 
I, inclusive. 
Taking from the cryptographic in- 
scription what letters seem already 
pretty certain, we have : 
“_E— E— B E— D EA— H .” 
The association of the tombstone 
with the cipher at once made the word 
“Death” apparent out of “Dea — h.” 
That left but four letters to be found. 
A glance at the cryptogram showed 
that of the four characters, two were 
identical, as also were the other two. 
Only two letters now had to be found. 
As some of the characters contain 
one dot in the' centre, others two dots 
and one (that character which repre- 
sents T), no dot, it seemed plausible 
that several sets of combinations of 
squares had been employed thus : 
'I 
ft 
B 
C K 
L. 
M r\ u 
v 
p 
B 
A A/ 
a 
p w 
X 
r 
H 
' . 
K 
■s z 
This the amateur cryptographer 
QUAINT REVOLUTIONARY STONE. 
North Clarendon, Vt. 
tried, omitting the J because at the 
time the tombstone was cut the letter 
I was used in its place. 
The first combination he observed 
employed the single dot in the centre 
and the third combination no dot. Ob- 
viously it was the second combination 
in which two dots were used. He tried 
it and found it correct, for it gave him 
the complete sentence 
“Remember Death.” 
The tombstone faces Broadway, and 
stands just a little south of the great 
brownstone monument erected to the 
memory of the patriots who died in 
prison in New York during the Revo- 
lutionary War. It originally stood 
four feet above the ground, but has 
sunk so that only a little more than 
two feet of it now shows. 
Why that grim warning should 
have been placed in cipher on Mr. 
Leeson’s tombstone is far more of a 
problem than the cryptogram itself. 
Quaint Revolutionary Monument 
In North Clarendon, 'Vt., on what 
was once called the Strong Farm, is 
a grave marked with an ancient head- 
stone which bears this quaint little 
statue of Col. Joseph Waite, a Revolu- 
tionary hero. On the little pedestal on 
which the Colonel stands is this senti- 
ment appropriate to his attitude with 
upraised sword: 
“Our common country 
“Claims Our Aid; 
“Living or dying 
“I will defend her.” 
There is also cut on the stone a brief 
history of the veteran of the Indian 
and revolutionary wars and hero of 
Ticonderoga. 
Sculptured Trophy for Flying Machines 
A “tour de force” in sculptural bal- 
ance and grouping is this representa- 
tion of a flying machine in action 
which was awarded the first prize in 
the sculptural competition for the 
Michelin trophy for flying machines re- 
cently held in France. The work is 
called “Triumph of Aviation,” and was 
modeled by Roussel. The Michelin 
Cup, under the rules of the Aero club 
de France, belongs now to Wilbur 
Wright, and his record of the 24th of 
last September will probably not be 
broken before December 31st; on 
those conditions Wilbur Wright and 
the American Aero Club would receive 
the first replica of the trophy. 
FRENCH SCULPTOR’S AIR SHIP 
TROPHY FOR WILBUR WRIGHT. 
