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Problems › 86
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-26 | TEL511 registered as Problem 86 with an independently checked reading |
The Huntington Library's Fort Monroe ledger, mssEC 25, has three separately headed telegrams on page 258. TEL511 is the first. Its faint heading ends “Hd Qrs Nov 1 1864”, it is addressed to Geo D Sheldon at Ft Monroe, and it closes with R OBrien. The initial heading word is preserved as But[tl]ers because that detail is not fully certain in the image.
The complete entry has sixty-three cells, fifty between the address and the closing name. Its body mixes words such as “best”, “Napoleons”, and “united states” with “pagans”, “Sligo”, “opal”, and repeated “perfume”. Unit letters recur, but their surrounding words do not yield a continuous ordinary sentence.
Two image-reading details are retained in the specimen. The source reads Sligo, where the volunteer transcription has sligs. The cell D has a small following mark, represented as D[mark]; it is not silently replaced with Do or an interpretation of that mark. The two other telegrams on the page are separate entries. Can this first message be read while accounting for every cell and leaving uncertain marks visible?
Handwritten ledger entry rendered from the audited transcription; every body word has the same emphasis
But[tl]ers Hd Qrs Nov 1 1864
Geo D Sheldon Ft Monroe
viola for princess martin appian unity best person pagans Sligo
opal of James pedlar Napoleons Pekin pagoda m plunge united
states negro pedlar pagan E perfume united states nuptial pekin
glance Amos perfume inch Zebra pagan D[mark] plug U S
negro pedlar pagoda F person same walrus Lieut paradise Howard
R OBrien
First entry on page 258 only. But[tl]ers and D[mark] retain source uncertainty. The full-page image, not the volunteer transcript alone, controls Sligo and the unit-letter readings.
Wide transcriptions scroll sideways within this box.
| # | Solution | By | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Solution 86-1 All 50 content cells accounted for, with the source qualifications recorded | @offgramercy | ACCEPTED |