Lack of punctuation in the cablegram •• failure to mention the word "dollars" except toward the end of message, and the belief of the
recipient that the sender's method of writing 10,000 was 10 1000
caused the error in reading the cablegram which was as follows:
"referring conference 26/4 Ordnance Department Commander Bostroem
Stop 40 mm pilot gun and ammunition can be sent about 15/6 costs
of freight to be paid by Bofors stop FOB price New York City 500
rounds of high explosive tracer shells 10 1000 tracer drill shells
8 1000 drill shells 6 100 armour piercing tracer shells 12 100
ditto uncharged 12 dollars a piece stop please cable confirmation."
Consequently, the quantities of shell were read, respectively, as
500, 10,000, 8,000, 600, and 1,200, or a total of 20,300 shell at
a common cost of twelve dollars each,