Charles W Button stated that his sub editor, John William Sherman, wrote the Beale Papers, Adeline Ward McVeigh, said her father, J B Ward wrote it.
It has been established that both Ward and Sherman had access to a variety of books, J B Risque's library , Ward's father's WARD & DIGGES bookstore, and Sherman, a member of Giles Ward Lynchburg thespian group, for which he wrote plays, so both men were literate and had the means and opportunity for research to create an adventure/ treasure dime novel, like Poe's GOLD BUG.
Combining Lewis & Clark with E F Beale's 1850 "BEALE PAPERS, and mixing in extended family events, including the name Beale from Ward's grandfathers duel, they consulted Dr William Blair's "Writing in Cipher" from a book that was sold at W&D's bookstore. Trying not to confuse future pamphlet buyers with E F Beale, they borrowed the name of a Richmond Jackson Ward Alderman for their Beale, adding the "J" to the Thomas Beale of the Risqué duel, and based their Beale description on the residents of that section of Richmond.
No secret hidden story behind the Beale Papers, just a 50 cent dime novel with ciphers added as a parlor entertainment that sold NLY in the Lynchburg area.