The hyphens and dashes are there to conceal the name. For example, in mocking the Prime Minster of England before the American War for Independence, printers and authors would write "L— B—" for Lord Bute. This was a form of self-censorship to protect authors from libel and slander cases, while still allowing the printed satires or propaganda. For the most part, people reading the newspapers and prints would know who the person remaining unnamed is based on the content of the document, and the political context they were writing in.

For your specific examples, I would need to see the whole document to have a guess at who they were talking about. I would recommend trying to think of who would be under discussion in the texts you are reading, or powerful players who might be going unnamed.