A connection most of the victims had

[Grim]

With the cannonical victims at least most of them were described as heavy drinkers or alcoholics. In my opinion I would say that JTR had first seen each one in a pub and that is most likely where he decided that they would be his next victim.

Your thoughts?

[Sam Flynn]

There were loads of alcoholics in that part of town, Grim, and chances are that anyone wandering the streets after midnight was there because they'd blown their money on gin or beer, and couldn't find a bed for the night. There is almost as much significance in the suggested link that the victims were heavy drinkers as there was in the fact that they breathed oxygen.

In addition, it's highly unlikely that Jack would have spotted these women anywhere (pub, boarding-house, whatever) and selected them in advance. He'd have had to have waited for an inordinate amount of time, and been in the right place, for a specific person to have come his way.

Chances are - overwhelmingly - that Jack's victims were randomly selected, rather than stalked.

[jodi]

Is there any evidence anywhere that would connect these victims any other way: friends amoungst each other...etc?

Thanks for the input--

Jodi

[Sam Flynn]

Is there any evidence anywhere that would connect these victims any other way: friends amoungst each other...etc?
No firm evidence whatsoever, Jodi. There's some belief that Mary Kelly might have vaguely known Annie Chapman, but it has no strong evidence to back it up. At least Chapman and Kelly lived along the same street (which is more than can be said of all five victims as a totality), but then again that street was amongst the most densely-populated in what was already a densely-populated part of East London. To give you some idea, the image below is of Dorset Street today, and the pink dots represent the roughly 800 dossers who lived there in 1888:

http://www.btinternet.com/~gareth.h.williams/images/825.jpg

In fact, there are precisely 825 "people" taking part in the imaginary fire-drill above, and many of the neighbouring streets weren't too far off that level of overcrowding either. I wouldn't be too confident that any two specific named individuals would definitely have known each other when one considers how staggeringly high the population density truly was.

[karensa]

Apparently the first 4 all had really bad teeth. Not sure why that stuck with me :D

[The Grave Maurice]

I'm not sure that's true. Certainly the first four all had missing teeth which, given their age and the conditions in which they lived, would not be unexpected; but, Bagster Phillips specifically commented on the fine state of Chapman's teeth.

[lynn cates]

Hello. I don't think anything linked them together. At least, the coroner's reports indicated no sign of recent connection. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

The best.
LC