Connections or random?

[DJA]

Two inpatients together with Rheumatic Fever in 1867/68 closely match Nichols and Eddowes/Conway.
Strep pyogenes also attacks the kidneys and resides in the intestines.
Before Kate left to go hopping both lived next door.
When she returned,Eddowes headed for Shoe Lane.
Surmise Tom was referring to 35 Dorset Street.

[Sam Flynn]

Hi Sam. You don't think Polly Nichols knew Frances Coles? They lived in the same house together. And Polly lived in the same house as Annie Chapman prior to her death.

Hello Tom

That doesn't necessarily mean that their paths would have crossed particularly often, assuming their tenure in those houses overlapped to any appreciable extent.

[Batman]

how many were active cops at the time of their serial killing?

Quite a few of them. There are lots more also.

[Abby Normal]

What about this. http://listverse.com/2016/01/02/10-serial-killer-cops/

how many were active cops at the time of their serial killing?

[Batman]

I don't think any active serial killer in history was an active cop at the same time, so doubt it.

What about this. http://listverse.com/2016/01/02/10-serial-killer-cops/

[Abby Normal]

This is along the lines of what I am talking about What are chances of these people being connected up by sheer random chance alone of just staying in similar places over time? I think its quite high. That to draw a social connection would require more, like showing acquaintances somehow other than staying in the same doss-house. Which as per your book you have done some of.

By the way, what is the chance that JtR was a PC who was given plain clothes duty and used that as cover to commit the rest of the crimes?

I don't think any active serial killer in history was an active cop at the same time, so doubt it.

[Batman]

Hi Sam. You don't think Polly Nichols knew Frances Coles? They lived in the same house together. And Polly lived in the same house as Annie Chapman prior to her death. It was Polly's friends and housemates who first gave rise to 'Leather Apron', so whoever that poor schmuck really was, Polly would have known him by sight. As for Stride, she'd lived for years on the same street as Catherine Eddowes, which doesn't make them friends, but means they must have passed each other on the streets, working the streets, shopping, drinking in pubs, going to the showers, etc. And they both may have earned money cleaning in the Rothschild buildings.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

This is along the lines of what I am talking about What are chances of these people being connected up by sheer random chance alone of just staying in similar places over time? I think its quite high. That to draw a social connection would require more, like showing acquaintances somehow other than staying in the same doss-house. Which as per your book you have done some of.

By the way, what is the chance that JtR was a PC who was given plain clothes duty and used that as cover to commit the rest of the crimes?

[Tom_Wescott]

It included both, I believe, Pat. Strictly speaking, I may have been incorrect to locate Stride's former stomping-ground in Tiger Bay proper; she (and Michael Kidney) used to live a little further north, albeit still in the St George area, only a short distance from where she was eventually killed, in fact.

You weren't too far off, though. Stride was in Tiger Bay in the days before her death. Also in Hanbury Street.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Tom_Wescott]

Quite possibly, but maybe not in the case of Polly Nichols, had only been resident in Whitechapel (never mind Spitalfields) for a very short time before she was killed. Possibly not Mary Kelly, either, who - on her account, admittedly - seems only to have been in London for a handful of years, with most of those spent "out West" or down Ratcliffe way. Liz Stride had been around the area somewhat longer, but even she had spent a large chunk of her London life in Poplar and the "Tiger Bay" area/St George in the East. Indeed, this might go some way to explaining why there were occasional delays and/or confusion in identifying some of the victims. Perhaps they simply weren't well-enough known by their neighbours.

Hi Sam. You don't think Polly Nichols knew Frances Coles? They lived in the same house together. And Polly lived in the same house as Annie Chapman prior to her death. It was Polly's friends and housemates who first gave rise to 'Leather Apron', so whoever that poor schmuck really was, Polly would have known him by sight. As for Stride, she'd lived for years on the same street as Catherine Eddowes, which doesn't make them friends, but means they must have passed each other on the streets, working the streets, shopping, drinking in pubs, going to the showers, etc. And they both may have earned money cleaning in the Rothschild buildings.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Sam Flynn]

Sam,
Did the Tiger Bay Area of St George in the East include Breezers Hill or Pennington Street?

It included both, I believe, Pat. Strictly speaking, I may have been incorrect to locate Stride's former stomping-ground in Tiger Bay proper; she (and Michael Kidney) used to live a little further north, albeit still in the St George area, only a short distance from where she was eventually killed, in fact.

[Paddy]

Tiger Bay area

Sam,
Did the Tiger Bay Area of St George in the East include Breezers Hill or Pennington Street?
Pat......

[Sam Flynn]

I expect some may have known each other by sight.

Quite possibly, but maybe not in the case of Polly Nichols, had only been resident in Whitechapel (never mind Spitalfields) for a very short time before she was killed. Possibly not Mary Kelly, either, who - on her account, admittedly - seems only to have been in London for a handful of years, with most of those spent "out West" or down Ratcliffe way. Liz Stride had been around the area somewhat longer, but even she had spent a large chunk of her London life in Poplar and the "Tiger Bay" area/St George in the East. Indeed, this might go some way to explaining why there were occasional delays and/or confusion in identifying some of the victims. Perhaps they simply weren't well-enough known by their neighbours.

Reminds me of when I lived in South London and found a wallet on the pavement outside my digs. I showed a photograph in the wallet to my landlady, who responded "Well, the face sort-of rings a bell, but I don't know him". Turned out it was her neighbour from only three or four doors away. London has long had a reputation for anonymity, at least for some of its residents.

[GUT]

I expect some may have known each other by sight.

[Sam Flynn]

I think we need to take into account the sheer number of people, which was huge - there were in excess of 800 people crammed into Dorset Street alone, for example. Also, the personal histories of the victims suggests that only one or two (depending on how big your "canon" might be) had been resident in Spitalfields itself for any appreciable length of time.

These are just two of the factors that might give us pause when considering the connectedness of the victims and/or the recognisability of the killer. There may be others.

[John Wheat]

Hi Batman

I agree largely with what you are saying. You're right that the victims are likely to have known each other because of the nature of how the poor lived at the time in London. However they may have all known Jack but trusted him. And Jack is likely to have appeared to have been some average Joe type rather than the overt lunatic criminal mastermind people at the time believed he was.

Cheers John