Ok I have always been a fan of The Old Bailey website where you can view trials from 1674 - 1913 and its a great way to look at the Darker History of London. I watched a programme on TV the other day about Body snatchers in London and they briefly mentioned a case from 1830 of some people killing a 14 year old Italian Boy and trying to sell him to some surgeons but they noticed he didn't die from natural causes and reported it to the police, now I was very interested in this so I searched it on The Old Bailey website and fiund it, its abit long as they have questions and answers form witnesses etc but it is really fascinating and a must read for anyone interested two quotes from it I particularly liked....
I should say it had not been dead more than thirty-six hours; the face appeared swollen, the eyes full, prominent, and blood-shot, the tongue swollen and protruding between the lips - the teeth had been extracted; the gums were bruised and lacerated, portions of the jaw broken out with the teeth, and at that time there was appearance of blood having issued from the gums - I should think the teeth had been taken from the gums at most within two or three hours after death
wow bet that wasn't a pretty site
I ascribe the death to a blow on the back of the neck - that observation is verified by experiments I have made on animals, and in every case there was precisely the same appearances.
What he tried hitting animals on the back of the neck to see if it caused instant death, this made me lol


Full Read Here...
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/brows...1-17#highlight

Thanx
Raradir