Sarah Wise
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The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London
Sarah Wise
Before his murder in 1831, the Italian Boy was one of thousands of orphans on the streets of London, moving among the livestock, hawkers, and con men, begging for pennies. Once dead, his value increased: As a highly prized “Fresh Subject” bound for the anatomist’s or surgeon’s table, he was sold to a medical college by the men who killed him. Their high-profile arrest and trial would unveil London’s furtive trade in human corpses, carried out by body-snatchers—or “resurrection men”—who robbed graves and even murdered to supply the lucrative market for cadavers.…
