#182 - The Quiet American (The Strand, London)
Murder Mile UK True Crime
Murder Mile UK True-Crime Podcast
0.0 • 0 Ratings
🗓️ 25 August 2022
⏱️ 66 minutes
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Summary
In the summer of 1958, the occupant of Room 622 in the Strand Palace Hotel was Bernard Smith; a kind and decent man who was quiet and respectable. Running a successful furniture business in New York, he doted on his two sisters, his niece and he would do anything for them, and likewise for him.
With his health declining, having discussed his retirement with his sisters, Bernard had sold up, left America and moved to the UK to be nearer his family – it is what families do, they support one another.
At 12:15pm on Tuesday 3rd June 1958, Lila Gilman (Bernard’s sister) was in Room 622 helping him with a simple task. Last seen entering his room, moments later, he would brutally beat his sister to death.
- Date: Tuesday 3rd June 1958 at roughly 12:15pm
- Location: Room 622, The Strand Palace Hotel, The Strand, London, UK, WC2
- Victims: 1 (Lila Gilman, nee Bernstein)
- Culprits: 1 (Bernard Smith, formerly Bernstein)
- Keywords: dementia, sibling, strangulation,
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Murder Mile. |
| 0:12.0 | Today, I'm standing on the Strand, WC2, |
| 0:20.0 | 3 streets southeast of the Bedfordbury Baby Batterer, |
| 0:24.6 | 5 buildings right of the last play Emmy Wernessor, directly opposite the strangled baby at the coal hole tavern, |
| 0:33.6 | and a short walk from the Strand Medical School scandal. |
| 0:40.3 | Coming soon to murder mile. |
| 0:45.3 | Opened in 1909, the Strand Palace was one of several grand hotels built by J-Lyons and Co., owners of the Corner House tea rooms. |
| 0:58.6 | Covering one square block and standing seven stories high, |
| 1:03.2 | by the 1950s, its 600 rooms had been greatly modernized |
| 1:07.8 | to include private bathrooms, central heating and radios. |
| 1:15.2 | Like many others, Room 622 had seen its fair share of action. |
| 1:21.5 | Weather by Randy reprobates making the walls shake like an earthquake lasting a whole |
| 1:26.4 | six seconds. |
| 1:35.3 | Dodgy drunks, replacing the overpriced minibar shots with cheapy shite from a nearby spa. |
| 1:43.3 | Bored businessman falsely claiming that they fell asleep on the TV remote and accidentally switched it to eight hours of hot chicks with dicks |
| 1:47.7 | and many possessed wives who held a pillow over their spouse's face |
| 1:53.9 | and pondered stopping the snoring forever. |
| 2:01.4 | But unlike the others at the Strand Palace Hotel, room 622 had also been a witness to a murder. |
| 2:13.7 | In the summer of 1958, the occupant of room 622 was 68-year-old American, Bernard Smith, |
| 2:22.3 | a kind and decent man who was quiet and respectable. |
| 2:28.3 | With his health declining, having discussed his retirement with his sisters, Bernard had sold |
| 2:36.1 | up, left America, and moved to the UK to be nearer his family. |
... |
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