Tales from the Morgue: 1959: Physician Kills Lawyer in Long Feud Over Photos

January 29, 1959

A vengeful physician, embittered by repeated reverses in lawsuits, last night shot and killed Attorney Theodore R. Andress, a long-time courtroom antagonist.

The killer, Dr. Harold Eidinoff, 50, was in County Jail today charged with murder with malice.

A year ago he was in a mental institution, evidently suffering from paranoia, an ailment marked by delusions of persecution. Today he mumbled when asked questions about the killing as he apparently made his own plans to beat the electric chair.

Officers said his behavior indicated he is laying groundwork for a plea of insanity.

The shooting ended Eidinoff’s long feud with Andress over nude photos of Eidinoff and his first wife, Sylvia, who also is his present wife.

Eidinoff, roughly dressed, unshaven, and wearing a bullet-proof vest emptied a .38 caliber revolver at Andress in front of the International Airport terminal at 6:12 p.m. Six shots were fired.

The attorney was hit five times – twice in the chest. One bullet severed an artery beneath his collar bone and probably was the cause of death. A bullet struck him over the left eye and another hit his right wrist. He died at 7:24 p.m. at El Paso General Hospital.

Mrs. Andress was a horrified witness of the slaying. She said her husband had just alighted from an American Airlines plane from San Francisco, where Mr. Andress had attended a convention of educators. He was president of the El Paso School Board. He was 54.

Dozens of other persons, travelers and airport personnel and taxi drivers, also witnessed the slaying and heard the shots. At first they thought it was all a stunt – part of the horseplay by members of the Horseless Carriage Club, who were welcoming delegates to the Barbershoppers singing conventions.

Eidinoff apparently had been checking airline schedules and waiting for his victim most of the day. He had checked into the Glenwood motel at 5701 Alameda avenue, presumably having driven here from Grants, N.M., his most recent residence. He registered as “Harold Reed.”

Eidinoff Presumably went to Grants from Austin, where he was a patient, according to reports received by El Paso officials, in the Texas State Hospital. Earlier in 1958 he was in the psychiatric ward of a Houston hospital.

As Mr. and Mrs. Andress waited at a temporary wooden baggage rack outside the terminal, Eidinoff approached the lawyer.

He had on a leather jacket and a cap similar to those worn by truck drivers. Eidinoff said something to Andress which witnesses did not hear, then opened fire at close range.

After the first two shots Andress reeled back, clutching at the baggage rack for support. He said, “No, no, no. Don’t do it!”

Then he fell while Eidinoff continued to fire a t him. After emptying the revolver Eidinoff threw it at the prostrate from of his victim then turned and walked at a fast gait toward the terminal entrance.

Mrs. Andress was screaming: “My God, my God! Stop that man! He shot my husband!”

A Yellow cab limousine driver, W.F. Leffler of Highway 80 East, who was watching the whole scene unbelievingly, saw Andress’ head resting on the baggage rack in a pool of blood. He heard Mrs. Andress scream, then seized Eidinoff as he reached the sidewalk curb. Eidinoff made no serious resistance.

Mr. Leffler held the killer until Police Officer Servando Blanco, who was inside the terminal, come out. Blanco handcuffed Eidinoff, directed the calling of an ambulance and police.

Numerous doctors hurried to El Paso General and made desperate but futile efforts to save Andress’ life. He already had lost too much blood, apparently from the severed clavicle artery.

Eidinoff, taken to Police Headquarters and later to County Jail, was calm but uncommunicative, officers who tried to interview him said.

“He’s clammed up,” one official said. “He seems to be trying not to make a coherent statement.”

“I was nailed to a cross in March of 1954,” Eidinoff told detective Joe Gonzales. “Only one man ever got off the cross. He was Jesus, I’m not.”

This statement apparently referred to a chapter in a prolonged legal battle that involved divorce, libel and legal fee suits. In 1954 Attorney Andress, representing other lawyers in a suit to collect fees, introduced in court a photograph that showed Eidinoff and his first wife in the nude.

The nude photograph, according to a Houston psychiatrist who examined Eidinoff in 1957 had helped unbalance the former El Paso doctor, and activated his paranoia.

Eidinoff contended that the photograph, taken in 1937, was stolen.

Obsessed with hatred for the lawyers who were thwarting him in court, Eidinoff let it be known he would get even. He filed a blizzard of lawsuits, often serving as his own attorney. He consistently lost in court.

Eidinoff was indicted in 1957 for criminal libel. At the same time Attorney Andress filed a $125,000 libel suit against the doctor.

Eidinoff told acquaintances he had lost everything – his practice as a proctologist, a lot of money, friends, and the respect of other physicians. He blamed it all on the chain of circumstances that followed introduction of the nude photographs.

After District Attorney William E. Clayton conferred with City police last night, a murder charge was filed against Eidinoff before Justice of Peace Charles Windberg. No bond was allowed. Judge Windberg also ordered an inquest into Andress’ death.

While being questioned, Eidinoff was informed that Percy Foreman of Houston, noted Texas criminal lawyer, would be in El Paso this week for a meeting of lawyers. Foreman had represented Mrs. Eidinoff in a garnishment suit, filed by Andress, which had tied up $80,000 Eidinoff had withdrawn from an El Paso bank.

City detectives said they found some poison in Eidinoff’s room which he may have used as a medicine. They also found a book whose pages had been hollowed out to form a gun carrying case. Title of the book: “Literature of the United States.” His automobile was found at the airport.

Eidinoff owns considerable property, including a motel. When arrested he had more than $700 in cash and travelers’ checks.

Eidinoff is in a cell block with 20 other jail prisoners. He stood in line this morning to get breakfast, then was photographed, but didn’t say a word, jailers reported.

Comments

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I heard about that case when I was a kid. Part of the legend back then was that Ted Andress had been blackmailing Eidenoff. Are there any follow-up articles that give more background information on this?

Posted by: Rick | September 28, 2010 at 05:31 PM

I remember this case because I worked for the woman who stole the photographs from Dr.Eidenoff.She had a relationship with Dr.Eidenoff and found the photos,which she promptly took to Ted Andress for blackmail.After the shooting she was intolerable to work with because she was deadly afraid Dr. Eidenoff would escape and come after her.She moved to California and I never heard from her again.I don't know if this is true,but years later Dr. Eidenoff was free and living in New York.

Posted by: Michael riley | September 29, 2010 at 07:37 AM