Infamous Amarillo Feud Focus of Event for WT’s Center for Study of American West

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu

CANYON, Texas — The author of two books about one of the most infamous family feuds in America—which happens to have its roots in Amarillo—will speak at an upcoming event for West Texas A&M University’s Center for the Study of the American West.

Clara Sneed, who is related to one of the area’s most prominent cattle families, will present “Dust to Dust: Raising Ghosts and Writing Novels” at 7 p.m. March 4 in the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall.

Admission is free.

“I think people will be fascinated to learn about the feud that rocked Amarillo but also the whole state of Texas,” said Dr. Alex Hunt, CSAW director, Regents Professor of English and Vincent-Haley Professor of Western Studies. “Sex, violence, and progressive ideas of justifiable homicide—it’s a fascinating story. More than that, Clara Sneed brings a great storyteller’s perspective to questions of how we tell history and write fiction.”

Sneed published “Before We Turn to Dust” in December 2024, a historical fiction novel that recounts the story of the feud between the Boyce and Sneed families, which stemmed from a love triangle between Albert Boyce Jr., Lena Snyder Sneed and Beal Sneed. The latter was Clara Sneed’s great-uncle.

In 1911, Lena Sneed asked her husband for a divorce, hoping to then marry Boyce. Her husband declined and had her confined to a Fort Worth sanitarium, from which Boyce took her and ran off to Canada. Ultimately, Sneed shot Boyce Sr. in Fort Worth and later killed Boyce Jr. in front of Polk Street Methodist Church in downtown Amarillo. Sneed was acquitted for both slayings; the jury foreman in the latter case said that “in Texas a man has the right and obligation to safeguard the honor of his home.”

It’s no wonder why the story still resonates, Clara Sneed said.

“People are always interested in stories of sex and violence, especially crazy ones,” she said.

It’s also useful to understand the present by looking to the past, she said.

“If you understand how, for example, Beal’s lawyers manage to turn him from a point-blank killer into a victim and a hero for the jury and a good portion of the Texas public, you might recognize the same techniques when someone tries them on you now as does happen a fair amount,” she said.

Sneed also published a nonfiction account of the story in “Because This Is Texas” in June, an expanded and updated article that appeared in a 1999 issue of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Review.

Both books were published by Blue Handle Press of Amarillo.

For information, visit wtamu.edu/csaw or call 806-651-5238.

Promoting regional research is a key aim of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign, which is now winding down, has raised more than $175 million.

About West Texas A&M University

A Regional Research University, West Texas A&M University is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor’s and master’s degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 16 men’s and women’s athletics programs.

—WT—