Boyce-Sneed Feud
In 1911, a Texas woman, Lena Snyder Sneed, told her husband, John Beal Sneed, she planned to leave him for another man, Al Boyce Jr. After hearing his wife’s confession, Beal Sneed had her committed to a sanitarium. With the Boyce’s help, Lena soon escaped the institution and the pair fled to Canada, where they were arrested. Lena eventually was sent back to her husband, while Boyce’s father, Albert Sr., a former manager of the massive XIT Ranch, helped to get the kidnapping charges against his son dropped. In January 1912, Beal Sneed shot and killed Boyce’s father in a Ft. Worth hotel lobby. The high-profile court case ended in a mistrial after the jury was deadlocked in favor of acquittal. That March, Beal Sneed’s father was gunned down, and Beal Sneed believed the killer was linked to the Boyces. In September, Beal Sneed fatally shot Al Boyce Jr. outside a church in Amarillo. Sneed went on to be acquitted in the slayings of both Boyces. (Asked by the press why Beal Sneed was acquitted of killing Albert Jr., a juror said, “because this is Texas” where a man is allowed to “safeguard the honor of his home.”) In 1922, Beal Sneed was sentenced to two years in prison for bribing a juror in a lawsuit. When he got out, he shot a man who had killed his son-in-law. Beal Sneed’s victim survived, and later tried to murder Beal Sneed (who went on to be acquitted of shooting the man). Beal Sneed and Lena remained married, and in the Lone Star State, until his death in 1960.
I'm thinking this ol' boy must have had some strong influence down the line, ya know ?
Coffee out on the patio. Still wet from the morning rain, but we don't mind...right ?
