Vengeance Is Mine: The Scandalous Love Triangle That Triggered the Boyce-Sneed Feud

Appendix Two

267 A P P E N D I X T W O Timeline 1839 “Parson” Joseph Perkins Sneed, Tennessee circuit-riding Methodist preacher, migrates to Texas and settles in Central Texas area north of Austin. 1839 Tennessee native James Boyce migrates to Texas and settles in the same Central Texas area. May 8, 1842 Albert Gallatin Boyce, son of James Boyce, is born near Austin. 1854 Dudley H. Snyder, Mississippi native, migrates to Texas at the age of twenty-one and settles a short distance north of Austin. 1856 John Wesley Snyder, younger brother of Dudley H. Snyder, migrates to Texas, soon followed by a third Snyder brother, Thomas Shelton Snyder. All settle in the same Central Texas area. July 24, 1875 Al Boyce, Jr., son of Colonel Albert G. Boyce and wife, Annie Boyce, is born. Dec. 30, 1877 John Beal Sneed, son of Joseph Tyre Sneed and wife, Lillian Beal Sneed, and grandson of Joseph Perkins Sneed, the Methodist parson, is born. Aug. 15, 1879 Lenora (Lena) Snyder, daughter of Thomas Shelton Snyder, is born. Mid-1880s Famous three-million-acre XIT Ranch carved out of Texas Panhandle is granted by the State of Texas to a Chicago consortium named the “Capitol Syndicate” in consideration for construction of a capitol building in Austin. 1885 Colonel Albert G. Boyce drives a herd of D. H. and J. W. Snyder ’s cattle to the XIT Ranch and is hired as an XIT cowboy. 268 V E N G E A N C E I S M I N E 1887 Colonel Boyce is promoted to general manager of the XIT Ranch. 1887 Joseph Tyre Sneed, son of Parson Joseph Perkins Sneed, and father of John Beal Sneed and J. T. Sneed, Jr., buys a large block of land in Cottle County, Texas, some 130 miles southeast of Amarillo and approximately eleven miles south of Paducah, Texas. 1890s Al Boyce, Jr., John Beal Sneed, and Lena Snyder, childhood friends, attend college at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, a short distance north of Austin. Oct. 17, 1900 John Beal Sneed marries Lenora (Lena) Snyder, daughter of Thomas Shelton Snyder. 1904 John Beal Sneed and wife, Lena Snyder Sneed, move to Amarillo. 1905 Colonel Boyce retires as manager of XIT Ranch; he and his family move to Amarillo. Fall 1910 Al Boyce, son of Albert Boyce, liquidates his cattle herd in far West Texas and moves to the family home in Amarillo. 1911 May Al Boyce and Lena Sneed begin an affair. July 22 Mrs. Annie Boyce, Colonel Boyce’s wife and mother of Al Boyce, has conversation with Lena Sneed about the affair. Oct. 13 Lena confronts her husband, John Beal Sneed, and demands a divorce so she can marry Al Boyce, Jr. Oct. 17 John Beal Sneed takes Lena to Fort Worth and has her committed to a mental institution–the Arlington Heights Sanitarium Oct. 28 Lena writes Al a letter: “Take me away!” Nov. 2 Al receives Lena’s letter and heads for Fort Worth. Nov. 8 Al and Lena elope, fleeing to Winnipeg, Canada. Nov. 9 Sneed hires Burns Detective Agency to find Lena and Al. Nov. 11 Sneed files criminal charges in Fort Worth state court charging Al with abducting Lena. Appendix Two 269 Nov. 27 Sneed buys a .32-caliber pistol in Fort Worth under name of “John Smith.” Dec. 26 Al and Lena are discovered in Winnipeg and arrested by Canadian authorities for entering Canada under false names. Dec. 27 Sneed leaves for Winnipeg. Dec. 30 At Sneed’s behest, the Fort Worth grand jury returns indictments against Al Boyce for abduction, kidnapping, and rape. 1912 Jan. 1 Sneed arrives in Winnipeg. Jan. 2 Canadian authorities at Sneed’s behest deport Lena but refuse to deport Al. Jan. 13 Sneed takes Lena back to Fort Worth sanitarium and again has her committed. Jan. 13 Colonel Boyce succeeds in getting Fort Worth authorities to dismiss the state indictments against his son Al. Jan. 13 Later the same day, Sneed kills Colonel Boyce in lobby of Metropolitan Hotel in Fort Worth in presence of Colonel Boyce’s friend Ed Throckmorton. Jan. 16 At Sneed’s behest, U.S. Attorney Will Atwell has federal grand jury impaneled to consider a federal white slavery indictment against Al. Lena summoned to testify. Jan. 17 Sneed indicted for the murder of Colonel Boyce, with trial set for Jan. 29, 1912...