Clara Sneed

This week on Hey Amarillo, I talk with author Clara Sneed about a wild chapter of Amarillo history that sounds almost too dramatic to be true. Clara wrote a book about a bitter feud between two Amarillo families in the early 1900s. What began with relationships and eventually spiraled into affairs, accusations, violence, and murder. Along the way, the story touches on questions of justice, the role of women at the time, and how a rapidly growing Panhandle town handled conflict when emotions — and reputations — were on the line. What makes the story even more compelling is that Clara isn't just a historian of the feud. She's actually related to one of the families involved, which adds another layer to how she discovered and told the story. It's a fascinating look at a dramatic piece of Amarillo's past — full of scandal, mystery, and the kind of family conflict that shaped local history.