The mystery behind the shooting yesterday of Major Theodore Sharp, superintendent of the Flathead Indian Reservation by N. J. Perkins, sub-agent remains unsolved. Major Sharp was shot yesterday in Ravalli and lived for one hour.

That there was something behind the killing other than the quarrel which immediately preceeded the shooting is the belief of officials of the sheriff’s office. Perkins, who surrendered shortly after the shooting, refused absolutely last night to say one word about the killing. He denied himself to all callers at the county jail. He seemed unmoved by the slaying.

His wife and two of his daughters, Ida and Blanche, nurses at the Thornton hospital called at the jail last night to see him, but were refused admittance. Mrs. Perkins, likewise, refused to make any comment on the killing of Major Sharp by her husband. The stony silence of Perkins and members of his family served to add to the mystery.

The shooting occurred yesterday morning at 9:25 o’clock in front of the Beckwith Mercantile company’s store at Ravalli. Perkins, accompanied by Samuel Pierre, an Indian officer, went from his home in St. Ignatius to Ravalli where he had an appointment with Major Sharp.

Shortly after Perkins’ arrival at Ravalli, Major Sharp arrived in the town accompanied by C. D. Faunce, government timber man on the reservation. Major Sharp and Perkins went into conference and immediately began quarreling. There has been ill feeling between the two men for some time. Major Sharp having intimated at times that Perkins was not doing all that he could to prevent the sale of whiskey on the reservation.

Openly Made Charges.
During the argument Major sharp is said to have again made charges against Perkins, finally openly charging him with being [in] league with the "whiskey ring" on the reservation, and dismissing him from the service.

When Major Sharp made this accusation, Perkins, who was sitting in a Ford automobile used in the government service, pulled a .38 caliber revolver from his pocket and fired at the superintendent. The cartridge failed to explode and Major Sharp leaped behind a telephone pole. He soon stepped out from behind the pole and Perkins fired again.

This time the shell exploded and Major Sharp fell mortally wounded. The bullet entered the left breast and taking a downward course severed an artery. Major Sharp lived an hour, dying at 10:25.

Pierre, the Indian policemen, who had accompanied Perkins from St. Ignatius, attempted to place the slayer under arrest, but Perkins warned him away with his gun. He then cranked up his automobile and drove to his home in St. Ignatius.

He changed his clothes and then telephoned the sheriff’s office here that he had shot Major Sharp and was coming in to surrender himself. Deputy Sheriff Bob Hughes answered the telephone and told Perkins that the sheriff’s office had been notified of the shooting from Ravalli and that Deputy Sheriff Jack Curtis was then on his way to get him. The slayer then said that he would await Curtis’arrival.

Angevine Goes to Scene.
Deputy County Attorney Fred Angevine was in St. Ignatius at the time of the shooting. Accompanied by Dan Heyfron, well known Missoula attorney, he drove to Ravalli where he learned as much as he could of the shooting. Mr. Angevine attempted to get a statement from Major Sharp, but the superintendent, though conscious, could not talk because of the intense pain he was suffering.

Mr. Angevine made the following statement regarding the shooting:
"Major Sharp was shot at 9:25 and died at 10:25. Perkins, who is a government farmer in the Indian service and also is connected with the Indian police, fired only one shot. He never got out of his car until he got out to crank it after the shooting. He had to crank the car, which is one of the Ford machines owned by the government, because Sharp had disconnected the switch.

"Sharp and Perkins met here by appointment, and, after a discussion of differences between them, Sharp suspended Perkins from the government service until the arrival of some higher official. Sharp said:

"’You might as well leave this car here, too.’ Then her reached over and disconnected the ignition switch. Thereupon Perkins drew his gun and pulled the trigger. The cartridge failed to explode and Sharp leaped behind a telephone pole. Then he stepped back out and Perkins shot him in the upper left breast. The bullet ranged downward, severing an artery, and Sharp bled to death in exactly an hour.

Threatened Indian Officer.
An Indian officer attempted to arrest Perkins, but the latter threatened him with his gun, cranked his car and started to his home in St. Ignatius. Then he telephoned to the sheriff in Missoula to come and get him.

"I went over to his house and stayed there until the arrival of Deputy Jack Curtiss, who made the formal arrest. Curtiss immediately started for Missoula with Perkins and his wife. Perkins refused to tell me anything about the shooting or the developments leading up to it.

"There were three eyewitnesses, Sam Pierre, a man named Faunce and another named Llewellyn."

Major Sharp is survived by a wife and two children, a boy and a girl 12 and 15 years old respectively. Mrs. Sharp is touring Yellowstone park with friends and up to a late hour last night had not been located. The children are with a housekeeper at the agency near Dixon.

Shooting Creates Sensation.
While it was known that there was bad feeling between Perkins and the dead man the news of the shooting created a sensation on the reservation and word of the killing spread like wildfire. Major Sharp was very well liked by the Indians, who held him in high esteem.

Perkins likewise has many friends on the reservation who were shocked when they learned of the man’s act. Perkins came to the reservation a year ago as an agricultural instructor to the Indians. He and Major Sharp began having trouble some time ago when bootleggers became active on the reservation. Major Sharp, it is said, urged Perkins to watch the roads at night in an effort to apprehend the men who were selling whiskey to the Indians. Perkins contended this was not in his line of duty and from then on there was there was ill feeling between the men.

The differences between the two agency officials reached a climax some time ago in Missoula during a hearing of some men from the Bitter Root on charges of being members of the "whiskey ring" operating on the reservation. The hearing was before United States Commissioner Wallace P. Smith and Major Sharp became very angry at Perkins because, he declared, the officer had not given a true version of the arrest of the men.

See Another Motive.
Friends of Perkins, however cannot conceive that he would shoot a man merely after an altercation over whiskey runners. They insist that there is something else back of the killing.

Perkins was well liked at this home in St. Ignatius and was known as a quiet man, but a pleasant citizen who made friends easily. Major Sharp, likewise, was well liked, being a man of quiet disposition. He was known as strict disciplinarian and of late had been waging a bitter war against traffickers in whiskey among the Indians.

Major Sharp came to the reservation in May, 1917 from the Nez Perce reservation in Idaho, where he held a similar position with the government. He had long been in the Indian service and was considered one of the ablest men in reservation work. He was 51 years old and had been in the service for 27 years. Perkins is 45 years old and has a wife and six children. Two of the daughters, Ida and Blanche, are nurses at the Thornton hospital and Homer, the older son, is living at the agency with his wife, as are the three younger children. Perkins came to the Indian agency a year ago from the Crow reservation in eastern Montana, where he was a sub-agent.

Major Sharp was in Missoula Friday and conferred with Alfred Oftendal, prohibition enforcement officer for Montana, concerning the activities of whiskey runners on the reservation. Mr. Oftendal returned to Helena yesterday before the shooting occurred.

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