Much has been written about the dangers of carbon monoxide gas and its quick killing power, but the town of Reeder found out that it can't be trusted to kill a skunk. A young trapper located a den of skunks and decided to take no chances, but to kill them mercifully without the danger to himself of first being overpowered by the animals' own unique method of defense. He backed his car over the den and ran the fumes from his exhaust pipe into the skunks' abode. When everything was quiet, he dug out nine skunks and started for town to collect on the skins. They were sold to a local dealer and dumped out of the sack. The sorrowful note to the story is that three of the animals were still very much alive and disported themselves about the room until their careers were ended in a hand-to-tail battle. A northwest wind bore the story of the battle over the town, making the postoffice and the cream station untenable for the rest of the day.

Ralph Bachman, "Prairie Paragraphs", The Billings County Pioneer, 12/19/1940