Ripsaw (sometimes called Rip-Saw, RipSaw or The Duluth Rip-Saw) was a Duluth, Minnesota newspaper published from 1917 to 1926 and again from 1999 to 2005. The paper was a scandal sheet during the first years of publication, with a reputation for muckraking, sensationalism and criminal libel. The revival was similar in tone, though the publishers changed.
The Great Family Journal
The original Duluth Ripsaw was founded by John L. Morrison, a puritanical Christian who abhorred alcohol, gambling and prostitution. The paper debuted on March 24, 1917. Issues were published every other Saturday, with copies sold at newsstands for five cents. The newspaper's offices were originally in downtown Duluth's Fargusson Building, and later moved to the Phoenix Building.
Morrison produced the Ripsaw almost entirely by himself. Three known helpers were stenographer Alice B. Bartlett, a cartoonist who signed his work "Webster," and Isadore Cohen, a pre-teenaged newsboy who hawked papers in front of the old St. Louis County State Bank. Other writers were also periodically featured, but the vast majority of the work was always done by Morrison, who called himself the "head sawyer" of the "Great Family Journal."
The Ripsaw began shortly after St. Louis County outlawed the sale of alcohol. When Superior, Wisconsin, followed a few months later with its own voter-instituted prohibition, the Twin Ports were nominally dry, but alcohol was available at bootleg outlets and in townships nearby. Local politicians and police did little to enforce the prohibition, and Morrison ridiculed them for it in the Ripsaw. He also editorialized in favor of streetcars, public toilets and higher pay for policemen.
During the Ripsaw's first year, Duluth Chief of Police Robert McKercher and City Auditor "King" Odin Halden were both ousted from their positions after being labeled crooked in the Ripsaw.
Microfilm copies of the Ripsaw are located in the Duluth Public Library and in the Library of the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, for researchers interested in reading specific articles from the paper.
Morrison's demise
The Ripsaws decline began with the October 25, 1924 issue. Morrison accused State Senator Mike Boylan of threatening him with mayhem and death, Cass County Probate Judge Bert Jamison of having acquired syphilis at a brothel and Victor L. Power, a former mayor of Hibbing, of corrupt legal practices and a weakness for women and whiskey. All three retaliated.
Morrison was arrested by a sheriff from Walker, Minnesota (the county seat of Cass County) on charges of criminal libel brought by Jamison. Morrison was sentenced to 90 days in the Cass County jail, but raised bail and returned to Duluth pending appeal.
While Morrison was held in Cass County, Power instigated criminal and civil libel actions, claiming the October 25 Ripsaw article was written for the sole purpose of injuring him politically. The Duluth police held a warrant for Morrison's arrest pending his release from the Cass County jail. A jury in Hibbing, Minnesota, found him guilty, and he was sentenced to 90 days in the county workhouse. He immediately appealed. Later, Morrison was ordered to make a public apology to Power. The charges against him were dropped and his sentence rescinded. Later that month, Morrison pleaded guilty to the charges of criminal libel brought by Jamison.
The most powerful blow to the "Great Family Journal" came in the summer of 1925. Senator Boylan, who, according to the Oct. 25, 1924 Ripsaw, had threatened to kill Morrison, was trying to have the paper shut down. He worked with Rep. George Lommen to draft several bills allowing suppression of scandalous newspapers. Sen. Freyling Stevens, a powerful lawyer, introduced the senate version of what would become known as the "Minnesota gag law," for which he is credited with authorship.
The Public Nuisance Bill of 1925 was approved by the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives. It allowed a single judge, without jury, to stop a newspaper or magazine from publishing, forever.
Governor Theodore Christianson signed the Public Nuisance Law, but Morrison was unaware of this change. On April 6, 1926, the Ripsaw attacked Minneapolis Mayor George Emerson Leach: "Minnesotans do not want loose-love governor." In the next issue, Duluth Commissioner of Public Utilities W. Harlow Tischer was the target: "Tischer and his gang fail to establish graft plan."