Ripsaw
Encyclopedia
Ripsaw was a Duluth
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 newspaper published from 1917 to 1926 and again from 1999 to 2005. In its original incarnation, the paper was a scandal sheet
Scandal Sheet
Scandal Sheet is a black-and-white film noir directed by Phil Karlson. The film is based on the novel The Dark Page by Samuel Fuller, who himself was a newspaper reporter before his career in film...

 with a reputation for muckraking, sensationalism and criminal libel. It returned after a 73-year hiatus with a somewhat similar style, but made several stark transformations before folding a second time.

The Great Family Journal

The original Duluth Ripsaw was founded by John L. Morrison
John L. Morrison
John Loyal Morrison founded the controversial Duluth, Minnesota newspaper Ripsaw. His editorial attacks on area politicians were so unrelenting that a state law was passed specifically to shut down his paper...

, 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. 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 birth of the Ripsaw came shortly after St. Louis County
St. Louis County, Missouri
St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. St. Louis County is part of the St. Louis Metro Area wherein the independent City of St. Louis and its suburbs in St. Louis County, as well as the surrounding counties in both Missouri and Illinois all...

 outlawed the sale of alcohol. When the city of Superior
Superior, Wisconsin
Superior is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 26,960 at the 2010 census. Located at the junction of U.S. Highways 2 and 53, it is north of and adjacent to both the Village of Superior and the Town of Superior.Superior is at the western...

, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

, followed a few months later with its own voter-instituted prohibition, the Twin Ports
Twin Ports
The Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin are located at the western part of Lake Superior and together are considered the largest freshwater port in the world. They are twin cities and seaports, connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence...

 were supposed to be dry. But alcohol continued to flow at bootleg outlets and in townships nearby. Local politicians and police did little to enforce the prohibition, and Morrison mercilessly 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.

Morrison’s Demise

The downfall of the Ripsaw 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
Hibbing, Minnesota
Hibbing is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 16,361 at the 2010 census. The city was built on the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range. At the edge of town is the largest open-pit iron mine in the world. U.S...

, of corrupt legal practices and a weakness for women and whiskey. All three retaliated.

Morrison was quickly arrested by a sheriff from Walker, Minnesota
Walker, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,069 people, 449 households, and 258 families residing in the city. The population density was 734.3 people per square mile . There were 517 housing units at an average density of 355.1 per square mile...

 (the county seat of Cass County) on charges of criminal libel brought by Jamison. He was sentenced to 90 days in the Cass County jail, but raised bail and returned to Duluth pending appeal.

At the same time Morrison was seeking to raise the bond in Cass County, Power was bringing forth criminal and civil libel actions, claiming the October 25 Ripsaw article was written for the sole purpose of injuring him politically. A warrant for Morrison’s arrest was in the hands of Duluth police awaiting 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. Sen. 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 that would allow the suppression of scandalous newspapers. Sen. Freyling Stevens, a powerful lawyer, introduced the senate version of what would become known as the “Minnesota gag law,” which he is officially credited as author of.

The Public Nuisance Bill of 1925 was soon-after approved by the Minnesota Senate
Minnesota Senate
The Minnesota Senate is the upper house in the Minnesota Legislature. There are 67 members, half as many as are in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In terms of membership, it is the largest upper house of any state legislature. Each Senate district in the state includes an A and B House...

 and House of Representatives
Minnesota House of Representatives
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house in the Minnesota State Legislature. There are 134 members elected to two-year terms, twice the number of members in the Minnesota Senate. Each senate district is divided in half and given the suffix A or B...

. It allowed a single judge, without jury, to stop a newspaper or magazine from publishing, forever.

Governor Theodore Christianson
Theodore Christianson
Theodore Christianson was an American politician who served as the 21st Governor of Minnesota from January 6, 1925 until January 6, 1931.-Background:...

 quietly signed the Public Nuisance Law, but Morrison was oblivious. 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.”

Morrison was served with a warrant for his arrest based on a complaint from Leach under an obscene-literature ordinance recently rushed through the Minneapolis City Council
Minneapolis City Council
The Minneapolis City Council is the governing body of the City of Minneapolis. The City Council is composed of 13 single member districts, called wards. Barbara Johnson is president of the council. The council is dominated by members of the DFL Party with 12 members. The Green Party has one member...

. The next day, a temporary restraining order was placed on the Ripsaw by State District Judge H. J. Grannis of Duluth. Tischer claimed that the charges of graft were untrue and he demanded that the Ripsaw be stopped. The Finnish Publishing Company, which printed the Ripsaw, was also named in the injunction, and news dealers and newsboys were barred from distributing the paper.

Morrison’s trial was set for May 15, 1926. When that day came, however, Morrison did not appear in court. He was strangely ill.

On May 18, 1926, Morrison was rushed to St. Francis Hospital in Superior at around 1 a.m. Nine hours later, he was pronounced dead. The cause was reported in the Duluth Herald to be an embolism
Embolism
In medicine, an embolism is the event of lodging of an embolus into a narrow capillary vessel of an arterial bed which causes a blockage in a distant part of the body.Embolization is...

, a blood clot on the brain. The Herald reported that Morrison “had been ill for 10 days, suffering from pleurisy following an attack of influenza, a general breakdown and attacks of syncope.”

Although there were brief efforts to revive the Ripsaw, it would be 73 years before the paper’s return.

Tischer continued to insist the injunction against the Ripsaw be maintained, even after Morrison’s death. Judge E. J. Kenney, however, allowed a continuation of the Ripsaw “without the articles objected to by Commissioner Tischer.”

On June 1, 1931, the “gag law” was found to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, in what is considered to be the first and most important Freedom of the Press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...

 decision in U.S. history.

Headlines of The Duluth Ripsaw

During its short life, The Duluth Ripsaw was indeed a muckraking publication, in the finest tradition of that genre of publications. It was only in its final years that it ran into legal problems by attacking individuals who no doubt should have been attacked for some of their activities.

Morrison, who had been employed at others papers in Duluth and elsewhere before he started the Ripsaw, did his attacking, often with great humor.

Microfilm copies of the Ripsaw are located in the Duluth Public Library and in the Library of the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul.

Some of the more notable of headlines of the Ripsaw include:

Ripsaw Columns

Tales of the Town, The Political Pot, Where is Bill Bailey?, Sawdust & Shavings, School Board Minutes, Commercial Club Activities,

Many Halden Stories are just the lead for further County Board information

Major News Stories, Rip-Saw

March 24, 1917

Magney for Mayor, Battle of Ballots

Scrub Out the Courthouse

Booze Boosters Badly Discouraged

The Passing of John Barleycorn

Ways Business is Done (Co. Board)

Hidden Hand Reaches for Water frontage

Lon Merritt Makes Good

Hidden Hand Sticks Itself Into City Business - Kettle River

April 7, 1917

Halden Seduces Hicken

Magney for Mayor

Little Alice in Wonderland (witty)

Ways Business is Done (Co. Board)

Unequal Taxation

April 21, 1917

Halden Handles House

City Hall Chatter

Hartley Hunteth Ye Octopus

Journalistic Jim?Jams (Street Railway)

May 5, 1917

Halden Hunts His Hole

Busy Beer Buyer (Blind Pigs)

How Ye Silberstein Prestige Was Saved

Mare Gonska The Goat

The Fight Over Fares

Hobbled Lawyer Towne

May 19, 1917

Halden No Longer Hides

Closed the Club (Blind Pigs)

Tinkering The Taxes

Where is Bill Bailey?

Knocking New Duluth (Streetcars)

Police Are Underpaid, Talk of Quitting

June 9, 1917

Helping Halden's House

"Feeding the Fox" (Zoo)

Blind Pig Biteth Ye Bottler - Pike Lake

Rank and File Fear Unfairness

High Grade Baseball is Promised Duluth

Where is Bill Bailey?

Burglars and Boozers Invade YMCA

Beer Wagons Are Banished

Chief McKercher's Large Marmon Car

June 23, 1917

Halden Hangs His Head

Percy Gets Pinched (witty)

Valiant Firefighters Return To Pike Lake (witty)

Col. Eva Quits the Club

Where is Bill Bailey?

New Duluth Gets Justice -Streetcars

Bishop McGolrick's Golden Jubilee

Willis Gorman Post Bears Honored Name - 1892

July 7, 1917

Friends Fear Chief McKercher is Gone Blind (witty)

Halden Hands Out the Double Cross

Old John Barleycorn Now Lies Mouldering

Minnesota Iron Ores Face a New Epoch

When the Merritt's Came To the Head of Lakes

Where is Bill Bailey?

Hermantown Annual Picnic

Victim of Blind Pig Suffers Bad Relapse

Some New Features At the Hotel St. Louis

July 21, 1917

Battling With Ballots For the School Board

Courthouse King Has a New Password

Kinnikkinic Cigarette Will Be Made

The Public Badly Needs Comfort Stations Now that the Saloons are Closing

When the Merritt's Came To the Head of Lakes

When Charles Towne Defeated Kinney - 1894

Where is Bill Bailey?

City's Harbormaster Works In Wisconsin

Cuyuna Range Iron Ore To St. Louis By Boat

Old John Barleycorn Makes Buhl Boisterous

August 4, 1917

A Fierce Speed Bug Bites "Uncle Bob" (witty)

The Courthouse King Faces Certain Exile

Food Hogs Are Loose

When the Merritt's Came To the Head of Lakes

Where is Bill Bailey?

Madam Julia Wallace Removed To St. Paul

People Get New Deal In School Elections

August 18, 1917

Hibbing Is Great Municipal Paradise

The Courthouse King Wields A Big Stick

Superior Reeks With Booze And Filth

"Strafing Mrs. German"

Where is Bill Bailey?

Picturesque Floodwood

September 1, 1917

Virginia Is As Beauteous As A Virgin

Captain Stevens Wears The Double Cross

Preacher Pulls Tigers Whiskers - Virginia

President Wilson's Reply to Pope Benedict's Peace Proposals

A Faithless Affinity Dodges a Plain Duty (Fable)

Where is Bill Bailey?

Captain James W. Bishop Loses State Sinecure

Woodland's Citizens Demand Miss House

The Boys Are Blasting John Barleycorn - Va.

County Road Foreman Pulled For Poaching

Hypocritical Pastor Despoils His Flock

Canny Son Of Austria Despoils McKinley

Cuyuna Range Ore Is Barged To St. Louis

September 15, 1917

Booze And Beer Banished By Ballot

Courthouse King Arrested For Contempt

Grand Jury Condemns Savoy Theater

The Village Of Park Point

Where Is Bill Bailey?

Main Range Highway Soon Will Be Paved

September 29, 1917

Duluth Harbors Traitorous Food Hogs

Courthouse King Displays Royal Rage

Superior Opens Hotel de Jag

The Old Pioneer's Story

Journalistic Boswell Trifles With History

West End People Want Comfort Station

October 13, 1917

"Rasty" Wright Gambles In a Garage (witty)

Courthouse King Acquires a Royal Jag

Director Has Eagle Eye

Where Is Bill Bailey?

Wright/Davis Lands Make Many Much Money

Brutal Rib Breaker Frequents Floodwood

When Fat Boys Disagree, Lean Boys Hear Fact

The Last Log Drive

October 27, 1917

Blind Pigs Grunt On Superior Street

Courthouse King Is Very Autocratic

New Era For The Commercial Club

Double Murder At West Duluth - 1892

November 10, 1917

Police Busily Butchering Blind Pigs

Courthouse King Wrongs Otto Gafvert

The Voice Of The People Is Heard

Story Of a Horseshoe - Diamond Caulk

Knocking Out Konkel -Superior

Wearing Men's Pants Unsexes Lovely Woman

November 24, 1917

Municipal Piggery Denied For Duluth

Courthouse King Tastes Bitter Defeat

Architects Buck The School Board

1904 Milk Ordinance

"Uncle Bob" McKercher Rapes Public Decency In Raid At Woodman Hall

Brewing Gets Called Down

Turning City Garbage Into Oleaginous Pork

December 8, 1917

Gamblers And Crooks Infest Oliver

Courthouse King Tastes Bitter Defeat

Danculovic Avoids The Workfarm

White Swan Drugstore Conducts a Blind Pig

Douglas County Sheep

Mayor Konkel Fights With Back To Wall

December 22, 1917
Chief McKercher Finds His Lost Tongue

Courthouse King Faces Certain Exile

Underworld Bunch Deserts Duluth

Syndicate, Sin Duck Out Of Oliver

Dear Old Danculovic Loves Kaiser Bill

January 5, 1918

Chief McKercher Stutters When He Talks

The Old Political Pot Begins To Bubble

County Auditor Halden Is Doomed

Duluth Demands Common Justice - Railroads

Mistresses Of Music Engage In Bitter War

Superior Enjoyed Wet New Year

The Village of New Duluth

Two Phones Burdensome

January 19, 1918

Chief McKercher Goes On Warpath,

Two Charges Made Against Rip?-Saw Editor

Courthouse King A Political Suicide

Mayor Konkel Gets Cold Feet -Superior

The St. Louis Hotel Fire - 1893

Highspeed Speedway Was A Lively Ride

Superior's Toughest Hole

Will Buck John Barleycorn

Roadhouse Near Madhouse - Superior

January 26, 1918

No Issue

February 9, 1918

Red?light Parlors Shelter Blind Pigs

To Go Crazy Now Costs Money

Streetcar Strike That Was Finally Won - 1893

Over Dozen Big Fines Confront Mayor Konkel

Superior's Gamblers Given Stunning Blow

February 23, 1918

McKercher Protects Red Light Lady

McKercher Tried To Hang The Editor

Hot Campaign For Superior

Superintendent Hoke Retains Position

Workers Bribed Boss To Secure Employment

In Jail At Grand Rapids - 1894

Police Hunt For Beer, Find Scrubbing Water

March 9, 1918

The People Will Recall Silberstein

Spring Campaign Underway In Superior

Order Of Knights Of The Double Cross

Armstad Pulverizes de Waard

Beer Party At Billy Bernard's

The Virginia Fire In '93

Adelphi & Rex Hotels Lose Needed Licenses

Bagged The Belgian's Beer

Rates Discrimination Very Unfair To Duluth

March 23, 1918

Recall Petitions Are Being Signed

NPR Must Give Duluth Justice

County Auditor Halden Begins To Take Notice

King Booze Kicks Out Konkel - Superior

Food Kings Ignore Farmers

The Bummel Block Fire - 1893

Native Son of Duluth Makes A Cool Million

Janitor Tidball Resigns

April 6, 1918

McKercher Shows The White Feather

County Auditor Halden Pilgrims To The Range

Booze Is Banned By Superior

Police Close New Night School (witty)

Burning of the Old Board of Trade Building

Little Son of St. George Flouts American Eagle

April 20, 1918

The Leiser Store Wrongs Betty Eastman

Mayor of Ore Docks Charged with Adultery

How Dorothy Hill Was Protected

Halden Seeks More Political Pie

Woodworking Students Make Very Bad Botch

Proctor Pointers

Odin Halden Loses Trench

May 4, 1918

McKercher's Pet Red?light Lady Returns

County Auditor Halden Slated For Retirement

Baxter Gives a Surprise Party

Angry Husband Murders Wife

Courthouse Carpenter Serves Halden's House

Chief Engineer Stewart Resigns

Vaccination Hotly Attacked

May 18, 1918

Boiler Inspector Wrongs Working Girl

New Herd of Blind Pigs Boldly Invade Duluth

Superior Gets a Moral Scrubbing

Mountain Will Come To Mahomet - U.S. Steel

Company Improvement Programs At Proctor

Slackers Searched Out

June 1, 1918

Leiser Store Sued For $10,000

Dorothy Ducks

Sinful Hotels Are Suppressed

How Halden Moved Clifton Station

Crane Lake Portage Is An Historic Highway

"Square Deal" Victory Won Over Grt. Northern

Commissioners Ban Booze Right

June 15, 1918

S.S. America Shelters Gambling Den

The Mountain Visits Mahomet - U.S. Steel

Phillips Wants City Wood Yard

Rapid Erection Record For U.S. Grant School

Little American Gold Mine - 1893

Halden Hands Becloud Waterfront Titles

June 29, 1918

Bad Citizen Is Driven Out Of Superior

Bibulous Barleycorn Sadly Shocks Superior

Barleycorn Breed Is Dying Out Rapidly

Poets Observe The Passing Of John Barleycorn

Uncle Sam's Birthday

Barleycorn Knew Noah But Never Found Wisdom

U.S. Steel Corporation Is Duluth's Best Friend

July 13, 1918

Why Did Schutte Quit At West Duluth?

Thirsty Pilgrims Seek Oliver

"Townleyism" In Duluth Public Schools

Defective Ventilation Hazards Pupils' Health

The Lucky Grubstake -1893

July 27, 1918

Schutte Opposes Buying Of War Bonds

Onkel Bernard Assails Demon Rum

Superintendent Grubbs Is Charged With Moral Degeneracy - Proctor

Superior Cop Halts McKercher

When Frank Surveyed Site of Rainy Lake

Some Underworld Folk Still Infest Superior

Morgan Park Runs Amuck

August 10, 1918

Oliver Is Mecca For Thirsty Pilgrims

Bold Underworld Folk Still Haunt Superior

Gambling Under Giddings Store

Proctor Pointers

The Vermilion Iron Range

Rolly Waldemar Esterly Is Pinched In Superior

August 24, 1918

Underworld King Shot In Superior

Police Authorities Meet A Mystery Murder

Pulls Oliver's Red?light Joint

Labor Day In 1892

County Auditor Halden Is Doomed

Lies Hidden In Garret Three Days And Nights

Bridging Chester Park Deemed A Necessity

Guilty Of White Slavery

September 7, 1918

Rip?Saw Editor Arrested In Oliver

Dirty Nests In Duluth Unseen By Silberstein

Max Rosenberg May Not Recover

Odin Halden, King Of Camouflage

Superior's Sinful Set Hikes For Other Fields

September 21, 1918

Booze And Poker At Gary Canteen

Questionable Course Is Pursued By Kong Odin

Oliver Is Dry

Wicked Blind Pigs Infest Ranier

Why Don't Men Go To Church

Proctor's School Head Denies Nasty Charges

1892 Democratic County Convention

Superior's Blind Pigs Dying Off

Chisholm's Old Chief Runs Amuck In Duluth

October 5, 1918

Charges Filed Against General Resche

Gluttonous Food Hogs Rob Vegetable Growers

Aged Courthouse King Flies Into Rage

Kong Odin's Influence Has Been Most Sinister

Auditor Halden Fosters Illegal Sale Of Bonds

Grubb's Right To Teach Revoked - Proctor

Expensive Rugs For Dainty Feet

October 19, 1918

C.B. Miller Is Afraid Of The Carss

Four Houses Comprise The Produce Exchange

Courthouse Autocrat Has Been Most Unfair

Amorous Old Educator Charged With Huggery

Cat Ranch Prospectus

Trolley Patron Speaks Plainly

November 2, 1918

Red Cross Is Dragged Into Politics

McKercher Is Put In Guardhouse

Tight Little Monopoly Holds Michigan Street

Dorothy Hill Departs

Judge Fesler's Fiddle Plays Tunes For Halden

Swanstrom Boys Dig For Halden

Horngren And Rich Tour Range For Halden

Preus Gets Double Cross

Lumber Barons Blamable For Forest Fires

Wobbly Willie Winkum Roots Hard For Halden

November 16, 1918

Halden Is Kicked Out Of Courthouse

Superintendent Hoke Will Hike

Local Produce Pirates Promise To Lick Editor

Sunday Closing For Iron River

Grape Wine On Iron Range

Superior's Lid Lifters Get Very Heavily Fined

Grubbs Still Wiggles - Proctor

November 30, 1918

McKercher Leaves Rotten Record

Safety Commissioner Protects Food Hogs

Max Rosenberg & Woman Arrested In Superior

When Big Boom Was Well Under Way - 1887

December 14, 1918

McKercher Takes A Sneak

Grubbs Has Gone - Proctor

Railroad Employees Help Out Food Hogs

Soldiers And Sailors Scrap Over Monument

Max Rosenberg Gets Arrested

December 28, 1918

Police Arrest Col. W.F. King - Adultery

Local Produce Pirates Plot Against Rival

Max Rosenberg Heavily Fined

Streetcar Situation Is Bad Here And Below

McKercher Compelled To Pull Red Light Lady

Brisk Scramble For City Offices

January 11, 1919

McKercher Quits Under Fire

Vigilance Committee Superior's Possibility

Bibulous Boys Now Go To Gordon

Dry Superior Benefits Police

January 25, 1919

Burnside Pulls Wife's Hair

Patriots Desire Postmastership

Duluth City Council Asks For Tunnel Plans

Superior's Sinful Set Still Acts Shamelessly

Boxcar Detective Dill Slakes Burning Thirst

Soldier's Happy Home Invaded By Policeman

- Adultery

February 8, 1919

Peasants Fire on Col. Eva - Forest Fires

Erickson Would Crimp Food Hogs

Underworld Folk Losing Ground

Cause and Prevention of the Big Forest Fires

Sources of Forest Fires

John Barleycorn Hangs On At Iron River

Colonel Carlson is Fired at Minnesota Steel

Bessette and Rhinow Double Barreled Boys

February 22, 1919

Governor Forsakes Fire Victims

Tried to Choke Farmers Store - Food Hogs

Food Hog Methods Tipped Off By Teamster

Chris Peterson Takes The Count - Superior

Deep Waterway From Duluth To The Sea

Fire Relief Commission Junked Wearable Shoes

School Board Retains Superintendent Hoke

Lumber Barons Grab Grave Yard Insurance

School Board Members Betray Common People

March 1, 1919 - Missing

March 29, 1919

Farrell Violates City Charter

Old John Barleycorn May Regain Superior

Sporty Husband Finds Soul Mate

Mrs. Akonn Shocks Judge Parker - Superior

Commissioner Farrell Wasted Valuable Dirt

Trolley Line Purchase Is Problem For Voters

Farrell Broke Many Promises

Motor Corps Barred By Law

Farrell's Fat Pay Rolls Open Taxpayer Optics

Cloquet Lawyers Hustle Clients

Herr Hauptmann Squirms Under Charges

Tamping Machine Proved Failure

Farrell Roared About Salaries

Colonel Burnsides' Blind Pig Gets Caught

April 12, 1919

Madam King Is Granted A Divorce

Oliver Soon Will Have Bus Service

Gay Madam West Pays High Fine - Superior

Notrorious Elgin Hotel Shelters Immoral Folk

Filthy Nests in Duluth Unseen by Good People

Socialists Win At Two Harbors

Was Carlson Dangerous German Spy?

Superior's Pest House Disgrace To City

Gust Beck Keeps Booze on Farm at Hawthorne

August Jeffers Breaks Up Home

Faked Professor Jumps The Town

April 26, 1919

Crooks Kill Mike Madigan - Superior

Autocratic Directors Crush Krebs And Smith

Should Improve Railroad Street

Blind Pigs Nest In Phoenix Block

Cowardly Ignoramus Breaks Loose

Dual Water System Hazards Public Health

Women Start Campaign Against Tobacco

New Independence Folk Use Town Funds Freely

Mysterious Company At Cloquet

May 10, 1919

Food Hogs Ravage Duluth

Hoke May Be Hunting New Superintendency

Florence Nightingale Birdies Fly

Discourage the Coming of Carnival Companies

Forest Fire Relief Work

Hotel Superior Sporty Spot

Police Once More Grab Blind Pigger Burnside

Check Valves Unsafe, Local Plumbers Insist

May 24, 1919

Is Gary A Hot?Bed Of Vice?

Dr. Nyquist Indicted In Superior

County Commissioners Oppose Eight Hour Day

Nordin Loses Fire Damage Action

New Fishing Laws

Lumber Company Seeks Grave Yard

Underworld King Of Superior Is Indicted

Mayor Baxter Reduces Superior Police Force

Red?light Women Heavily Fined - Superior

June 14, 1919

Proctor Chief Is Bad Actor

Food Hogs Profit From Potatoes

The Arrest Of Ah Sing - 1892

Cloquet Woman Is Heroine Of Forest Fires

School Board Autocrats Dodge Union Labor

Superior Thugs Assault Editor

Outlaw Gang Attacks Martin Widness

June 28, 1919

Dr. Hoke Flunks In Detroit

Unfortunate War Baby Came Into Jensen Home

Spirited Contest In Union Circles

Food Hogs Monopolize Area Milk

Teachers Stood Up When Hoke Entered

Postmaster At Cloquet Holds Up The Rip?Saw

O'Brien Admits Defeat To Baxter - Superior

Uncle Sam Soaks Wicked Rosenberg

Madam Reed Comes Back To Superior

Dances By Liberty Club Need Stricter Manager

July 12, 1919

Ohio Tailor Sues Shaibley

The Candidacy Of John L. Morrison

Food Hogs Boost Prices Of Fruit

Sturdy Commoner Beats Autocrats Twice

Superior Says Farewell To Booze

July 26, 1919

Tailor Takes Judgment Against Schaibley

Telephone Monopoly Chokes City

Conditions At Work Farm Severely Attacked

Superior Bravely Combats Pittsburgh Plus

Mrs. Myrtle Cushway Sought Her Revenge

August 9, 1919

Work Farm Boy Beaten Up

Tammany Braves Hold Annual Clam?Bake

Blind Pig's Still Grunt In Superior

Conklin's Plan For a Tunnel Under the Ship Canal - 1892

Double Barreled Boys Becoming Plentiful

Inmate Of County Jail Utters Worthless Paper

Booze Boys Seek Baxter's Scalp

Cops once More Arrest Burnside and Al Power

So?Called Blue Sky Laws Insult To Intelligent

Duluth sold Birthright but Lost Mess of Pottage

August 23, 1919

Greeks Grab Superior Girls

Schaibley Goes Into Bankruptcy

Entire Nation Aroused By High Food Costs

Blanche White Buys Grand Hotel

Naylor Family Hard Hit By Forest Fires

Kindly County Will Sue Railway Company

Land Barons Plan Raid On State Treasury

People Oppose Old Ward System

Professor Simon Harries Blueberry Pickers

Food Hogs Sell Corn To Their Rural Cousins

September 6, 1919

Dark Girls Woo White Men

Fight On Food Hogs Seriously Under Way

Fred Harris Plays High Finance

Strange Took Eva For "Dummy"

State Forester Cox's Dismissal Demanded

American Loyalty League Discussed By Strange

Bad Booze Burglars Ravage Iron River

Big Moose Lake Meeting held by Fire Sufferers

Rosenberg Kicks Out George O'Brien

Sold Burning Booze Without Any License

Big Bully Of Bingoland Compelled To Back Down

Getting Rowley Alimony Is Very Difficult

September 20, 1919

Children Play At Prostitution

Ransom Metcalfe Talks of High Cost of Living

Cloquet Lawyers Roast Rip?Saw

Change Of Venue For Fire Cases?

Sanitary Sewer Bothers Residents of Woodland

Col. Eva's Armory Bunch Wasted Much Valuable Hay

Hotel Superior Sued For Damage

Superior Law Breakers Decide to Plead Guilty

King Colahan's Consort Wears Her Crown Tilted

Beer Foams in Bingoland as Camouflage For Booze

Simple Rustics Make Snappy Drink

Blind Piggers Rampant in Mesabi Range Towns

October 4, 1919

Young Knudsen Jumps Jail

Chief Murphy's Minions Get Active On St. Croix

How To Eliminate The Food Hogs

Dean Madsen Tenders Eye Blackened By Col. Parker

Hoke Steals Educational Idea

P:olice Woman Desired

Chiropracters Boast Of Their Influenza Record

Carlton County Cannot Give An Impartial Trial

When The Weyerhaeuser's Bought Leech Lake Pine - 1893

Rosenberg Threatens To Shoot

Badlands Of Bingoland Yield Many Lawless Men

October 18, 1919

Daily Papers Protect Food Hogs

Park?Pointers Dislike Fool?Proof Streetcars

State Examiner Audits Eva's Books

Opposition Makes Hatch Hustle - Eveleth

Policemen's Annual Ball - 1893

Conditions Are Improved In Old St. Croix Section

Matt Bolen Loses Flesh When Mated With Amelia

Knudsen Peddled Booze to his Fellow Inmates

Joe Naughton's Former Woman Must Do Time

Superior Starts Drive Against Vice And Crime

Commissioners May Move Supt. Young to Virginia

Strong Hands Of Justice Firmly Grasp Rosenberg

November 1, 1919

Harris Charged With Fraud

This Year's State Tax Is Highest Ever Known

Duluth's West End Wesley Calls At Rip?Saw

County Attorney Green Returns Home

Memorial Hospital Worries Local Builder

Cloquet Telephone Agent Roasts The Rip?Saw

Graft And Scandal Smut The Hard Road Movement

Jascha Heifetz, 18, Will Appear

Lavinsky Shoots Up Cafe America - Superior

Douglas County Schools Maintain High Standards

Douglas County Sheriff Arrests Oliver Sports

Superior Organization Will Crimp Wickedness

November 15, 1919

Boy Robs Roth Brothers Store - Superior

Victim Of Cruel Vampire Takes The Suicide Route

Carl Takla Refused Bail

Funck Becomes Municipal Judge

Cloquet Union Men Wrathy

Cloquet Chief Of Police Arrests Wrong Man

Condition Of Treasury Startles School Board

Peter Rabbit Streetcar Jumps At Lawyer Whitley

Torrance Gives Wife A Black Eye - Superior

Superior's Politicians Look Over The Cards

Hunger, Worry And Want Drive Good Women Crazy

Rosenberg's Bartender Now Happy Egg Vendor

November 29, 1919

Police Raid The West Hotel

Chisholm's Enchantress Possess A Bad Record

Bruce Palmer Bans Suggestive Dancing - Proctor

Some Light And Comments On Local Paving History

Duluth's Pioneer Record Of Suicides - 1893

Cloquet Chief Of Police Sued For Damages

People Marvel Because City Is Postmasterless

Wolfe Convicts Bingoland Crooks - Superior

Bettty West's Close Escape

December 13, 1919

Magie Ignores McKercher

Girls Warmly Welcome Pilgrim From Proctor

An Artistic Job Of Fistic Decoration

William Chisholm Did Not Steal

When Henry Truelson First Came To Duluth - 1893

Judge Lichten Refuses Joel Lichten Citizenship

Street Railway Company Asks Municipal Favor

Bold Bingoland Boy Goes Crazy - Superior

Madam Smith Is Convicted In Judge French's Court

Commissioner Tomlinson Fools Bingoland Bunch

December 27, 1919

Play Poker In Turkish Bath

Twenty Local Policemen Are Called Onto Carpet

Bartoni Keeps Salacious Salon - Chisholm

Page Morris ?? Politician

Special H.C.L. Committee Makes Final Report

Duluth Boy Robs Kelly Of Famous Heirlooms

Bob McKercher Suspected Of Courting Clerk's Job

Commissioners Suspend McKinnon

The Bells Of Bingoland After Absolute Divorce - Superior

"Big Bill" Adams Finds Level

Trouble Faces Louis Roth - Chisholm

Sports May Hike For Cuba - Superior

January 10, 1920

Sick Boy Brutally Treated

Accused Policemen Given Hearing

McCusick Keeps Dump At Lucknow - Buhl

Bankruptcy For Schaibley

Snake?House Is Unpopular - Cusson

Jacob Anderson Wins Forest Fire Damage Suit

Gentleman Jim Shilty Kept Blind Grunter

Incorrigible Optimist Greatly Discouraged

City Servants Annoyed By Cavenaugh's Buzzer

Bingoland Bunch Backs McKinnon - Superior

Mother Carney Has Girls In First Street Retreat

Burgled Massey's Medicine

Two Bold Bingoland Boys Arrested In Tame Duluth

January 24, 1920

Big Bill Adams Is Arrested

Charge Non?Feasance Against The Sheriff - International Falls

Kremer Hoke Re?Elected School Superintendent

Publishing Fight At Two Harbors

Palmer Licks Up Moonshine - Proctor

Chisholm Sports Deeply Discouraged

Teacher Screamed Lustily

Snippy Women Show Scorn For Soldier Coal Bearer

Snake?House Defended By Hinterland Pilgrims

Appealing Story Of Mary

Bingoland Gangsters Fear Defeat - Superior

Terminal Situation Seriously Hampers City

February 4, 1920

Railway Robbery In Ranier

Chisholm Banishes All Slot Machines

Government May Settle Hinterland Fire Losses

Sugarless Situation Is Serious

Rabbit Tales For Teaching

Colonel Jim Burnside Hones For Bill Booze

Food Hogs Feed City Dump

Lynching of Rapist Belange At Mt. Iron - 1893

Weary Wobbly Complains Of Camp At Cusson

Lumber Camp Experience Displeases Duluth Man - Biwabik

Hinterland Residents Complain Of Road Work

Profiteers Harry Hibbing

Corporations Seek Baxter's Scalp - Superior

Darkest Africa Raided By Police Of Superior

Bells Battle For Divorce

Stevens Couple Sever Marital Ties

Hyberg and Mrs. Ek Elope - International Falls

February 21, 1920

Finds Love Pirate In Cloquet

Prisoners Are Denied Brain Food

School Head Quickly Quits

Great Family Journal Grows Like Greenbay Tree

Meadowlands Taxpayers Oppose School Principal

A Certain Rich Man...

Wife Knocked Out Oken's Teeth

Superior's Politicians Think About Primary

Weakly Paper Flings Mud At Mayor Fred A. Baxter - Superior

Papa Jim Buys Bingo Farm

Chisholm Sports Resent Moral Uplift

Bad Lands Bunch Will Flit - Superior

March 6, 1920

Sleuths Raid Superior's Blind Pig

Sports Of Chisholm Play New Card Game

Meadowlands Will Hold A Special Bond Election

Lingonberries On The Free List

Profiteers Greater Menace Than The "Reds"

Grave Irregularities Charged Against O'Neill

Feared Burnside Will Go Batty - Superior

Konkel's Man Duffy Wins Union Support

Weakly Leader Assumes To Speak For Union Men

Flunky Of Backers Flouts Federal Law

Berenico Hikes For Hurley

Max Rosenberg Has A Pull

March 20, 1920

Cancer Kills Earl Gonyea

Col. James Chester Bell Chases With New Chicken - Superior

Rainier Outlaws Go To Jail

Pittenger Peeves Party Bosses

Poker Is Nashwauk's Game

County Superintendency Sought By Man

Baxter Beats Bingoland Bunch - Superior

Primaries In Superior Slated For Next Tuesday

Buhl Woman Pinched By Ranier Inspector


April 3, 1920 ??? May 26, 1923 ??? Missing


June 9, 1923

Two Barbers Held Under Heavy Bail

The Law Nabs Michelizzi

Huge Booze Supply Found By Sheriff -I?Falls

May Stevens Leaves Town

Cops Get Pete Schaeffer

Anderson Keeps Blind Pig

Aliens Make West Duluth Lawless and Disorderly

June 23, 1923 ??? October 11, 1923 ??? Missing

October 25, 1924

Boylan Threatens Murder

Bert Jameson's Unfitness Due To Physical Reasons

Two Undesirable's Must Go

George O'Brien Is Pinched For Conducting Big Still

(This last issue is the issue that prompted the Minnesota
Legislature to pass a gag law allowing the Police to confiscate
newspapers with “libelous” articles. The law was overturned
In a case involving a St. Paul newspaper by the U.S. Supreme
Court in the famous Near v. Minnesota
Near v. Minnesota
Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697 , was a United States Supreme Court decision that recognized the freedom of the press by roundly rejecting prior restraints on publication, a principle that was applied to free speech generally in subsequent jurisprudence...

decision guaranteeing
freedom of the press to American newspapers).

There were further issues of the paper, but they have been
lost.

Rebirth

It was in January 1999 that the Ripsaw returned. Brad Nelson and Cord R. Dada published a monthly scandal sheet similar to Morrison’s original Ripsaw. Its first lead story, “Dotygate,” accused Duluth Mayor Gary Doty and his administration of various crimes associated with the demolition of buildings on East First Street to make way for construction of the Duluth Technology Village.

The Ripsaw became a weekly publication on April 5, 2000. Paul Lundgren was hired as managing editor and the paper was transformed into an alternative news, arts and entertainment source. One year later, it was accepted into the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
The Association of Alternative Newsmedia is a diverse group of covering every major metropolitan area and other less-populated regions of North America. AAN members have a combined weekly circulation of over 6.5 million as well as a print readership of nearly 17 million active, educated and...

.

While Morrison’s original Ripsaw fought against “ol’ John Barleycorn,” the personification of demon alcohol, the new Ripsaw reveled in the exploits of Slim Goodbuzz. The slender and sarcastic Duluthian traveled the region in search of inebriated adventure for his celebrated “Barfly on the Wall” column.

Another favorite of Ripsaw readers was the comic strip “Violet Days,” by Chris Monroe
Chris Monroe
Christine Monroe is an American painter and cartoonist best known for her weekly comic strip “Violet Days,” which appears in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Duluth News Tribune....

, which is now featured in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Duluth News Tribune
Duluth News Tribune
The Duluth News Tribune is a newspaper in Duluth, Minnesota. It is published by Forum Communications, which bought it in 2006 after The McClatchy Company acquired the News Tribunes previous owner, Knight Ridder.The present incarnation of the newspaper is the outcome of the merger and takeover of...

.

Co-publisher Cord R. Dada sold the majority of his ownership in the paper to Brad Nelson’s brother Tim Nelson in April 2001, relieving himself of all duties at the Ripsaw and leaving Brad Nelson as the majority owner and sole publisher of the paper. Within a few months, Lundgren was dismissed and Nelson became editor/publisher.

The last weekly issue was published on Dec. 31, 2003. Three months later, the Ripsaw returned to monthly status, this time as a full-color magazine edited by Tony Dierckins. It lasted 10 issues before reverting back to newsprint for its final three issues, which were published every other month, ending in September 2005.

Spinoffs

The website Perfect Duluth Day was founded in 2003 by Barrett Chase and Scott Lunt. Chase was a cartoonist and copy editor for the Ripsaw, and Lunt helped deliver the paper. Former Ripsaw Managing Editor Paul Lundgren became a part-owner of Perfect Duluth Day in 2009, as did freelance illustrator Brian Barber.

The Ripsaw's former "web jerk" Adam Guggemos went on to found Duluth's weekly Transistor in 2004, which has featured columns and comic strips by numerous former Ripsaw contributors.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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