Front page of the Nov. 20, 1924 Duluth Rip-saw.
Ripsaw
One hundred years ago today — Oct. 25, 1924 — the Duluth Rip-saw newspaper published a front page story attacking Minnesota State Senator Mike Boylan. The article contributed to the 1925 creation of the Public Nuisance Law, also known as the “Minnesota Gag Law,” which made publishers of “malicious, scandalous and defamatory” newspapers or magazines guilty of creating a public nuisance, and allowed judges to stop the publication of those periodicals. A restraining order was placed on the Rip-saw in 1926. Publisher John L. Morrison fell ill soon after and died.
In 1931 the gag law was challenged by Jay Near, publisher of the Saturday Press in Minneapolis. The Supreme Court ruled the law violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which protects the freedom of the press. …
The July 2004 issue of Twin Cities monthly magazine The Rake included a feature on the Duluth music scene. The Rake existed from 2002 to 2008 and its archives, including the Duluth article, are available online. The text of the now 20-year-old story also appears below, with images from the magazine. …
Above & Below: The rise, fall, and rise of the Duluth undergroundRead more
Today, John L. Morrison is best known as the publisher of the muckraking Duluth Rip-Saw from 1918 to 1926, but his period of greatest fame occurred before that, when he was employed by the Duluth Evening Herald. Morrison was well-known regionally as a travel writer and nationally as an authority on the Canadian gold-mining regions. …