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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 decision in U.S. history.
Brad Nelson and Cord R. Dada published a monthly scandal sheet similar to Morrison's original Ripsaw.
Paul Lundgren was hired as managing editor and the paper was transformed into an alternative news, arts and entertainment source.
Former Ripsaw Managing Editor Paul Lundgren became a part-owner of Perfect Duluth Day in 2009, as did freelance illustrator Brian Barber.