Looking back: The time a man wielded a butcher's cleaver in Corrimal

According to the Illawarra Mercury - which back then was just four pages and printed on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday - Jones headed into the Corrimal butcher and managed to get his hands on a cleaver.

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He wasn't interested in attacking people, but verandah posts, chopping through one of them.

Then Jones turned his attentions to a door, "which he hacked about considerably".

Soon enough Senior Sergeant Banks and Constable Kelly arrived.

"They immediately terminated Jones' wood chopping exhibition by arresting him, and convoying him to the lockup," the Mercury reported.

In news that will surprise nobody, Jones was drunk and was later fined two pounds for that.

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Also, for the crime of "maliciously injuring two verandah posts and a door" he was fined five pounds.

Elsewhere in that edition of the paper, there was a story about Taymount cottage at Woonona burning to the ground. It seems the residents had left a fire going while they went out and returned to cinders.

Three men, two from Dapto, had been traipsing through bushland near Bargo looking for an escaped race horse. Somehow the Dapto men got lost, so the third member of their party had to get the locals to help in the search.

Finally, allow us to offer the complete text of one other news story in that day's Mercury - "The German-Australian Co's steamer Magdeburg arrived at Port Kembla on Tuesday to load a cargo of coal."

The Illawarra Mercury takes a look back in our archives every day of the week. If there's a story from the past we should revisit, let us know at news@illawarramercury.com.au