Cleveland’s Substitute Died Penniless

During the Civil War draft, future U.S. president Grover Cleveland paid $150 to a Polish immigrant, a man named George Brinski, to serve as his substitute. Brinski went off to war and suffered an injury that later made it hard for him to keep working. In 1885, Brinski tracked Cleveland down and asked for help, but Cleveland refused. Brinski died penniless two years later.

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