Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1887 — Two Drafted Men. [ARTICLE]

Two Drafted Men.

Mr. Blainels Chicago organ, in speaking of the contempt the Grand Army boys have for the President, says: “Mr. Cleveland was then [during the war] a hale, strong young man, but his sole connection with the war seems to be that when drafted he hired a substitute.” This may have been and probably was entirely wrong, but what was Mr. Blaine’s war record? Mr. Blaine was the first man drafted in his district. Prior to this an organization had been formed in Augusta to protect its members against the draft. Each man paid $25 to the fund to hire a substitute, and out of this fund a man named Bradford was nired as Mr. Blaine’s substitute. He remained in Augusta during the entire war, except while he was in jail for selling certain money certificates. After the war closed the town of Augusta voted to refund to the men who had furnished substitutes the money they had paid and Mr. Blaine received a town bond for S2OO, which was afterward paid, so that he made $175 by the operation. “To a man up a tree” it looks as if Mr. Cleveland’s war record was surpassed in brilliancy by that of Mr. Blaine, by $175. —Chicago News.