I've been reading up on the Society of the Cincinnati, which was founded in 1783 by Henry Knox and the officers of the Continental Army and Navy, a "males-only" organization that instituted "inheritance by primogeniture" for membership (i.e. eldest male son inherits). However, the founding of this society caused a major backlash in early American society, with writers like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Benjamin Franklin vehemently opposing the group; calling it a "European knightly order"; and labelled it as a "threat to the new republic", highlighting how quite a few of its prominent members were French aristocrats or nobles who owed their allegiance to King Louis XVI, who was later executed in the French Revolution, as well as Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a German noble. Most sources point to Henry Knox as devising these aspects, presumably with the goal of passing on his "legacy" to his only surviving son, who died without heirs of his own. Why did Henry Knox, who came from a humble background, and over 2,200 officers defend the Society and the Cincinnati being based on "European knightly orders" and its "hereditary inheritance by primogeniture" so fiercely? Knox himself is noted as having "aristocratic aspirations", but how did he gain so many supporters an environment that was deeply hostile towards monarchism?
To quote a summary of the Wikipedia pages for "Society of the Cincinnati" and "Henry Knox", the Washington Papers, the Society of the Cincinnati archives, et al., quote, "Henry Knox held an immense admiration for the traditions, structures, and prestige of hereditary aristocrats and chivalric knights. While he championed the republican ideals of the American Revolution, Knox spent much of his adult life trying to replicate European-style nobility within the early United States. Long before the war, Knox was a civilian bookseller in Boston. His shop, the London Book Store, catered heavily to the city's British officers and wealthy aristocrats. Knox voraciously read European books on military history, knighthood, and martial strategy. He deeply admired the rigid hierarchies, pageantry, and codes of honor utilized by traditional European militaries, translating those concepts into his own military career and the styling of the American artillery corps. Knox's personal life mirrored his desire for aristocratic grandeur. He married Lucy Flucker, the daughter of a high-ranking, wealthy royal official in the British colonial government. Later in life, Knox retired to an enormous estate in Maine centered around an incredibly lavish, four-story mansion named Montpelier. There, he lived like an English lord or land baron—managing vast tracts of land, hosting extravagant parties for the elite, and maintaining a lifestyle of financial excess that eventually drove him deep into debt. While Knox believed in a self-governing republic, he fundamentally believed that a virtuous, hereditary 'meritocracy' of officers and gentlemen should serve as the nation's permanent upper class." [Or, in other words, Knox wanted to form a "pseudo-aristocracy", per critics.]
Writer Edwin A. Hoey for American Heritage (August 1968, Volume 19, Issue 5) laments, "In view of the simple virtues that the name implied, it is perhaps unfortunate that Henry Knox played an important role in drawing up the [Society of the] Cincinnati's charter. Timothy Pickering, Quartermaster General and himself a member of the society, would later remark that Knox's language 'bore the marks of his pomposity'. [...] The Society of the Cincinnati's initial plan to abolish hereditary descent never formally went into effect. George Washington and national leadership proposed eliminating it in 1784 to appease critics who feared the society was creating a neo-aristocracy. However, the state societies refused to ratify the change, so hereditary succession remained active. [They believed passing the lineage down to descendants was the only permanent way to ensure their memory, wishes, and ideals survived.]"
Later on, after the last original member died in 1854, "Like a retired campaigner in the doze of his late years, the order slumbered. Then it was reawakened—by the rising tide of immigration. As wave upon wave of hopeful foreigners rolled into the country, people began climbing their family trees to escape the plebeian flood. The past became fashionable, especially if one’s own family was involved. Up sprang such organizations as the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and its awesome counterpart, the Daughters (DAR). With its aristocratic beginnings and hereditary rules, membership in the Cincinnati carried with it a set of impeccable social credentials. The society became a kind of first of the first families of America. Great attention was paid to ceremony, and meeting after meeting concerned itself with such problems as the wearing of the badge. News of these concerns was bound to get about...[and were criticized by] Arthur Guiterman in a 1936 issue of The New Yorker, [who criticized all 'heritage groups' of the era]."
Recently, while research Knabstrupper pedigrees, I can across breed or studbook guidelines for the "Deutscher Tigerschecke", or "German Spotted Horse", that was published in 2015, and updated in 2022, and listed as part of the ZfDP (Zuchtverband für deutsche Pferde / German Horse Breeding Association). However, when I Googled the name, I only came across one full-size riding horse publicly listed as a "Deutscher Tigerschecke", the stallion "Blumberg's Sir Wittekind", who is a Dutch Appaloosa x Knabstrupper cross. Is the "Deutscher Tigerschecke" an actual breed, or is it just any "spotted horse" that just happens to be located or standing stud in Germany (ex. Knabstrupper)?
The vast majority of "Deutscher Tigerschecke" listings appear to be spotted ponies or Norikers.
Caption: The old Edison Mall when Woolworth's was present. The store operated from the opening of the mall in 1965 to the early 1990s, when it was replaced by Burdines (Macy's) and JC Penney.
On June 26, 2026, a user in the Haunted Florida made this post: "Has anyone done any investigating at Edison Mall in Fort Myers? My son has done overnight security there, and had quite a bit of activity. He had been told by others who worked it that it's haunted. Several young women disappeared there back in the day, [with one being found murdered], and I can't help but wonder if that's part of it."
Another user said, "My son said other guards said they hear loud unexplainable noises frequently that there is no reason for, and he has heard them as well. The music comes on and goes off throughout the night. The first time it happened, it was 'I Think We're Alone Now'! The music volume also changes. One night, the microwave came on by itself, and the inside lights started flashing. He has only worked 3 overnight shifts."
"In the 80s, there was a video arcade called the Goldmine, near Sears across from the food court," another user recounted. "The manager was stabbed multiple times, and was found dead inside the arcade....mid-80s, I'm not exactly sure what year. The place was creepy even in the 80's, and it smells musty, but I've never heard of that."
"Timothy Bell was the manager at the Goldmine arcade, and was brutally murdered in the arcade in October 1985. He was only 19 years old. He was nearly decapitated over $350," a separate user clarified.
"The Edison Mall is haunted. Everyone that works security there knows and there's a reason why the field supervisors do not go there at night unless absolutely needed," said another user. Another user added, "The Edison Mall definitely has backrooms. It's a weird feeling in that mall."
"I worked at SunSkins bathing suit shop where the perfume store is now," a former employee shared. "We had a little back room. I would hear noise, but everyone was gone. I hated going in the back hallways, as it creeped me out."
"My husband and partner did a job there in 2020," yet another person said. "While walking with his equipment, a sign just flew across at them [i.e. poltergeist activity]. They were the only ones there with a security. It was around the Journey's and Auntie Anne area. The security told them that stuff like that always happens around there."
Yet another user made this long post:
>"I grew up in Fort Myers, and I worked at the Hot Topic two different times. There would be times I was in the stock room, and shoe boxes would fall off their shelves on the opposite wall I was digging through. I would see people pass by in the main walkway, and a few times, I thought people walked in when there was no one there.
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> There is a history of violence that happened there, too.
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> 1985: Timothy Bell was murdered while he was working at the arcade that used to be there. He was stabbed to death, and then robbed him and the arcade. My dad was friends with the victim, and was a pallbearer at the funeral.
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> 2011: Thomas A. Goodman Jr. was shot and killed in the Edison Mall parking lot on December 23, 2011, in what was described as a targeted attack involving 50-60 rounds.
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> 2017: A brawl occurred at the mall, which reports suggested was related to retribution for a separate homicide in Lehigh Acres.
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> 2024: Police found a body in a grassy area in the parking lot of a David's Bridal store on Cleveland Avenue, directly across the street from Edison Mall.
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> There's a whole lot more, too. I've been trying to figure out how to find the blueprints for the mall from 1985 so I can see where that particular murder happened, but I haven't had any luck."
Based on articles from the archive of The News-Press:
The disappearance of Mary Opitz remains an open and active cold case. Anyone with information can report it anonymously to the Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers or the Lee County Sheriff's Office (LCSO).