In 1859, at a time of reduced business activity, Stow and George Isaacs founded in Gawler a social club they called the "Humbug Society", with no other purpose than to poke fun at hypocrisy and self-aggrandisement in convivial surroundings.
In 1864 Stow traveled privately, as representative of a some investors in the Northern Territory, to Escape Cliffs, where of a party of 40 under B. T. Finniss was to establish a settlement named Palmerston at the mouth of the Adelaide River.
[1] Before leaving, he sent off for publication in The Advertiser a litany of negative observations on the site chosen, and particularly on Finniss as a leader.
[1] It is a well written and concise manual, and has had an extensive circulation in Australia, England and India.
[2] Stow retired in 1904; he died on 4 May 1908 at North Adelaide, survived by his wife, two sons and five daughters.