Stack Island (Mississippi River)

Outlaws associated with Stack Island include; Samuel Mason, Little Harpe, and father and son counterfeiters Philip and Peter Alston.

170 miles above Natchez, was notorious for many years as a den for the rendezvous of horse thieves, counterfeiters, robbers, and murderers.

From thence they would sally forth, stop passing boats, murder the crew, or, if this seemed impracticable, would buy their horses, slaves, flour, whisky, etc., and pay for them.

The floods of 1811 and 1813, along with the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes, all but swept away the island leaving only a low sandbar.

[2] From the 1820s-mid-1830s, John A. Murrell, the west Tennessee bandit, may have operated on the Mississippi River, not far from Stack Island.

Location of Stack Island in Issaquena County, Mississippi
River pirates at Diamond Island preyed on the Mississippi River flatboats , keelboats , and rafts , as profitable targets of goods, attacking the crews and pioneers who were easily overwhelmed and killed.
Part of a counterfeit coin mold similar to the type used by counterfeiters on Stack Island. The coin mold consisted of two metal halves that would be lined with clay to make an impression of a genuine coin, then molten lead would be poured into the mold, and the fake lead coin would be plated with a layer of silver . Legitimate coins were made by government mints that stamped them from silver or gold coin discs as most inferior counterfeit coins were usually molded.