In January of 1818, the price of cotton dropped 25% in a single day. That was the end of "ALABAMA FEVER", the frenzied purchase of public land in Alabama Territory by land speculators. By the time Alabama became a state in 1819, the country was experiencing its first economic recession called THE PANIC OF 1819. By the time the country began to recover in 1821, Tuscaloosa's local economy was again devastated by a group of counterfeiters who showed up in town and started passing hundreds of fake bills. After their capture up in Walker County by a Tuscaloosa posse, their leader, Thomas Davis, was brought to Tuscaloosa and publicly hanged. This hanging was witnessed by many Indians who were amazed by Tuscaloosa's frontier justice. Three days before his hanging, Davis gave his confession and it was published in the November 26, 1822 WESTERN CAROLINIAN out of Salisbury. Here's the portion of Thomas Davis' confession which dealt with Tuscaloosa.