In 1790, Alston was at Cave-in-Rock, Illinois, then a part of Knox County, Northwest Territory, with Duff. Finley wrote that Alston became a "fast friend and disciple of the notorious counterfeiter, Sturdevant". But historian Otto A. Rothert said that Roswell or "Bloody Jack" Sturdivant did not arrive at Cave-in-Rock for at least another generation. "Duff the Counterfeiter", considered notorious during the 1790s, is believed to be the same man who was associated with Alston. According to Finley, Alston soon moved back to Tennessee and from there to Natchez, picking up with former associates.