Yancey returned to his paper in March 1839, but sold it a couple of months later when he moved to Wetumpka in Elmore County, Alabama. While his intent was to resume his life as a planter, Yancey suffered a huge financial reversal when his slaves were poisoned as a result of a feud between Yancey's overseer and a neighboring overseer. Two of the enslaved were killed, and most of the others were incapacitated for months. Unable to afford replacements and burdened with other debts from his newspaper, Yancey was forced to sell most of the people as they recovered. Yancey did open in Wetumpka the "Argus and Commercial Advertiser".