One man to whom David Terry turned to for help with his trouble with the vigilance committee over his stabbing of Sterling Hopkins was E. B. Boutwell, Commander of the sloop-of-war John Adams now in San Francisco harbor. On June 21st Boutwell had asked the committee how long it would keep their prisoner, Dr. Ashe, also a navel officer arrested with Terry, asserting that his confinement would prevent Boutwell from getting to sea as soon as he proposed. The committee responded politely to the Commander that while impossible to tell how long Ashe would remain in custody all possible efforts would be made for the transaction of his official duties, and they trusted that the unavoidable detention of Ashe would not inconvenience Commander Boutwell or delay the departure of his ship.
A sloop of war
On June 26th Y.A. McDuffie wrote Boutwell that he had custody of John Durkee awaiting action by the grand jury for piracy in the raid on the Julia where the arms bound for the law and order party were intercepted and taken by the vigilantes, and asked if Boutwell would take Durkee on board the John Adams for safekeeping in view of the possibility of a rescue attempt. The Commander replied that since Durkee was accused of piracy, a violation of the law of the United States as well as of all nations, he would take Durkee on board where he could remain until the John Adams sailed, which Boutwell expected to happen in a few days. The next day Governor Johnson learned about these messages.
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