During July and August Holder and Copeland visited other communities, including Duxbury, Mansfield, Dedham, Charlestown, Cambridge and Lynn, managing to avoid confrontation with any Massachusetts colonial authorities. When they ultimately arrived at Salem, they were invited to stay at the home of Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick. On 29 August 1657, they did as they had done elsewhere, and attended a service at the Congregational church. Following the sermon, Copeland stood at the back of the church and challenged the message with the Quaker alternatives. Unlike in the other towns, this prompted a much more violent reaction, and the action of a local commissioner was recorded as follows, "after the priest had done, [Holder] was hauled back by the hair of his head and his mouth violently stopped with a glove and handkerchief thrust thereunto with much fury by one of your church members." Holder was unable to breathe, but a man named Samuel Shattuck pushed the perpetrator aside and removed the obstructions from Holder's throat.
