On November 18, 1669, he received a letter from the governor and assistants of Connecticut complaining that he and others had appropriated a large tract of land belonging to Stonington, Connecticut. He and Tobias Saunders answered the complaint on behalf of the Westerly people. He was conservator of the peace at Westerly in 1670, and deputy to the general assembly again in 1670-71. The Connecticut authorities arrested him on May 2, 1671, but the Rhode Island government advised him not to give bond and promised to pay his expenses and defend him.