Peace marchers walking from Boston to Provincetown were set upon and briefly beaten yesterday in Marshfield.

The incident, which resulted in no serious injuries, marred two eventless days during which police had constantly observed the march and intervened at the first signs of violence.

In Marshfield, however, the lone patrol car accompanying the peace walk disappeared briefly, allowing about 40 men and boys time to assault the marchers and break up a number of their signs.

James Hayes, head of the march, which is sponsored by a pacifist group called the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA), described the incident in a telephone interview last night.

"There were people lining both sides of the street as we passed through the center of the town. I guess they had been waiting because most of them had signs," Hayes said.

A number of the hecklers followed the 11 peace marchers out of the business area. Riding in a truck which carried a large "Bomb Red China" sign, they taunted the marchers with an American flag and then briefly set upon them.

"It was a pretty tense situation," Hayes said. "There was just some pushing and roughing up," he added. A number of the marchers were shoved to the ground.

CNVA does not ask for protection, Hayes said, and he had no criticism of the state trooper who had left the walk. "We don't ask for police protection--we always try to talk to people," he said.

Although there was no more violence yesterday, the marchers were continual- ly taunted by passing cars. Some riders threatened the pacifists.

Yesterday's incident was in sharp contrast to the first two days of the walk. With constant police protection, it had begun virtually undisturbed Saturday. The marchers paced through areas of Boston where demonstration earlier in the year had provoked serious violence. But this time, police stepped in immediately wherever there was a chance of a confrontation between the marchers and spectators.

Most people were either apathetic or hostile toward the march. In front of Donovan's Tavern in South Boston, one man shouted:

"You bums, have you ever been in slit trenches?" And along the march's route, another remarked: "The police have to go along with all demonstrations. They know if they didn't there might be a neighborhood-riot."

Only three times during the first two days did the marchers receive anything more than verbal abuse. They were pelted with eggs, once very briefly in Boston, once in Quincy, and more severely Sunday in Weymouth. None of the incidents was serious, however.

Purpose

The purpose of the march, which expects to reach the tip of Cape Cod by the end of the month, is not only to protest the war in Vietnam but also to promote belief in pacifism. In a pamphlet entitled "Why We Walk," the marchers declare: