He cleared off a faro layout in the back part of the building for the minister to use for a pulpit, then he went to the bar, and rapped upon it with his six-shooter. The noise eased down, and he said, "Boys, the preacher man is going to be the main game for awhile. He is going to talk, and if there is anyone here who feels he can't keep still, he had better vamouse ; for if he busts loose while the, preacher is here, I'll plug him full of holes." The order was perfect. Elder Martin talked a few minutes and sang a few hymns. He asked the boys to join in the singing. The hymns were the old ones with which nearly every one was familiar, and some of the boys were fair singers, so that before long the crude rafters of Weller's saloon were vibrating with a chorus of masculine voices singing hymns of praise. They voted "Preacher Martin" as made of "the right stuff."

Father Kendall was among the first of the ministry in Sheridan county. Rev. Howell and Dr. Mallery were there in the middle eighties. The first church in Rushville was the Methodist, which was a log structure, about a block south of the present site of the postoffice. It was built in 1885, and was afterwards used for Rushville's first school.

Minnie Buchanan was the first teacher. Rev. R. H. Gammon, still living and often to be seen about George Peck's hardware store, was also a pioneer Methodist minister. The name of Rev. J. C. Sloan also appears in early nineties.