Flag Signals

Before there were hand-held radio units, the Nodaway County sheriff's office used colored flags to summon one another to the sheriff's office. In January 1938, Deputy Sheriff Fred Newlon devised a plan whereby colored flags could be hung on a socket outside the window of the sheriff's office at the courthouse to alert Sheriff Roy Sellers (Blue), Deputy Ed Wallace (Green), Maryville City Police (White), the Missouri Highway Patrol (Red), and Prosecutor Rathbun (Orange) that their presence was needed at the office.