Biography
Martha Stone Asher was a labor organizer in the 1926 Passaic textile strike and later chaired the New Jersey Communist Party. A federal grand jury added her to the New Haven Smith Act conspiracy case on March 4, 1955. A jury convicted her on March 29, 1956, but the Second Circuit reversed the conviction on October 25, 1957 because the evidence did not prove advocacy of unlawful action. No service of a prison sentence has been established.
FBI arrest reported before the 1955 indictment
The November 3, 1954 Laisvė, page 1, reports that the FBI had arrested Martha Stone, identifying her as a former Communist activist in Newark who had recently been living in New York. The item attributes an allegation of hiding to the FBI. This supplies an earlier arrest report, before the March 1955 addition to the New Haven indictment already described here, but states no exact arrest day, booking or release, and does not prove service of the later sentence. Publication is not used as the arrest or admission date.
Laisvė (Liberty), November 3, 1954, page 1. Lithuanian original and complete issue reviewed; no inferred custody endpoints.
