Meeting: Society of Friends of Russian Freedom Entered from New York Times article ; stated time is approximate. This meeting, held to celebrate the Russian Revolution, was marked by pacifist protests directed at Mayor John Purroy Mitchel, one of the speakers. Mitchel: "This country is on the verge of war", which prompted a loud cry of "No"; Mitchel responded by saying "And I say to you in the gallery that tonight we are divided into only two classes -- Americans and traitors!" (NYT, 3/24/1917, pg. 1) meeting 1917-03-23T20:00:00