The 1914/WWI thing might be striking if Russell and Friends had prophesied that it would happen, or even simply that "something big" was going to happen. But they prophesied that the end would come, they'd go to heaven, the whole shmeer. That didn't happen. Something else did.
It's a foregone conclusion that SOMETHING was going to happen in 1914. Just like in 1913, and every other year of man's existence. A trick employed by sooth-sayers is to push you in the direction you're already going, so when you get there, you think they helped. "You're having money troubles, but your future is looking brighter." When this person gets a job, they think that "prophesy" was fulfilled. If the "prophet" had said, "You're going to meet a man named Tom that will give you a job as a support technician for AT&T", that would be more meaty. When you actually get a job from Larry bagging groceries at the Piggly-Wiggly, it would be a bit disengenuous of the "prophet" to claim, "I was close!"
Besides, this wasn't their first attempt. 1874 was also a "marked year", wasn't it? And 1875? And the turn of the century always gets people excited, so I imagine 1900 had some mystique around it. The chances that absolutely nothing would happen during any of the years pointed to is next to nothing. I'm not even comfortable calling it "lucky". Lucky would have been getting something big in 1874. By the time 1914 hit, it was approaching "inevitable".
Dave
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