I remember hearing about this when I was a young dub. The man who is now my "uncle-in-law" told me about the story, and said that the Society's wording was vague on this. Basically, he said that people jumped the gun because the Society never actually came right out and said it. He quoted one specific part: "So is this the end? We're not saying." (My paraphrase of his paraphrase)
Later, a Gideon kept hounding me to get religious his way and gave me a sheet of paper full of quotes about this from the Society's own literature. The quotes were quite specific. So I went back to him and asked if I could check his old volumes to see where he was getting this from. I actually wanted to disprove his quotes. But the brother...my current uncle-in-law...didn't feel like sorting through them right then to check.
Nor did he ever. His wife...same story. Finally, I dropped the matter.
To this day I wonder if he knew what I'd find.
IsaacJ