leaving_quietly: To enlarge on Billy's and "Shirley's" comments and quoting from the Bible Examiner article that you cite and link to, the time of trouble being referred to is the great tribulation, not the beginning of the trouble that would mark the "last days."
“. . . If the Gentile Times end in 1914, (and there are many other and clearer evidences pointing to the same time) and we are told that it shall be with fury poured out; a time of trouble such as never was before, nor ever shall be; a day of wrath, etc., . . ." (Emphasis mine.) Athough there is no Scripture citation, the obvious reference is to Matthew 24:21, which the NW renders as "great tribulation." The next verse (22) talks about the salvation of the church, the elect, the anointed on earth. With reference to these the Bible Examiner says: how long before does the church escape? . . . * * * "Brethren, the taking by Christ of His Bride, is evidently, one of the first acts in the Judgment; for judgment must begin at the house of God.” This "taking of . . . His Bride" is the rapture that Russell believed in at the time.
The Bible Examiner is referring to 1914 as beginning the Great Tribulation, the time of judgment, the expiration of the Gentile Nations' lease and their eviction--not the beginning of the troublesome "last days."
The Watchtower study article in question is not technically right. It is intentionally deceptive and revisionist without qualification.