Nightfall
- With time to visit the fair running out, more and more people attend in the final days.
- Mayor Harrison's big moment, American Cities Day, comes on Saturday October 28. Five thousand mayors and city council men from across the nation attend.
- Harrison praises the exposition in his speech. "These buildings, this hall, this dream of poets of centuries is the wild aspiration of crazy architects alone" (3.21.6).
- Meanwhile, Prendergast cannot stand the wait any longer.
- He decides it's time to take action, so he loads five bullets into his six-chamber revolver.
- Harrison returns home after the American Cities Day festivities and has dinner in his mansion with his children.
- Prendergast arrives at the mansion, requesting to see Harrison (not an odd request by any means, as Harrison made himself accessible to the working population of Chicago).
- Harrison's children hear a few gunshots and run downstairs to find Harrison on his back.
- There's not a lot of blood but his heart stops moments later.
- Prendergast hands himself over to the police station. "Lock me up; I am the man who shot the mayor" (3.21.28).
- Prendergast claims Harrison betrayed his confidence and didn't live up to his word.
- The Exposition Company cancels the closing ceremony and Jubilee March.
- The day instead becomes a memorial for Harrison, taking place in the fair’s Festival Hall. A grand procession throughout the city follows.
- And with that, the fair is over.
- The fairgrounds are illuminated at night for one final time.