"Trial of the century" is an idiomatic phrase used to describe certain well-known court cases, especially of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It is often used popularly as a rhetorical device to attach importance to a trial and as such is not an objective observation. The Encyclopedia Britannica Online noted:
Attorney F. Lee Bailey and The Washington Post observed in 1999:
<div style="display: none;">Sanford_White</div>In 1907, Harry K. Thaw was tried for the murder of Stanford White. Irvin S. Cobb, a contemporary reporter, explained why the trial fascinated the country so much: