#OTD in 1898.
Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing J'Accuse…!, a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
He was sentenced to jail and was removed from the Legion of Honour. To avoid jail time, Zola fled to England. He stayed there until the cabinet fell; he continued to defend Dreyfus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%27Accuse...!
J'Accuse at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20974