In 1873, D.C. millionaire and Democratic Party stalwart William Wilson Corcoran provided Schade with the financial backing to found the Washington Sentinel. The first issue appeared on July 4, 1873. The newspaper was extremist in its support for the Democratic Party, radical in its call for a reduction in the size of government (which it saw infringing on civil liberties), violently opposed to the prohibition of alcohol, and an ardent advocate for lenient immigration policies. The newspaper also covered international events extensively, which was unusual at the time. Nonetheless, the paper's support for its pet policies was so extreme that its rival, the then-tiny Washington Post, called it "a scurrilous weekly sheet...to aid [Schade] in selling a patent beer-bung starter."
