 The common thread running through the various incarnations dating back 128 years is Walter Willard Thompson, who gained prominence as the editor of the historic weekly "Key of the Gulf".Born in Key West in 1875, Thompson began his newspaper career as a carrier at age 12, becoming the editor of the third incarnation of the "Key of the Gulf" shortly before the turn of the century.This paper was Democratic in its political leanings, but vowed in its editorial pages not to "take up personal differences between the members of different parties, or to shoulder the political fights of any man or men, when they are made for personal reasons".