Meet Regulator Jesse Ward Dancer-- alias John Middleton.

At the end of the Five Day Battle in Lincoln, for most, the Lincoln County War was over. The remaining Regulators, including the Coe cousins, Doc Scurlock, and John Middleton, all fled New Mexico. Within a year, Middleton would arrive in Mule City, Kansas and begin operating a grocery store. In the winter of 1879, he married fifteen year-old Mariah Louise Colcord.

But by the end of winter in 1881, John Middleton would disappear from Kansas and head back to New Mexico. His young wife Mariah was left alone to fend for herself, and she would soon learn the truth about her husband Mr. John Middleton.

He was born Jesse Ward Dancer in Bastrop, Texas in 1853, according to Dancer family records. By the end of 1876, Middleton had been married twice, although never separate from his first when he married the second. The first marriage was in 1870 and produced two children born in 1872 & 1874, and three stepchildren as well (ages 6, 4, and 2 in 1870.) He had a son with Mariah Colcord in April of 1881, but he died of Cholera in 1883.

Middleton's movements can be traced through the central Texas Panhandle, western-northern Oklahoma Territory, south-central Kansas, and eventually landing in New Mexico Territory. His third wife, Mariah Colcord, would petition for a divorce from Middleton on the 24th of February, 1882.

Jesse Dancer, alias John Middleton, died of smallpox Nov. 19, 1882 in Lorenzo, New Mexico. At his bedside were witnesses that said Middleton confessed his true identity, along with nefarious deeds he committed and names pertinent to those deeds. It was discovered that Middleton had a $1,200 reward for his capture in Texas when he passed.

For many years, speculation surrounding a John Middleton being involved with female outlaw Belle Starr. With this information, it is clear that it is not the same John Middleton.