Billy the Kid in Fort Griffin and working on a ranch

[MissyS]

Iv been trying to dig up more info about this story in the Frontier Times magazine Vol 05 No. 04 - January 1928; A. cowboy named Henry Ethridge who I want to add was also an employed member of the “Purple Mask” a group of cattle detectives in the early 1880’s that had power much like the Texas Rangers to capture and punish cattle rustlers on the Mexican border, Ethridge was working for the Purple Mask when he was in Fort Griffin and according to him a handsome young man blew in along with six other men with him, he was broke and asked young Ethridge for a 15.00 loan. It was the first time he saw Billy, and the Kid was in Fort Griffin to seek employment on the Hash Knife Ranch and he took a contract with Dan Irby the Hash Foreman to take a herd of cattle to either Kansas or Nebraska, at the time they did not know him, and the Sheriff Simpson and his deputy “Dried” Henry Herring was suspicious of Billy and his bunch and went to the Hash Knife Ranch to investigate, the Hash Knife Ranch was located about 25 miles Northwest and between Fort Griffin and Seymour. Billy and his men were branding cattle and getting ready for the long drive, it was believed of course they had intended to steal the cattle when they started out and change the brand. Billy’s men shot the sheriff and his deputy and rode out. Sometime later Ethridge ran into Billy again while riding scout along the Pecos north of where the Texas and Pacific roads cross the Pecos River, there were about thirty men with Billy, Ethridge thought he would spend the night with the men when he noticed Billy the Kid was one of them, Billy’s men thought Ethridge was a spy and wanted to shoot him so Ethridge hid his badge and credential papers under a rock, the men did search him but Billy recognized his face and remembered he had befriended him before, so they didn’t shoot him, Ethridge told Billy that Texas got too hot for him and he was headed for Mexico, the next morning Billy the Kid took his good horse but left Ethridge with a Spanish pony and a 20.00 gold piece and told him to head for Mexico, he left quickly and got to El Paso and found Pat Garrett and told him where Billy was camping. 
The part of the story of finding Billy camped out along the Pecos with Thirty men kinda goes along with the news article about Billy the Kid with a band of thirty men that shot at the man named Krempkau that  I posted about some time ago.
I wonder if the Purple Mask was the same anti horse detective group Brushy may have worked with? I can’t find much about them, only the article mentions early 1880’s. If this story is true it would mean that Billy the Kid visited another town other than Tascosa and actually worked on a ranch in Texas. 

[MissyS]

I wanted to add that I ran across a little snippit of information about the Hash Knife Ranch.. In Pecos, Texas, on July 4, 1883, cowboys from two ranches, the Hash Knife and the W Ranch, competed in roping and riding contests as a way to settle an argument; this event is recognized by historians of the West as the first real rodeo. Casual contests evolved into planned celebrations. Many were scheduled around national holidays, such as Independence Day, or during traditional roundup times in the spring and fall. Early rodeos took place in open grassy areas—not arenas—and included calf and steer roping and roughstock events such as bronc riding.

If Brushy Bill had worked on the Hash Knife Ranch perhaps he may have competed in these contests between the two ranches doing bronc riding?