More like the real Lone Ranger. I saw the “Based on true events” after one of those episodes. The stories are based on this guy. The original stories were written down by a reporter that covered some territorial prison at the time. Most of the guys Bass captured were sent there.
I’m guessing the idea of a black Lone Ranger in the early sixties wouldn’t have gone over as well.
In re-reading some articles, it looks like there are others that dispute the idea that Bass Reeves was the basis for “The Lone Ranger”. They could be right. But - the guy SHOULD have had a TV show! Excerpt from the net (although I’m guessing the newspapers at the time were not to worried about lying a bit to make the story better!):
The Oklahoma City Weekly Times-Journal reported, “Reeves was never known to show the slightest excitement, under any circumstance. He does not know what fear is.”
This was never truer than the case where three men he was pursuing managed to get the drop on him and ordered him off his horse. The leader approached, gloating that the “Indomitable Marshal” was about to die.
Showing no fear, Reeves calmly took out his warrants and asked the three men, “What is the date today?”
The puzzled leader asked, “What difference does that make?”
Reeves explained that he’d need to put the date of the arrest on the paperwork when he took the three of them in — dead or alive, their choice.
The three men laughed at the absurdity of the thought, and Marshal Reeves used the distraction to grab the barrel of the leader’s gun. One of the men opened fire, but Reeves drew and shot him dead. He then killed the leader by bashing his skull with his pistol.
The third man wisely submitted to the arrest.