Morton Clay is the name of the character who was an old Western actor who played The Masked Rider. It's a play on words with Clayton Moore who of course played The Lone Ranger.
The real actors who played the Lone Ranger and Tonto, Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, did not have a close personal relationship even though they starred in six movies together. Jay Silverheels always resented that his native American character was portrayed as subservient to the Lone Ranger.
Listen closely and you may hear snippets of theme music from both the Lone Ranger and Bonanza TV shows.
Victor French's character called Michael Landon's character kemosabe in part 2 of the first episode, which was what Tonto called the Lone Ranger.
There was a similar storyline of having victims stand together to beat the bullies on Little House on the Prairie.