Played by Ken Bloch

Helen Grainger grew up as an Oklahoma farm girl.

Her maternal grandfather was a Polish Jew who emigrated to the United States and ended up marrying a Christian girl. Eventually they ended up homesteading in Oklahoma with their two daughters. The older daughter married a local man, who died soon after the birth of their son.

She later remarried, to a man who turned out to be a charming ne'er do well. This was Helen's father. He wasn't cut out to be a farmer, and eventually ended up on the road living the life of a grifter. He would send money when he could, but he didn't visit very often. The only one who looked forward to his visits was his daughter Helen, who'd been born in 1902. Helen would constantly pester him for stories about the places he'd been. He taught her many games to play with cards or dice, games she now knows were cons. She also got to meet some of his Cherokee relatives. She visited the local Cherokee reservation a number of times to meet some of her cousins.

While she had Cherokee relatives, the only feature she grew up with that would identify her as Indian was her long black hair.

Eventually her father stopped coming to visit. The last time she saw him was 1913. The last time he sent money was two years later. She doesn't know if he still lives.

Helen had a fascination with the outside world. She'd pester her grandfather for stories about where he grew up and the other places he'd been. But she always assumed she'd marry a local boy and live out the rest of her life on a farm. They got engaged in late 1918.

Then came 1919 and the Spanish Flu epidemic.

In a few days, she lost most of her relatives and her fiance. Her half-brother survived and inherited the farm. Her Mother, aunt and grandparents passed quickly. Her half brother's wife never liked the fact that Helen had Cherokee blood and wanted to get her out of the house, so she arranged a marriage with an older widower farmer who was looking for someone to replace his wife. A desperate Helen fled to the only other place she'd ever been, the Cherokee reservation, only to discover that her cousins had all died in the epidemic as well, and that she wasn't welcome on the reservation either.

Andersonville Times - May 2nd, 1919

Spanish flu has arrived in Andersonville. Hardest hit is the Swokowski family. Frank Swokowski and his wife Sophie have died from the disease, as well as both of their daughters, Ursula and Victoria. Victoria's husband James and all three of their children are dead. Only Ursula's Son William and daughter Helen survived. The complete list of the dead from the town include…Peter Beech, who was to have wed Helen Granger in the fall…

Excerpts from a Bureau of Indian affairs report. listing of Spanish flu casualties by reservation

Willow Gulch, Oklahoma

• Granger, Sequoia
• Granger, Thomas
• Granger, Walter

Andersonville Times - June 29th, 1919

Local farmer left at the altar. widowed farmer Jebediah Denton was supposed to marry Helen Granger yesterday, but the bride appears to have fled. We are told that she packed some clothes, and was last seen near the North-South railway line. It is assumed she hopped a train…

So Helen hit the road. She hopped a freight train south, in the direction her father had gone after his last visit. The next few years were hard ones for Helen. She never found her father, and she had to use the only practical skills she ever learned to survive, falling in with some petty criminals and living a life of larceny. She was caught and jailed several times, but never held for very long. She got romantically involved with the leader of the group, Francis, and they ended up having a son together, whom Helen insisted on naming Peter.

Austin, Texas Police blotter June 1920

Helen Grainger, of Andersonville, Oklahoma, arrested for attempted pick pocketing, served 7 days.

St. Louis, Missouri Police Blotter 1921

Helen Grainger, arrested for Petty theft served 30 days before being released…

Chicago Police blotter, 1922

Arrested for armed robbery was one Helen Grainger, who pulled a gun on some local citizens. She was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison, with the judge showing no mercy for Helen, despite the fact that she was in a family way…Police are looking for a Helen Granger, who escaped from St. Theresa hospital following the birth of her son. Helen has 9 months remaining on an armed robbery sentence…

Her life got increasingly difficult for the next few years, climaxing in a bank job that she was serving as lookout on. Her cohorts in the crime all got arrested, and she was left without even their support.

Memphis Sun Times June 22nd, 1923.

Police arrested 5 members of the Bowling gang, a group of petty criminals led by a Francis Bowling, for attempting to rob the 3rd National Bank in downtown Memphis. The Bowling gang have been active up and down the Mississippi river valley for some years now, but this is the first time the group has tried to rob a bank. A known associate of the Bowling gang, a tall dark-haired woman named Helen is still being sought by the police.

Memphis Sun-Times, July 3rd, 1923.

Courts have convicted 5 members of the Bowling gang for Bank Robbery and sentenced them to terms of between 6 to 10 years in Jail.

Memphis Sun-Times, July 5th, 1923.

A foundling was left at St. Ignacious orphanage last night. The boy was in relatively good condition, other than appearing to be underfed. All that was left to identify him was a note saying that his name is Peter.

Desperate and hungry, she decided to put on her finest clothes and scam an eating establishment out of a meal.

She became Countess Elena Sobieski that day.

And suddenly things began to fall her way. A rich gentleman invited Elena to his table, and insisted on picking up the tab.

Memphis sun times, July 6th 1923.

We have royalty in our midst. Arriving quietly this week was Countess Elena Sobieski, who stopped into the Belvedere Hotel to dine. John Vanderbilt, the young grandson of Cornelius was also in town, and seemed quite smitten with the Polish Beauty.

And she discovered that the world seemed to want to make Elena's life as easy as Helen's life had been hard. She got to meet people from the upper crust who were excited to hear her tales of Poland. She was invited to lunch, invited to dinner, put up in peoples houses, and so forth. Slowly the reputation of Elena has been building.

As she has met so many gentlemen of high class, she has been able to arrange meetings between many of them, who had common interests, sometimes earning a commission from a grateful person who made good on the opportunity the introduction afforded him.

In this fashion she has lived the last few years of her life, mostly traveling up and down the East Coast. She avoids the center of the country, since her life of larceny generally ran from Texas up through Illinois. She did take a train West once to see San Francisco, but has never been out of the country.

Initially she was banking the money she made, as people who were once poor are want to do, but more recently has begun to invest her money in a more sophisticated fashion.