Countess Habeba

Here is Countess Habeba, a "genuine Persian gypsy," ready to "reveal astonishing facts" and make "truthful predictions." In the 1890s and early 1900s she was very well known as a fortune teller in Brooklyn and at Coney Island. Her address (which didn't fit in the scan) in this January 1901 ad was "Parlors, 247 Duffield St, 2 Flights Up, Opposite Bauland's."

Countess Habeba was neither a countess nor a Persian gypsy. She was the wife of a traveling salesman, named Mary Kroeger. Their address was given in the Eagle (in reference to a robbery in 1901 at the Kroegers') as 247 Duffield Street, matching that of Habeba. The article about the robbery also mentions that Mary Kroeger was the clarvoyant Habeba (which was very helpful!).

Countess Habeba not only predicted the future but made lucky things happen, such as "speedy marriages." If you were a "gent" wanting lucky marriage, though, you paid twice the ladies' fee. In a November 1901 advertisement, Habeba's address is given as 487 Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn - conveniently opposite Abraham and Straus' department store, so you could get in a little shopping, too.

An 1896 ad in the Eagle states that on Sundays she was "at her magnificent Oriental gypsy encampment, Coney Island, adjoining New Iron Pier." In August 1897, "Mary Habeba" and six other fortune tellers were arrested at Coney Island for "violating the Criminal Code," and all were held for $300 bail. But Habeba returned to her fortunes soon thereafter, and flourished. In 1900 the following ad appeared in the Eagle:

Several respectable middle-aged women to work with and assist fortune-tellers at Coney Island on Sundays; must have experience and quick workers. Call Saturday afternoon at Countess HABEBA's gypsy encampment, adjoining New Iron Pier.

Clearly, her arrest had not frightened the Countess, as this seems to be a casting call for shills in a large scam operation. It is likely that the encampment burned in the terrible 1911 fire at nearby Dreamland, which spread to the Iron Pier and other structures as well.


SOURCES

Brooklyn Daily Eagle classified ads: May 24, 1896, p. 23 [mentions Coney Island encampment]; June 24, 1900 [want ad for women to work at encampment]; Nov. 24, 1901, p. 28; Jan. 13, 1901, p. 36 [ad pictured above].

"Reforming Coney Island," New York Times, Aug. 19, 1897, p. 10.

"Suspected of Many Jobs," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec. 19, 1902, p. 1. [Kroegers were robbed; sotry calls her "Countess Habeba, wife of Theodore Kroeger, a traveling salesman, of 247 Duffield Street"]

New York State Journal of Medicine (Medical Society of the State of New York, 1904), vol.4, p. 173 ["Mary Kroeger, known as the Countess Habeba..."]

Mary Kroeger of Brooklyn, wife of Theodore Kroeger, traveling salesman.