When I looked up the above press report in the British Newspaper Archive I was amused by the other news reports on the same page - which included a breach of promise case and a seduction and wrote a note about the way newspaper editors likes stories involving sex, money and violence then - just like the popular press today. - See www.hertfordshire-genealogy.blogspot.com for relevant links.

I then decided to look further and the case of Joseph Saunders (and two of the other criminals) is summarized in the book Transported Beyond the Sea - so you will almost certainly be able to get more information about Joseph from HALS.