PATERSON, April 20---Some residents of this city and of Hawthorne fear that several persons near to them perished on the Titanic. The supposed victims are John Mechan, of this city; Arthur Ford, formerly of this city, and William C. Johnson Jr., of Hawthorne.

Mechan spent several weeks in Warwickshire, England, and relatives here feel certain he was a passenger on the Titanic.

The fact that the name Arthur Ford appeared in the “lost” list has led to the belief that he is the Arthur Ford who left here early last winter to visit his old home in England, where his parents still reside. His fiance, Miss Elizabeth Grimes, and his close friend, Alfred Hall, both of this city, entertain that belief.

That William C. Johnson Jr., of Hawthorne, is dead, is the notion of his parents, based on this message received by them yesterday from abroad:

“William C. Johnson, fourth quartermaster, sailed on the Titanic for New York. Further than this we know nothing.”

Johnson was nineteen years old. He was an employee of the American Line Steamship Company and had been in Southampton on the S. S. Philadelphia, of which he was the quartermaster. He notified his parents that he was coming home on the Titanic.