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.