paid subscription to "the liberator" was always smaller than its circulation. in 1834 it had two thousand subscribers, three-fourths of whom were blacks. benefactors paid to have the newspaper distributed to influential statesmen and public officials. although garrison rejected physical force as a means for ending slavery, his critics took his demand for immediate emancipation literally. some believed he advocated the sudden and total freeing of all slaves, and considered him a dangerous fanatic. nat turner's slave rebellion in virginia just seven months after "the liberator" started publication fueled the outcry against garrison in the south. a north carolina grand jury indicted him for distributing incendiary material, and the georgia legislature offered a $5,000 reward for his capture and conveyance to the state for trial.