on october 7, 1809, gottscheer and some slovene people in the border regions south of gottschee attacked french troops who were in the villages collecting taxes. by the night of october 8, word of this had reached the northern gottscheer villages such as windischdorf and erker assumed command of the local men. under his command, they joined in the assault on gottschee city the following morning and attacked the french garrison. numbering no more than 100 men, the french troops (from napoleon's italian regiments) fell back to the castle in the town square and were besieged all morning in the castle. finally, the gottscheers broke through the gates, and massacred most of the garrison. commissioner gasparini was one of the killed, dragged out through the streets and butchered by the angry rebel mob. after this battle, and during it for that matter, erker's actions are unknown.