WARE -- A Dale Street man arrested early Wednesday morning allegedly pistol whipped a 60-year-old friend and fired a black powder pistol inside a home.

Gregory Babb, 58, of 5 Dale St. was arraigned Wednesday afternoon. Babb was released on his own recognizance with a pre-trial scheduled on March 13.

He was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon -- a black powder pistol -- and discharging a gun within 500 feet of a house.

According to a police report included in the case file at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown, Babb and the alleged victim were friends and had been drinking together at Babb's home.

The report says the victim was seen bleeding from the face in the vicinity of Main and Parker streets just after midnight, when he was then taken by ambulance to Baystate Mary Lane's emergency department in Ware for treatment.

As a condition of release, Babb must remain alcohol free and submit to random testing.

He is represented by the Committee for Public Counsel.

The firearms charge carries a maximum sentence of three months in jail.

In 1994 Babb was found guilty of assaulting a Southampton man with a dangerous weapon following a four-day trial at Hampshire Superior Court.

The male victim said he discovered Babb in his home.

A Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling from 1994 said that at the time of his arrest Babb was on parole from the State of Alaska, where he'd been convicted on four counts of burglary and three counts of escape.

Babb was also convicted and served time for the 1978 hit-and-run death of an 11-year-old girl in Ware.