OK, I am sad to report that the distributor sustained damage that will make it beyond economical repair. It appears that someone had been in that distributor before me and there was a plate in backwards. I should have noticed it because the little area you put a screwdriver in to adjust the points had only the one screwdriver slot and not the other to make it work. Also the screw that holds down the 4 sided rotor that opens the points was loose.
Evidently when I pulled the rotor button off to adjust the points, this loose screw allowed the rotor to pull up enough to release one of the centrifugal weights and that is what caused the calamity.
Its about what you would expect when a distributor stops a running engine.
I took it all apart and wasted time carefully straightening things, but the end result is that it broke two of the tops of the little dowels that hold the return spings. I only have one spring on their now.
Pretty disheartened. I might be able to find a way to fix this but not today.