Yesterday I discovered that the wiring to my distributor was coming
apart--the engine stalled when I moved it a little. I took out and
disassembled the dist., tried to repair the three wires, put it back in, and
no start.

There's no spark. Question: if the wires to the Hall sender were
disconnected or grounded out, would that stop it from sparking? Or did I
mess up something else? All wires to the coil are good and tight.

I'm assuming that there should be some sign from the timing light even when
turning over with the starter, but there isn't.

Amazing how much depends on those three little wires in the distributor, now
all fried from 23 years of heat and vibration...There's just a little
plastic shield, also fried, between those wires and Certain Death by contact
with the spinning metal part inside...