Fried ECM? Ignition Problems

This past weekend I removed all of the aftermarket gauges and extraneous wiring in my 74/Dart and replaced and restored the column with a straight floor shift model. All wiring harnesses intact.
None of my accessories have ever worked and everything has been bypassed. I was listening to the direct wired radio with the column down and it's ground removed (I know) when I noticed the transistor on the Ignition Control Module was smoking/melting. I pulled the wire from the ballast resistor and stopped it but I think it's dead. I may have had the components for the key ignition in the on postition inadvertatntly for some time. I do not have the column ground back yet but no start. Any ideas why this happened? When I put the lead back on the ballast resistor it begins to heat up again. I will order a new
ECM today and a new ballast resistor for good measure and run through the schematics to see if I missed something. All I did was remove extranious wiring accessories and did not rewire any of the ignition circuit. It started like a champ before. Thanks for any input. Everyone have a great week! Matt