[Tommy]

I take your description to mean you ran a jumper from the battery positive to the where the big cable connects to the starter and it tried to crank. I agree that sounds like the starter is working. When you connected that same jumper to the solenoid (at the S connection on the previous diagram) nothing happened. That indicates that either the solenoid is defective, or it is not properly grounded. If your solenoid is not attached directly to the body of the starter, it needs its own ground.