The car is a 91 240. This was the problem:
I drove the car for 23 miles in the rain with lights on and stopped at a service station, turned the lights and the car off and went inside.
I come back out and the car would not start. The dome light and clove box light were very dim and there were no other ights that would go on. I tried to move the shifter (automatic) to make sure it was in park and I could not move the shifter. The key was on and I could not push the button in on top of the shift so I could shift into reverse or put it in nuetral.

Are all these things related or did the two problems just happen at the same time. After about 20 minutes (for what it's worth) I was able to force the button in and move the shifter. That was good. A jump start got the car running and I drove it to my house 1.5 miles down the road. I shut the car off and turn the head lights on and now they were on but dim.

I think that is a dead battery. Does that sound right?

What happened with the tranny? What caused the shifter to freeze. By the way..The car has 220k miles on the clock.

Sounds like the battery gave up the ghost. The shifter issue can be caused by the trans being againts the park gear, which will cause it to be hard to shift from park. The shift lock system overide in the 240's can be a real PITA. Make sure all your grounds are good and then check the alternater for proper voltage to battery. Make sure your battery connections are clean and corrosion free. Use a little vasiline on the battery posts when installing new battery, this will keep battery gasses from attacking the battery terminals.

I will go over all the battery cable connections, thats a good idea.
I was not sure about the tranny issue but now I have peace of mind. Thanks.
It's time to do a little work on the 240.