.... a one-hit stroke would have forced the cueball to curve over the top of the rack then forward on the other side, not die on top of the stack.
No. That's only true for certain specific hits on the ball in the rack. If the object ball is hit a little to the right of center the cue ball will bounce back and follow in a curve to the right. If the object ball is hit a little to the left of center, the cue ball will bounce back and curve off to the left. If the cue ball is hit exactly "wrong" it will bounce straight back and follow back to the ball it contacted.
I think you need to spend some time on the table to get a better feel for this kind of shot.
That sort of break, where the cue ball hits a head ball nearly full, bounces back and spins to a stop with the follow counteracting the bounce back, seemed to be a favorite of Luther Lassiter's. The other players of that era were rarely in that position and were much more likely to have a thin cut with the cue ball going into the side of the rack.